The necessity of specific components in the MDS (e.g., fish) makes this index less amenable for restrictive diets. The Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) uses 10 components to express the agreement with the Mediterranean dietary pattern by 7 desirable and 2 undesirable components (meat and dairy) and 1 moderation (alcohol) component. The most recently released HEI (HEI-2010) uses an energy-adjusted approach, limiting the possible confounding effect of total energy intake. The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) represents the degree to which a dietary pattern conforms the official guidelines summarized in the United States Department of Agriculture Food Guide Pyramid, using a 10 or 12 component score. As reviewed by Hu, dietary pattern analysis is a complimentary method to examine the effect of an overall diet: food and nutrients are not eaten in isolation, and the “single food or nutrient” approach will not take into account the complex interactions between food and nutrients. Ī recent approach to assess the overall dietary quality is the use of indices analyzing a dietary pattern instead of the more reductive nutrient methodology. Indeed, there exists a perception that vegetarian, and especially the vegan diet, are deficient for important nutrients including protein, calcium, iron and vitamin B-12. Although several favorable health consequences are attributed to the vegan diet, concerns regarding the completeness of this restrictive dietary pattern still remain. Even the more restrictive vegan diet, with its exclusion of meat, fish, dairy and eggs, is gaining more and more popularity, especially amongst younger people. Vegetarian and semi-vegetarian diets are increasingly popular. The score for the more prudent diets (vegetarians, semi-vegetarians and pesco-vegetarians) differed as a function of the used indexing system but they were mostly better in terms of nutrient quality than the omnivores. Typical aspects of a vegan diet (high fruit and vegetable intake, low sodium intake, and low intake of saturated fat) contributed substantially to the total score, independent of the indexing system used. The vegan diet received the highest index values and the omnivorous the lowest for HEI-2010 and MDS. Calcium intake was lowest for the vegans and below national dietary recommendations. The most restricted diet, i.e., the vegan diet, had the lowest total energy intake, better fat intake profile, lowest protein and highest dietary fiber intake in contrast to the omnivorous diet. After analysis of the diet questionnaire and the FFQ, 1475 participants were classified as vegans ( n = 104), vegetarians ( n = 573), semi-vegetarians ( n = 498), pesco-vegetarians ( n = 145), and omnivores ( n = 155). Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) and the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) were calculated as indicators for diet quality. Dietary intake was estimated using a cross-sectional online survey with a 52-items food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). It was the aim of the present study to compare the quality and the contributing components of vegan, vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian and omnivorous diets. Data on vegan subjects are especially lacking. The number of studies comparing nutritional quality of restrictive diets is limited.
0 kommentar(er)
