Assignment 1 by

Introduction Section Flow Chart from the article:

nicolebible — 2021-08-28 04:04:53 UTC

Lea, Emma and Worsley, Anthony 2003, The factors associated with the belief that vegetarian diets provide health benefits, Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 296-303.

Big Idea:

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 01:34:22 UTC

To explore the factors associated with the belief that vegetarian diets provide health benefits. It has been proven that at all stages of the lifecycle, it is entirely possible to obtain all necessary nutrients from a vegetarian diet, including adequate amounts of essential amino acids, iron, vitamin B-12, calcium, vitamin D and zinc.

Knowledge gap identified:

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 01:35:04 UTC

There is little published work on the social-cognitive origins of beliefs about vegetarian diets.

What is known:

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 01:39:13 UTC

The perception of perceived benefits of being a vegetarian to the downfall of eating meat in a western diet.

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 02:01:56 UTC

Vegetarians may associate meat with food poisoning and diseases such as heart disease. Research has shown that some non-vegetarians may also consider meat to be fattening or generally unhealthy.

Objectives of current studies

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 02:06:40 UTC

This paper will explore the factors associated with the belief that vegetarian diets provide health benefits

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 02:45:18 UTC

Vegetarian diets must be well planned, They should include satisfactory quantities of a variety of grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts and seeds.

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 03:42:00 UTC

Poorly planned vegetarian diets may increase the risk of not meeting the needs for some nutrients, like vitamin B-12, zinc and iron. The bioavailability of iron and zinc from plant foods is lower than it is for meat, and the primary dietary sources of vitamin B-12 are animal products (meat, eggs and milk).

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 03:46:19 UTC

Cardiovascular and overall mortality has been found to be significantly lower among those with a high fruit intake than among those with lower fruit consumption.

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 03:52:16 UTC

Deaths from cancer can be reduced significantly if intake of fruit and vegetables increased to recommended levels.

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 03:54:29 UTC

This paper examined the factors associated with the perceived health benefits of vegetarian diets, including disease prevention, decreased saturated fat intake, increased weight control, maintenance of one's health, and improved life expectancy.

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 03:58:15 UTC

The specific focus of this article is to examine the factors associated with the perceived health benefits of vegetarian diets, including disease prevention, decreased saturated fat intake, increased weight control, maintenance of one's health, and improved life expectancy.

Problem with previous study

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 04:04:28 UTC

Previous work by the authors and other researchers has shown that a variety of factors are associated with meat consumption and with beliefs about meat.

Methods

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 04:15:01 UTC

One thousand individuals were randomly selected from the South Australian population by using the software package Marketing Pro.

Objectives of current studies

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 04:31:18 UTC

Suggested methods for mail surveys were used as the basis for design and administration of the questionnaire.

What is known

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 04:34:45 UTC

Only nine vegetarians were present in the random sample, so in order to ensure comparisons could be made between people with high meat consumption and people with low or nil meat consumption, a small non-random sample (N=106) of vegetarians and semi-vegetarians was included in the survey.

The specific focus

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 04:37:55 UTC

A twelve-page questionnaire in booklet form entitled Food Choice, Information and Your Attitudes, cover letter and reply-paid envelope were mailed to each individual in the sample in mid-1999.

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 04:41:38 UTC

This sample was selected by giving out questionnaires at an environmental event; by placing advertisements in vegetarian cafés and restaurants, health food stores, and at Adelaide University; and by utilizing the "snowballing" technique.

Data Analysis

nicolebible — 2021-08-29 04:54:26 UTC

Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was performed on the 24 benefits of vegetarianism items.

What is known

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 01:11:59 UTC

24 benefits of vegetarianism items

Specific Focus

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 01:29:43 UTC

Was the principal components analysis with varimax rotation that was performed

Objective of the current study

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 01:32:19 UTC

The focus of this paper was the prevention of disease, decreased saturated fat intake, weight control and staying healthy in general.

Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 01:46:26 UTC

Measures of internal reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha) indicated that this factor had high internal consistency in participants responses.

Three factors emerged

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 01:49:43 UTC

(1)

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 01:51:23 UTC

(1) Peace and Contentment Benefits of Vegetarianism (with the dominant items on this factor, along with their factor loadings, being: “Help the feminist cause”, “Be less aggressive”, “Be more content with myself”, “Help create a more peaceful world”, and “Satisfy my religious and/or spiritual needs”.

(2)

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 01:52:01 UTC

(2) Health Benefits of Vegetarianism (discussed below).

(3)

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 01:52:34 UTC

(3) Animal Welfare, Environmental and Hunger Benefits of Vegetarianism (with the dominant items being: “Help animal welfare/rights”, “Increase the efficiency of food production”, “Help the environment”, and “Decrease hunger in the Third World”.

Results

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 01:57:06 UTC

With the 106 vegetarians and semi vegetarians selected by non-random methods, the total number of usable questionnaires was 707.

Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 02:18:49 UTC

The main biases in the random population sample were under-representation of 19-24 year old's and over-representation of 45-64 year old's and married people, compared with the Census data.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 02:21:01 UTC

Many respondents believed that there are health benefits associated with vegetarian diets, particularly eating greater quantities of fruit and vegetables and consuming less saturated fat, but also with regard to disease prevention, weight control and staying healthy in general.

What is known

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 02:28:52 UTC

Meat is Not Healthy was the most important (positive) predictor. This factor is predominantly comprised of beliefs that meat causes disease and other health problems.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 02:38:27 UTC

Lack of Knowledge and Convenience re Vegetarianism (positive): a factor that includes items such as not knowing what to eat instead of meat and lacking appropriate cooking skills (the dominant items and their loadings being: “I don’t know what to eat instead of meat”.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 02:56:31 UTC

There is too limited offers when I go out to eat for vegetarian diet and it is inconvenient.

Problem with previous experiments

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 02:58:56 UTC

The strongest predictors of Health Benefits of Vegetarianism for the random population sample only were Against Dietary Change and Appreciates Meat (negative predictor) and Lack of Knowledge and Convenience re Vegetarianism (positive predictor).

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 03:01:24 UTC

There were strong differences in the predictors between the three dietary groups, although the strongest predictor for semi-vegetarians and for vegetarians was the same. Lack of Knowledge and Convenience re Vegetarianism (positive predictor) was most important for non-vegetarians, followed by the statements "I do not need to make any changes to the food I eat as it is already healthy enough" (negative) and "I frequently look for information on healthy eating" (positive).

Problem with previous studies

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 03:16:03 UTC

"I do not need to make any changes to the food I eat as it is already healthy enough" (negative) and "I frequently look for information on healthy eating" (positive).

The specific focus

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 03:17:54 UTC

Of the randomly selected subjects who could be contacted, 70.6% filled out the questionnaire (N=603), with two questionnaires being unusable. Approximately 15% (N=146) of the sample could not be reached because their addresses were incomplete or had changed since the Marketing Pro data were collected, or they could not be contacted by phone.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 16:11:08 UTC

Tradition had been hypothesized to be a negative predictor of positive beliefs about vegetarianism/negative beliefs about meat.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 16:18:06 UTC

This study has important implications for public health. Without an understanding of the psychosocial and socio-demographic factors associated with meat consumption and beliefs, it is not possible to begin to develop strategies to enable the public to obtain any of the possible benefits of vegetarian and other plant-based diets, or to minimize the associated risks.

Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 16:24:10 UTC

It found that an increased consumption of fruit and vegetables, decreased saturated fat intake and weight control are considered most important.

Summary Paragraph

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 16:57:58 UTC

I think this article had a nice flow and was structured exactly like the my paper is set up. In my paper I think I need to open with that more because mine is just general information about vegetarianism. I still thought this was a good paper to break down because it was simpler for me to follow when breaking it into pieces. This paper was simple and even explained what questionnaire was going to be used, which is how I structured my paper. Then it went into results, discussion, and conclusion. The discussion even talked about the changes in the future or the gaps of knowledge this paper even had that could be further looked into. Because there wasn't a lot of other studies noted throughout the paper I did question the research in the bigger picture but this was a good shell to follow. Overall, no matter what was going to be done with the the study I think it was a great one to follow because it shows the traditional steps that should be taken to inform a reader assuming they have no idea what's going on. It gives great background information about the topic in the beginning and has clear results and came to a conclusion in the end.

Introduction section flow chart from the article:

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 17:08:00 UTC

Kim, Hyunju, et al. “Plant‐Based Diets Are Associated with a Lower Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease, Cardiovascular Disease Mortality, and All‐Cause Mortality in a General Population of Middle‐Aged Adults.” Journal of the American Heart Association, vol. 8, no. 16, 2019, doi:10.1161/jaha.119.012865.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 17:10:17 UTC

Their specific focus was to fill the gap of previous studies that have documented the cardiometabolic health benefits of plant‐based diets; however, these studies were conducted in selected study populations that had narrow generalizability.

What is known

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 17:17:03 UTC

Plant‐based diets are dietary patterns that emphasize higher intakes of plant foods and are low in animal foods.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 17:21:18 UTC

Vegetarian diets, a type of plant‐based diet, with a focus on restriction of different types of animal foods (meat, poultry, or fish), have been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and ischemic heart disease.

Problem with previous experiments

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 17:23:39 UTC

These previous studies were conducted in selected study populations that were mostly composed of Seventh‐Day Adventists, vegetarians, or health‐conscious individuals; thus, they had relatively narrow generalizability.

Problems with previous experiments

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 17:27:46 UTC

There have since been more comprehensive attempts to assess an individual's diet using plant‐based diet indexes. The problem with these indexes is that they give a higher score for higher consumption of plant foods and lower consumption of animal foods, allowing researchers to examine whether the degree of adherence to an overall plant‐based diet is associated with health outcomes.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 18:14:20 UTC

In contrast, greater adherence to less healthful (unhealthful) plant‐based diets, which scored higher intakes of only less healthful plant foods higher, were associated with a higher risk of these conditions.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 18:19:11 UTC

Their specific focus was to fill the limited evidence on plant‐based diets in the general population and recent developments in plant‐based diet

Objective of this study

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 18:21:39 UTC

(1) to evaluate whether overall plant‐based diets are associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality in a general US population.

nicolebible — 2021-08-30 18:22:42 UTC

(2) to assess if the association differed by adherence to healthful and less healthful plant‐based diets using 4 a priori defined plant‐based diet scores (overall plant‐based diet, healthy plant‐based diet, less healthy plant‐based diet, and pro-vegetarian diet indexes).

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 19:42:08 UTC

In addition, some plant‐based indexes separately scored healthful (whole grains, vegetables, and plant proteins) and unhealthful (refined carbohydrates and sugar) plant sources of food. Healthful plant‐based diets, which scored higher intakes of only healthful plant foods higher, were more strongly inversely associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease than the overall plant‐based diets.

Hypothesis

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 19:47:38 UTC

Suggest that dietary patterns that are relatively higher in plant foods and relatively lower in animal foods may confer benefits for cardiovascular health. This was stated in the beginning of the article clearly and at the end that it was suggested through their research.

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 19:51:54 UTC

Prospective cohort studies have shown mixed results on the associations with cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality.

Statement of structure for introduction

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 19:55:35 UTC

The introduction was short and to the point giving heavy description on the missing gaps it was trying to fill and the already studied implications. It also went over what is believed people perceived about the diets from previous research. I personally would not follow this introduction because it is missing the main component of introducing the diets in more depth and talking about the study and how the diet correlates with the study.

Methods

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 19:56:03 UTC

They used ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study data are available through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Biologic Specimen and Data Repository Information Coordinating Center. Interested researchers may also contact the ARIC study Coordinating Center to access data and study materials.

What is known-Study design

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:11:13 UTC

Data used was from a community‐based cohort of middle‐aged men and women (45–64 years of age at baseline, n=15 792) in the ARIC study.

Study Design

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:13:51 UTC

Their Specific Focus was from 1987 to 1989, participants from 4 US communities (Washington County, Maryland; Forsyth County, North Carolina; Minneapolis, MN; and Jackson, MS) were enrolled in the study. Follow‐up visits then occurred in 1990 to 1992 (visit 2), 1993 to 1995 (visit 3), 1996 to 1998 (visit 4), 2011 to 2013 (visit 5), and 2016 to 2017 (visit 6).

Dietary assessment-Big Idea

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:17:52 UTC

At baseline and visit 3, participants’ usual intake of foods and beverages was assessed by trained interviewers using a modified version of the 66‐item semiquantitative Willett food frequency questionnaire.

Dietary assessment-Objective of current study

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:25:05 UTC

Participants indicated the frequency with which they consumed foods and beverages of a defined serving size in the previous year.

Dietary assessment-Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:27:35 UTC

Nutrient and total energy intakes were derived through multiplying consumption of food by nutrient content of each item in the food frequency questionnaire.

Plant based diet scores-Big idea

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:38:59 UTC

The ARIC study did not assess whether participants were following a plant‐based diet.

Brief statement on methods

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:43:00 UTC

I liked the flow of the methods so much better than the introduction in this paper because it follows my methods section exactly. I ended up breaking it into little section explaining recruitment, tools used, how the data would be processed for each tool etc. I noticed how each section followed the start with the big picture and then narrow in model.

Plant based diet scores-Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:44:47 UTC

To find information out they used established plant‐based diet scores (PDI, healthy plant‐based diet index [hPDI], less healthy [unhealthy] plant‐based diet index [uPDI], and provegetarian diet index) to assess participants’ degree of adherence to plant‐based diets on the basis of their reported dietary intake on the food frequency questionnaire.

Plant based diet-Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:45:50 UTC

They also used these 4 plant‐based diet indexes to provide comprehensive and nuanced characterization of dietary intakes because the indexes differed from each other in scoring of food groups within the indexes.

Plant based diet scores-problems with previous studies

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:47:19 UTC

The PDI was more comprehensive than the pro-vegetarian index in that the PDI assessed dietary intakes of plant foods high in refined carbohydrates (fruit juices, sugar‐sweetened beverages, sweets, and desserts)

Plant based diet scores-Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:49:11 UTC

The PDI, hPDI, and uPDI had a possible range from 17 to 85, and the pro-vegetarian diet index had a possible range from 11 to 55. All scores were divided into quintiles for analyses.

Statistical analysis-Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 20:57:34 UTC

We calculated dietary intakes from baseline and visit 3 using cumulative averaged diet with respect to each outcome

Statistical analysis-Big idea

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:00:00 UTC

They examined whether the observed associations differed by sex (women/men), age (less than the median, greater than or equal to the median), race (white or black), weight status (normal weight, overweight, or obese), and diabetes mellitus status (diabetes mellitus or no diabetes mellitus).

Statistical Analysis-Objective of current study

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:02:38 UTC

To create the final analytic sample of 12 168, we first excluded participants with implausible total energy intake (<500 or >3500 kcal for women and <700 or >4500 kcal for men, n=383). Then, we excluded those whose race/ethnicity was neither black nor white (n=47), blacks in Minnesota (n=18), and blacks in Maryland (n=23). We also excluded participants with a history of myocardial infarction, heart or arterial surgery, heart failure, stroke, and cancer at baseline because diagnosis of these conditions may change dietary habits (n=2677).

Results-Big idea

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:16:11 UTC

The PDI ranged from 28 to 74, the hPDI ranged from 29 to 77, the uPDI ranged from 27 to 76, and the pro-vegetarian diet index ranged from 15 to 54.

Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:17:42 UTC

Those in the highest quintiles of PDI, hPDI, and pro-vegetarian diet index were more likely to be women, white, high school graduates, and physically active and were less likely to be obese, to be current smokers, to have diabetes mellitus, and to have hypertension at baseline compared with those in the lowest quintiles.

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:18:44 UTC

Those in the highest quintile of uPDI were more likely to be men, to be younger, to be current smokers, and to drink a higher amount of alcohol and less likely to be high school graduates, obese, and physically active compared with those in the lowest quintile.

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:19:25 UTC

Those in the highest quintile of uPDI were more likely to have hypertension, but less likely to have diabetes mellitus.

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:23:51 UTC

Their Specific Focus was that those in the highest quintiles of PDI, hPDI, and pro-vegetarian diet had higher intake of carbohydrates and plant protein as a percentage of energy, fiber, and micronutrients, including potassium, magnesium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, and folate, and lower intake of saturated fat and cholesterol compared with those in the lower quintiles.

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:25:46 UTC

There was a significant lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality across quintiles of PDI, hPDI, and pro-vegetarian diet index only in the minimally adjusted models that accounted for age, sex, race‐center, and total energy intake.

Problem with other studies

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:26:33 UTC

They did not observe a strong and consistent pattern for incidence rates of the outcomes across quintiles of uPDI.

Discussion-Big idea

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:27:50 UTC

They found that higher adherence to an overall plant‐based diet or a pro-vegetarian diet, diets that are higher in plant foods and lower in animal foods, was associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality.

Knowledge gap identified

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:33:20 UTC

Healthy plant‐based diets, which are higher in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, tea, and coffee and lower in animal foods, were associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality.

Brief statement on results

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:36:29 UTC

I think they used adequate tables to visually show how results were processed. I also followed the model of breaking up the results for each kind of assessment that was performed and explained how it was processed. I think if it was one big jumble it would have been too hard to read. I would only change the short hand codes they used because if I were non science that would have meant nothing to me.

Problem with previous experiments

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:52:25 UTC

This study is one of the few studies that used data from a general population compared to others who didnt.

What is known

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:53:30 UTC

The EPIC (European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition)‐Oxford study of vegetarians, vegans, and health‐conscious individuals reported that the risk of incident ischemic heart disease and deaths caused by circulatory disease was lower in vegetarians than nonvegetarians.

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:54:25 UTC

Those findings were not replicated in population‐based studies in Australia and the United States.

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:55:16 UTC

The prior study that used data from a nationally representative sample administered a brief questionnaire that assessed the frequency with which participants consumed specific types of animal food (red meat, processed meat, poultry, or fish or seafood) to characterize participants’ dietary intakes.⁶ Such dietary measurement may not have adequately represented dietary patterns on the basis of abundance of plant foods relative to animal foods.

Objective of their study

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:56:10 UTC

The plant‐based diet indexes we used in this study captured a wider spectrum of intake of plant foods and animal foods, leveraging the available dietary data, and allowed us to move away from defining plant‐based diets strictly based on exclusion of animal foods.

Brief statement Discussion

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 21:58:39 UTC

The discussion was just as good as the other paragraphs because it started with the main big point of why they did the study, then pointed out the gaps of the other current studies an then went into detail what they did to fill those gaps. This is a great body structure and I can take note on this particular section for my own.

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 22:00:08 UTC

The results diverged from a prior study that found a lower risk of coronary heart disease with an hPDI and an elevated risk with a uPDI. It is surprising that no association was observed for hPDI and cardiovascular disease in our study, given that higher intakes of foods that have been associated with a lower risk with coronary heart disease were scored higher (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and plant proteins) in hPDI

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 22:01:48 UTC

Their Specific Focus was proving that those in the highest quintiles of PDI and pro-vegetarian diet index had higher intakes of fruits and vegetables, fiber, polyunsaturated fats, and many micronutrients and lower intakes of red and processed meat and saturated fat. All these characteristics can contribute to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering blood pressure and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, reducing inflammation, and improving glycemic control.

Summary Paragraph for article #2

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 22:11:57 UTC

I feel like this article closely followed a structure that is taught. It was easy to read in the correct orders and even had sub divisions so it was easy to locate a piece of information instead of having to waste a lot of time looking for it. The grammar was easy to read and had valid sources cited. It included multiple experiment components because it did have a shift in discovery which was not initially planned. It did fill a gap in knowledge compared to studies like this in the past but it did say there was more research needed in the field still.

Brief statement- Introduction

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 22:13:13 UTC

It starts by talking about the interest or appeal in a vegetarian diet and then explain why they are doing it. The introduction also opens the reader up to the idea that this specific research paper is going to be on perceived ideas rather than actual data collected. This made me question the validity of the entire information gathered. I still thought this was a good paper to break down because it was simpler for me to follow when breaking it into pieces.

Brief statement data analysis

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 22:20:30 UTC

It then went into the data analysis which explained what type of test was being performed on the information that was collected from the questionnaires. There was a clear chart of the data collected and the outcome of the test run so there was a visual to follow. I felt like this was a beginner version of data analysis and was smaller than expected.

Brief statement results

nicolebible — 2021-09-01 22:24:44 UTC

In the results it showed what data could or couldn't be used. I found this especially useful because my study had a lot of incomplete data that had to be discarded. This portion seemed to be more in depth and had a good structure.