Compliance, Palatability and Feasibility of PALEOLITHIC and Australian Guide to Healthy Eating Diets in Healthy Women: A 4-Week Dietary Intervention

Angela Genoni,Amanda Devine,Philippa Lyons-Wall,Johnny Lo

doi:10.3390/nu8080481

Abstract

(1) Background/Objectives: The Paleolithic diet has been receiving media coverage in Australia and claims to improve overall health. The diet removes grains and dairy, whilst encouraging consumption of fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs and nuts. Our aim was to compare the diet to the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) in terms of compliance, palatability and feasibility; (2) Subjects/Methods: 39 healthy women (age 47 ± 13 years, BMI 27 ± 4 kg/m2) were randomised to an ad-libitum Paleolithic (n = 22) or AGHE diet (n = 17) for 4-weeks. A food checklist was completed daily, with mean discretionary consumption (serves/day) calculated to assess compliance. A 12-item questionnaire was administered post intervention to assess palatability and feasibility; (3) Results: The AGHE group reported greater daily consumption of discretionary items (1.0 + 0.6 vs. 0.57 + 0.6 serves/day, p = 0.03). Compared to the AGHE group, the Paleolithic group reported a significantly greater number of events of diarrhoea (23%, 0%, p = 0.046), costs associated with grocery shopping (69%, 6% p < 0.01) and belief that the diet was not healthy (43%, 0% p < 0.01); (4) Conclusions: Compliance to both diets was high but the potential side effects and increased cost suggest that the Paleolithic diet may not be practical in clinical/public health settings. Further studies are required to assess longer term feasibility.

Highlights

The Paleolithic diet has been receiving a high level of media coverage in Australia [1,2]
The diet recommends the elimination of processed foods and sugars, it is contrary to the advice provided by the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) [3], given that it excludes two major food groups, grains and dairy
The mean number of daily discretionary serves during the study was almost two fold higher in the AGHE compared to the Paleolithic group (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

The Paleolithic diet has been receiving a high level of media coverage in Australia [1,2]. The diet recommends the elimination of processed foods and sugars, it is contrary to the advice provided by the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) [3], given that it excludes two major food groups, grains and dairy. A limited number of smaller studies have reported benefits to cholesterol, weight control and glucose metabolism over short-term periods [4,5,6,7]. A Swedish study found that women following a Paleolithic diet reported difficulty changing food habits and longed for restricted food after a period of time [8]. Manheimer et al [9] identified the potential barrier of restricting the consumption of two entire food groups. Metzgar et al [10]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion