Outcomes of a short term dietary intervention involving vegan soul food restaurants on African American adults’ perceived barriers, benefits, and dietary acceptability of adopting a plant-based diet

Abstract

Plant-based diets are associated with numerous health benefits, but there has been limited work that focuses on diverse populations. The purpose of this study was to determine if encouraging a sample of African American adults, located in the Southern United States, to dine out at local vegan soul food restaurants helped to decrease perceived barriers and increase perceived benefits and dietary acceptability of a plant-based diet more so than being asked to prepare all meals at home. Thirty African American participants (mean age = 42.8 ± 12.2 years and mean BMI = 36.9 ± 9.0 kg/m2) were asked to adhere to a vegan diet for 3 weeks and were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions: (1) a Standard group that was asked to prepare all meals at home, or (2) a Restaurant group that was asked to eat out a few times a week at local vegan soul food restaurants in addition to preparing meals at home. The results indicated that in just 3 weeks there were significant reductions in several perceived barriers and increases in some perceived benefits and aspects of dietary acceptability in both groups. Additionally, weight loss within each group was significant (Standard group: −1.6 [−4.4 to −0.9] kg, P < 0.001; Restaurant group: −1.9 [−3.1 to −0.1] kg, P < 0.01), but there were no significant between-group differences (P = 0.72). Future work should continue to focus on providing culturally-relevant vegan restaurant options, identify easy ways to shop for and prepare plant-based diets during an intervention, and examine potential health benefits that may result from eating more plant-based foods.