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Nutritional Evaluation - NuEva Study

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Nutritional Evaluation
Interventions
Dietary Supplement: menu plans
Registration Number
NCT03582020
Lead Sponsor
University of Jena
Brief Summary

The NuEva study focusses on the development and the validation of nutritional concepts for healthy persons with different dietary habits, such as Western diet, flexitarians, vegetarians, as well as vegans. The practical nutritional concepts will ensure an optimal intake of macro- and micronutrients according to the guidelines of the nutritional societies and contribute to prevention and therapy of civilization disease, such as cardiovascular diseases. In addition, the contribution of the nutritional habits on health and disease status (focus cardiovascular diseases) will be evaluated.

Detailed Description

The implementation of the vegetarian and vegan lifestyle is characterized by omitting defined food groups such as meat, sausage (vegetarians) or additionally dairy products and honey (vegans). This bears the risk of undersupply with valuable nutrients. Critical nutrients in the vegetarian-vegan lifestyle are low intakes of vitamin B12, vitamin D, n-3 LC-PUFA, calcium, iron, zinc as well as a high phytate intake.

The hype of the vegetarian and vegan lifestyle in combination with hints for critical nutrients following the adoption to these eating habits highlights the need of a comprehensive data collection that allows for making recommendations based on reliable scientific evidence.

To address this need, the proposed NuEva study will enroll 55 vegetarians (adherence of at least 1 year), 55 vegans (adherence of at least 1 year), as well as 55 flexitarians (characteristics: selected and rare meat/sausage consumption, once or twice per week, adherence of at least 1 year). Further, 55 participants who consume a Western diet (adherence of at least 1 year) will be recruited as control group).

Run-in/screening To record and document the varieties in dietary practices within and among each group, the 14 d run-in phase of the proposed study will include individual assessments of dietary habits using self-reports (FFPs, lifestyle questionnaires).

Screening (sampling): comprehensive nutrient analyses (vitamins, minerals, trace elements) in plasma/serum samples

Intervention Based on the screening data, critical nutrients will be identified for each participant and summarized for each group. Based on these data and published scientific data, defined nutrition plans and recommendations ensuring adequate nutrient intake will be developed for each group (according to the guidelines of the German Society of Nutrition (DGE)). The plans are adapted to individual energy requirements based on basal metabolic rate (BMR) and physical activity (PAL) of each study participant. The compliance with the menu plans and the physiological impact on health and disease status will be controlled by analyzing nutrient status in blood samples, which are complemented by metabolomic profiling every 6 months. In addition, a regularly health check and nutritional counselling in combination with the analysis of blood lipids and nutrition status are planned every 3 months. Optionally, we are interested to investigate the relationships between the different dietary habits and the participants' microbiomes. Therefore, collection of feces samples every 12 month is envisaged.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
55
Inclusion Criteria
  • BMI < 30 kg/m2
  • Participants must be subjectively healthy
  • Adherence to one of the four groups (Western diet, flexitarians, vegetarians, vegans) confirmed by lifestyle and nutrition questionnaires, food frequency protocol (7 d)
  • Precondition: stable eating habits for at least two years before enrollment
Exclusion Criteria
  • Subjects with any acute or chronic disease (tumor, infection, other), gastrointestinal diseases, diabetes mellitus (type I, II), chronic renal disease, diseases of the parathyroids, diseases necessitating regular phlebotomies
  • Intake of additional dietary supplements (e.g. fish oil capsules, vitamins, minerals etc.)
  • Weight loss or weight gain (> 3 kg) during the last three months before study begin
  • Pregnancy or lactation
  • Transfusion of blood in the last three months before blood sample taking

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Flexitariansmenu plansIntervention: Menu plans and recommendations for persons, who rarely consume meat and meat products (predominantly high-quality products; ≤ 2 times / week) = flexitarians
Vegansmenu plansIntervention: Menu plans and recommendations for persons who do not eat products from animal origin (vegans)
Vegetariansmenu plansIntervention: Menu plans and recommendations for persons who do not eat meat and sausage (vegetarians)
Traditional Western Dietmenu plansIntervention: Menu plans and recommendations for persons who consume a traditional Western diet (daily consumption of meat and sausage)
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
blood lipids after implementation of menu planschange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

LDL/HDL ratio and blood lipids (total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides in mmol/l) after implementation of menu plans

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
vitamin B12change from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

vitamin B12 (pmol/l)

ironchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

iron (µmol/l)

kaliumchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

kalium (mmol/l)

lipoprotein(a)change from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

lipoprotein(a) (mg/l)

diastolic blood pressurechange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)

vitamin Achange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

vitamin A (mmol/l)

folic acidchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

folic acid (µg/l)

transferinchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

transferin (g/l)

homoargininechange from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

homoarginine (µmol/l)

glucosechange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

glucose (mmol/l)

fibrinogenchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

fibrinogen (g/l)

Basal metabolic rate (BMR)change from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

basal metabolic rate (BMR)

vitamin Dchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

vitamin D (nmol/l)

vitamin B1change from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

vitamin B1 (nmol/l)

metabolic profilingchange from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

Metabolic profiling (186 endogenous metabolites, AbsoluteIDQ p180 Kit from Biocrates)

high sensitive c-reactive proteinchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

high sensitive c-reactive protein (mg/l)

asymmetric dimethylargininechange from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

asymmetric dimethylarginine, ADMA (µmol/l)

cystatin Cchange from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

cystatin C (marker for kidney function), mg/l

Anthropometric datachange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

body mass index (kg/m2)

systolic blood pressurechange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)

Fatty acid distribution in plasma lipids und erythrocyte lipidschange from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

Fatty acid distribution in plasma lipids und erythrocyte lipids (\> 90 fatty acids, including SFA, MUFA, PUFA; % fatty acid methyl esters (FAME))

calciumchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

calcium (mmol/l)

apolipoproteinschange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

apolipoprotein AI, B (g/l)

homocysteinechange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

homocysteine (µmol/l)

HbA1cchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

HbA1c (%)

Bioelectrical impedancechange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

bioelectrical impedance

vitamin Echange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

vitamin E (µmol/l)

vitamin B6change from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

vitamin B6 (nmol/l)

ferritinchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

ferritin (µg/l)

trimethylamine N-oxidechange from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

trimethylamine N-oxide, TMAO (µmol/l)

insulinchange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

insulin (mU/l)

alpha prothrombin timechange from baseline after 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks (optional after 60, 72, 84, 96 weeks)

alpha prothrombin time (s)

NT-pro-BNPchange from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

NT-pro-BNP (marker for cardiac function, volume regulation), pg/ml

troponinchange from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

troponin (TnT or TnI - marker for myocardial necrosis), pg/ml

galectin 3change from baseline after 48 weeks (optional after 96 weeks)

galectin 3 (marker for fibrosis), ng/ml

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Friedrich-Schiller-University

🇩🇪

Jena, Thuringia, Germany

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