Assessing Plant-Based Diets in Taiwan Using a Harmonized Food Description-Incorporated Framework

Area of Science:

• Nutrition Science
• Dietary Assessment
• Public Health

Background:

• Existing food classification systems pose challenges for studying emerging dietary patterns like plant-based diets (PBD).
• Lack of standardization and interoperability complicates cross-study comparisons in dietary research.
• Developing adaptable frameworks is crucial for advancing PBD research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a plant-based diet food classification system (PBDFC) by adapting the harmonized, food description-incorporated, food classification system (HFDFC).
• To evaluate dietary intake and nutritional status among adults in Taiwan using the developed PBDFC system.
• To assess the relationship between plant-based diet adherence and health indicators like Body Mass Index (BMI) and Nutrient-Rich Food Index (NRF).

Main Methods:

• Utilized a repeated cross-sectional design with 24-hour dietary recall data from the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (2013-2020).
• Applied the HFDFC system to create the PBDFC system for classifying plant-based dietary patterns.
• Calculated Plant-Based Diet Index (PDI), BMI, and NRF for participants aged 20-70 years.

Main Results:

• Adults aged 46-70 years exhibited higher adherence to overall (O-PDI) and healthy (H-PDI) plant-based diets and lower adherence to less healthy (Lh-PDI) patterns.
• Higher H-PDI scores correlated with significantly lower BMI, even with higher average BMI in this group.
• Participants with higher H-PDI scores demonstrated superior nutritional status, indicated by higher NRF values.

Conclusions:

• The HFDFC-based PBDFC system provides a flexible and scalable framework for classifying plant-based diets.
• This standardized system facilitates future cross-national research on plant-based eating patterns.
• The findings highlight the potential health benefits of adhering to healthier plant-based dietary patterns, particularly in older adults.