Testing the Feasibility and Impact of a Whole-Food Plant-Based Diet Intervention on College Students

The goal of this pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and impacts of a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) vegan diet intervention for undergraduate university students randomly assigned, stratifying by sex and race/ethnicity, to one of two intervention groups (each with a distinct teaching-learning design, i.e., interactive (IA) versus lecture-based (LB)) and a control group. The main questions the researchers aimed to answer were: * Were the study procedures feasible and acceptable for the overall sample and were the intervention sessions, following a WFPB vegan diet, and the prospect of continuing this diet feasible and acceptable for the intervention participants? * Were there greater improvements in diet quality, WFPB vegan diet adherence, physical and mental health, and intrapersonal factor outcomes for the intervention group engaging in interactive learning compared to the intervention group learning through traditional lecture? And were there greater improvements in these outcomes for both intervention groups compared with the control group? The researchers compared the group outcome means for the two intervention groups against one another and those for the two intervention groups against those of the control group. Study participants completed two sets of measurements over the course of 6 weeks. * All participants completed online baseline and post-intervention surveys and in-person baseline and post-intervention biometric measurements. * Only the intervention group participants attended three 75-minute consecutive weekly intervention sessions to learn about different aspects of the WFPB vegan diet between the two sets of survey and biometric measurements.

Inclusion Criteria: * Being enrolled full-time in an undergraduate program at XX university * Being willing to participate in study activities * Not already following a whole-food plant-based vegan diet Exclusion Criteria: * Having a physical health condition requiring medication * Having a or mental health condition requiring medication * Having an active eating disorder * Having an active substance use disorder * Having a food or latex allergy * Having a serious food intolerance * Having a fingerstick phobia * Being pregnant * Breastfeeding * Being in a weight-loss program or on a weight-loss medication