The following essay describes a study made of eight American films, where the purpose of the study was to analyze how veganism was portrayed in the chosen films. Through a semiotic analysis, the aim was to investigate how views on traditional gender roles are reproduced in the way that the practice of veganism and discourse on veganism is portrayed in modern cinema. The reason for this study was firstly because most vegans are women, with a sizeable margin; close to 80% of vegans in America are women, while almost half of vegetarians are men. The question why so many vegans are women is something worth studying closer. Secondly, there has been very few studies made on this topic. There is a sufficient amount of texts which acknowledge and discuss the correlation between the practice of not eating animals and gender issues. Further there are accounts made on how vegans are typically portrayed in media in a society where the norm is to exploit animals. These accounts demonstrate that vegans are often portrayed unfavorably. However scientific studies made on how vegans are portrayed in film are practically nonexistent. This despite cinema being a large and powerful media tool for reproducing social and cultural values. The discourse on gender and veganism were missing a valuable angle and this was something that this essay aimed to bring to the discussions of both veganism and gender. By searching on internet for films which include either vegan characters or the word vegan, there were eight films found. And through an analysis of these the results concluded that veganism is indeed portrayed negatively in movies as well, however there is also another dimension to this negative perspective towards vegans: these negative portrayals of veganism in film is grounded in archaic views and values on traditional gender roles and equality.

Bakgrund Vegetarisk kosthållning blir vanligare och intresset för veganism ökar. Kosthållningen kan innebära hälsofördelar vilket är ett av motiven till veganism. Trots ökad popularitet cirkulerar fortfarande fördomar kring kosthållningen. Syfte Syftet med studien var att undersöka veganers motiv till, upplevelser av och eventuella svårigheter med kosthållningen. Syftet med studien var även att undersöka veganers uppgivna intag av frukt, grönsaker och bär, utrymmesmat, ersättningsprodukter samt kosttillskott. Metod Veganer rekryterades via Facebook där 517 veganer besvarade en webbenkät innehållande frågor om bland annat motiv till veganism, upplevda hälsoförändringar, livsmedelsintag och svårigheter. Statistiska test som användes var: Chi-två test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman correlation coefficient och One sample Wilcoxon Ranked. Signifikansnivån sattes till p<0,05. Resultat De vanligaste motiven till veganism var etik (94,2%), miljö (60,1%) och hälsa (41,2%). Många deltagare hade upplevt positiva hälsoförändringar efter kostombytet, (77,3%) till exempel mindre mag-tarmbesvär (45,8%) och mera energi (41,8%). Deltagarna uppgav att omgivningen ofta hade åsikter om kosthållningen (p<0,001), samtidigt som de försökte inspirera omgivningen att äta växtbaserat (p<0,001). Den vanligaste svårigheten med kosthållningen var restaurangbesök (34,6%). Majoriteten av deltagarna använde sojabaserade köttersättningsprodukter (99,6%) och mjölkersättningsprodukter (99%). Kosttillskott användes frekvent (85,5%), framför allt B12 (56,3%). Slutsats Veganerna åt mera frukt, grönsaker och kosttillskott än genomsnittspopulationen. Många veganer upplevde dock svårigheter med kosthållningen. Detta kunde leda till undvikande av växtbaserad kost trots möjliga hälsofördelar. Även om det fanns hälsofördelar med kosthållningen valde majoriteten av veganer kosten av etiska skäl. Trots utmaningarna är det lättare att vara vegan idag. Till exempel är utbudet av ersättningsprodukter större än tidigare. Detta underlättar vardagen för veganer men kan dock innebära ett mindre näringsrikt matintag, vilket kan göra den veganska kosthållningen mindre fördelaktig.

Approximately 7.5 million people in the U.S. subscribe to a vegan diet and thus don't consume any animal products such as meat, fish, dairy, or eggs. Despite the considerable growth of veganism in the last decade, little is known about how people communicate about such a seemingly restrictive diet and what implications this might have for communication theory and the growing field of food studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how vegans communicatively negotiate their identity through the lens of Hecht's (1993) communication theory of identity (CTI). I conducted phone interviews with forty vegans residing across the U.S. and completed thematic analysis to qualitatively analyze interviews. Four themes emerged to describe the ways vegans enact their identity (Facilitating Smooth Interactions, Wearing Symbols of Veganism, Vegan Food Preparation and Consumption, Education and Community Engagement), and three themes emerged to illustrate the relational identities that vegans co-construct with members of their social network (Accepted and Supported, Inconvenience to the Family, Happiest with a Vegan (Friendly) Partner). Vegans explained that they engage in a variety of communication strategies (e.g., focusing on the positive) to thoughtfully craft an identity that will be well-received by others. Additionally, participants explained that they are not only supported by members of their social network, but that this support is an integral part of their relational identity. Lastly, I analyzed participant accounts to see if any discrepancies (i.e., identity gaps; Jung & Hecht, 2004) emerged between the ways vegans negotiate their identity. Results indicate that some vegans experience or create up to four different identity gaps between different layers of identity (Personal-Enacted Gap, Relational-Enacted Gap, Enacted-Enacted Gap, Community-Personal Gap). Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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The production of food is responsible for large share of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. There is a wide range of emissions associated with different food-groups. In particular the production of meat from ruminants causes higher emissions compared to plant-based food. This study compared two different types of meat-free diets (ovo-lacto-vegetarian and vegan) in Sweden and the emission of greenhouse gases that are connected to the aliment and beverages that are consumed in these diets. Dietary records were used to obtain real data on what food is consumed on a weekly basis. On average the food consumed by the vegan sample caused lower emissions that the food consumed by the vegetarian sample. The average vegan diet caused 591 kg CO2e per year whereas the average vegetarian diet caused 761 kg CO2e. The annual difference is thus 170 kg. These findings are in line with existing research although recent studies often used hypothetical diets instead of real data.

This pilot study assessed the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of a novel approach to facilitating dietary change and weight loss in obese adults by presenting vegan environmental, health and farm animal treatment information in a 6 week, group-based, educational nutrition program (called a vegan healthy eating program). Twenty-nine (29) medically stable, obese adults were recruited from 3 ambulatory care clinics at UCSF and enrolled using partial randomization into one of two serially occurring intervention groups (Group 1 n=14, followed by Group 2 n=15). A delayed intervention control group (n=9) was used, consisting of participants enrolled in Group 2 who were available for collection of baseline measures prior to the start of Group 1s intervention. All intervention participants provided data immediately following their vegan healthy eating program (2 months post baseline) and again at 3 and 9 months post baseline. 10% of initial contacts (29 patients) met inclusion and exclusion criteria and were enrolled; 25 participants were retained at 3 months, 20 at 9 months. Mean intervention session satisfaction as measured by anonymous surveys using a 1-7 Likert scale (1=extremely unsatisfied, 7=extremely satisfied) was 6.2 (SD=1.1). Statistically significant reductions in calories from animal products, percent fat, cholesterol and increases in the recommended food score, fruits and vegetable servings were observed within the intervention group only, at all timepoints. Mean weight change was +2.8 lbs (3.0, n=8, p=0.035) in control participants after 4.3 weeks, and -3.4 lbs (5.0, n=25, p=0.002), -5.9 lbs (7.7, n=25, p=0.001), and -8.8 lbs (14.2, n=20, p=0.012) after 7.3, 15.6 and 41.7 weeks in intervention participants, respectively. In conclusion, this vegan healthy eating program demonstrated good feasibility, high satisfaction, and facilitated a shift towards a plant-based diet and modest, progressive short-term weight loss among intervention participants.

Diabetes is a global epidemic that has unfortunately been significantly increasing in number of cases annually. It is currently the 7th leading cause of death in the United States and leads to many further complications including cardiovascular disease, neuropathy, retinopathy, and kidney failure. With the increase in Western dietary patterns there has been a subsequent rise in both obesity and diabetes. In fact, type 2 diabetes makes up 90% of diabetes cases and is, in most cases, preventable with lifestyle changes and weight loss. The aim of this review is to look at the option of a plant-based diet as a means of prevention and treatment for type 2 diabetes. In order to understand type 2 diabetes the basics of pathophysiology, risk factors, statistic, complications and current treatments is discussed. Based on an analysis of a low-fat, plant-based diet compared to current conventional type 2 diabetes treatments there is evidence that a vegan diet increases insulin sensitivity, decreases body weight, lowers cardiovascular risk factors, and decreases need for oral antidiabetic treatments. A review of the efficacy of a plant-based diet for treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes is also discussed in-depth. Further studies may be helpful to validate adopting a low-fat, plant-based diet in treatment of type 2 diabetes. Overall, it is important for physicians to address the individual needs of their patients and allow for the option of lifestyle changes with adequate guidance and support.

abstract: Diet quality is closely intertwined with overall health status and deserves close examination. Healthcare providers are stretched thin in the current stressed system and would benefit from a validated tool for rapid assessment of diet quality. The Rapid Eating and Activity Assessment for Participants Short Version (REAP-S) represents one such option. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the REAP-S and Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010) for scoring the diet quality of omnivorous, vegetarian and vegan diets. Eighty-one healthy male and female subjects with an average age of 30.9 years completed the REAP-S as well as a 24-hour dietary recall. REAP-S and HEI-2010 scores were calculated for each subject and evaluated against each other using Spearman correlations and Chi Square. Further analysis was completed to compare diet quality scores of the HEI-2010 and REAP-S by tertiles to examine how closely these two tools score diet quality. The mean HEI-2010 score was 47.4/100 and the mean REAP-S score was 33.5/39. The correlation coefficient comparing the REAP-S to the HEI-2010 was 0.309 (p=0.005), and the REAP-S exhibited a precision of 44.4% to the HEI-2010 for diet quality. The REAP-S significantly correlated with the HEI-2010 for whole fruit (r=0.247, p=0.026), greens and beans (r=0.276, p=0.013), seafood proteins (r=0.298, p=0.007), and fatty acids (r=0.400, p<0.001). When evaluated by diet type, the REAP-S proved to have increased precision in plant-based diets, 50% for vegetarian and 52% for vegan, over omnivorous diets (32%). The REAP-S is a desirable tool to rapidly assess diet quality in the community setting as it is significantly correlated to the HEI-2010 and requires less time, labor and money to score and assess than the HEI-2010. More studies are needed to evaluate the precision and validity of REAP-S in a broader, more diverse population. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Nutrition 2015

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In recent years there has been an increase in the number of vegans in the world. The main goal of my research is to understand the vegan struggles in their daily life and study how Facebook might help them solve these difficulties. This master's thesis focuses on the user perspective and how they perceive barriers to follow a vegetarian lifestyle in Spain. The research questions are about finding those barriers and knowing how they could be solved by using Facebook groups. For this purpose, an ethnographic approach has been used. The target group of this study are vegans who have gone through the time of change and may have had some problems in making that decision. Fifteen vegans have been interviewed to find challenges that have arisen when they have changed their lifestyles. After that, an online ethnography study has been performed by observing the content of a Facebook group, called "Vegetarianos y Veganos – España", focusing on publications where group members were asking for advice, information or solutions. The results indicate that the investigated group of Facebook is essential for the exchange of information, knowledge and experience. The members also contribute to increased knowledge through publications and comments. But most importantly, the members receive solutions to the problems they share with the group.