Effectiveness of a Theory-Informed Documentary to Reduce Consumption of Meat and Animal Products: Three Randomized Controlled Experiments

How may we effectively motivate people to reduce the consumption of meat? Results of a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

PURPOSE

Excessive meat consumption (MC) is associated with multiple health risks. Additionally, it can undermine environmental sustainability and affect the potential improvement of animal welfare. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of literacy interventions (LIs) in reducing MC.

METHODS

Studies assessing the efficacy of LIs addressing health risks, environmental sustainability and/or animal welfare in reducing MC were searched. We used random-effects meta-analysis to estimate the overall efficacy and conducted subgroup analyses to identify the most effective information contents. Additionally, meta-regression analyses investigated participants' age, LI duration, and follow-up length influence on LIs' efficacy.

RESULTS

Fourteen studies involving more than ten thousand subjects were meta-analyzed. The pooled estimate showed that LIs had a small (Hedges's g = 0.15; 95%CI: 0.06-0.25) but statistically significant effect in reducing MC. Subgroup analysis showed that the highest efficacy was achieved when subjects were alarmed about health risks (g = 0.29; 95% CI: -0.02, 0.60), compared to informing about the risks for the environment (g = 0.18; 95% CI: -0.15, 0.51) and for animal welfare (g = 0.02; 95%CI: -0.08, 0.11). The meta-regression analysis indicated that LIs had greater efficacy in younger individuals and when the intervention duration was longer. Conversely, it was suggested that efficacy improves as the length of follow-up increases.

CONCLUSIONS

Informing about health risks related to MC temporarily decreased its intake, while informing about the impact on environmental sustainability or animal welfare was ineffective. Furthermore, long-lasting LIs achieve long-term dietary change toward MC.

Measuring and shaping the nutritional environment via food sales logs: case studies of campus-wide food choice and a call to action

Although diets influence health and the environment, measuring and changing nutrition is challenging. Traditional measurement methods face challenges, and designing and conducting behavior-changing interventions is conceptually and logistically complicated. Situated local communities such as university campuses offer unique opportunities to shape the nutritional environment and promote health and sustainability. The present study investigates how passively sensed food purchase logs typically collected as part of regular business operations can be used to monitor and measure on-campus food consumption and understand food choice determinants. First, based on 38 million sales logs collected on a large university campus over eight years, we perform statistical analyses to quantify spatio-temporal determinants of food choice and characterize harmful patterns in dietary behaviors, in a case study of food purchasing at EPFL campus. We identify spatial proximity, food item pairing, and academic schedules (yearly and daily) as important determinants driving the on-campus food choice. The case studies demonstrate the potential of food sales logs for measuring nutrition and highlight the breadth and depth of future possibilities to study individual food-choice determinants. We describe how these insights provide an opportunity for stakeholders, such as campus offices responsible for managing food services, to shape the nutritional environment and improve health and sustainability by designing policies and behavioral interventions. Finally, based on the insights derived through the case study of food purchases at EPFL campus, we identify five future opportunities and offer a call to action for the nutrition research community to contribute to ensuring the health and sustainability of on-campus populations-the very communities to which many researchers belong.

Exploring the dynamics of women consumer preference, attitude and behaviour towards meat and meat products consumption in India

Urbanisation and changing food habits in India have resulted in a shift in consumption from cereals to protein-based foods. Women play a major role in India in all activities related to food at household and therefore, the current paper reports the findings of the qualitative work conducted to understand women consumers' preference and perception towards meat and its attributes as a function of their awareness. The study collected the responses from 510 women residents of Metropolitan city of Bengaluru, India using questionnaires directly by face-to-face interviews and generated data on preference for fresh meat, purchase habits, value added meat products consumption, awareness about meat quality, and future expectations about meat sector. Findings from the current study indicate that, chicken is the most preferred meat (41.76%) while beef was least preferred (5.88%). The 40.59% of respondents preferred meat tenderness as an important eating quality followed by juiciness (37.06%) and flavor (12.94%). Consumers rated ritual slaughter, animal welfare and food safety as relevant issues in meat production, whereas regulations pertaining to meat production, processing of meat and food labelling were of minor significance. The study provide an insight into the significance of various consumer behaviour with respect to choice of meat, awareness on ritual slaughter, animal welfare and processing which is helpful in prioritizing future consumer research and policy decisions in India.

Correction: Mathur et al. Effectiveness of a Theory-Informed Documentary to Reduce Consumption of Meat and Animal Products: Three Randomized Controlled Experiments. Nutrients 2021, 13, 4555

The authors wish to make the following correction to this paper [...].

Lowering Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption With Environmental, Animal Welfare, and Health Arguments in Italy: An Online Experiment

Introduction

In addition to being a source of valuable nutrients, meat consumption has several negative consequences; for the environment, for animal welfare, and for human health. To persuade people to lower their meat consumption, it is assumed that the personal relevance of the topic of lowering meat consumption is important as it determines how people perceive the quality of the arguments.

Method

In an experimental exploratory field study (n = 139), participants recruited from the general Italian population were randomized to one of the four conditions with a text with pictures on the environmental, animal welfare, or health consequences of meat consumption, or a text on mustard (the control condition). The dependent variables were self-reported consumption of red meat and processed meat after 2 weeks. Personal relevance was assessed in the pre-test with self-reported meat consumption and intention.

Results

The interaction between pre-test meat consumption and condition was significant: In participants who scored high on pre-test meat consumption, the self-reported red meat consumption after 2 weeks in the health argument condition was significantly lower compared to the control condition and the environmental argument condition. The effects of pre-test intention as a moderator were less certain.

Discussion

The persuasive effects of the different arguments made a difference only in people who ate a relatively high level of meat in pre-test, and the type of arguments made a difference. Although the present outcomes are caused by the specific formulations of the arguments in this study, the results do show that it is relevant to choose the arguments carefully to ensure effectiveness.