Duration: January 2022 to April 2025
Funding: JPI HDHL
Project coordination: Eva Schernhammer, Medical University of Vienna
Principal Investigator Germany: Dr. Markus Keller
Study design
The aim of the VEGANScreener project is the prevention and early detection of nutritional deficiencies in European people who follow a vegan diet. For this purpose, a standardized and short web- and app-based dietary screening tool is being developed to assess and monitor food and nutrient intake of vegans.
To validate the screener, around 400 vegans from five European countries (Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Czech Republic) were included in the VEGANScreener study. In Germany, 102 participants were examined at the study centre in Bad Homburg in September and October 2023. Data collection included anthropometric measurements (weight, height, waist-to-hip-ratio), measurement of blood pressure, collection of fasting blood, spontaneous urine and 24-hour urine samples, completion of the previously developed VEGANScreener (dietary screening tool) and completion of different questionnaires. In addition, nutrient intake was assessed using 4-day weighed dietary records. In addition, subtypes of vegans will be identified using metabolomics.
The results are currently being evaluated.
The newly developed VEGANScreener tool will be available both for health service providers (information and education website) and for vegans (app for self-assessment of diet quality).
VEGANScreener is a project of the STAMIFY call of the Joint Programming Initiative “A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life” (JPI HDHL). Further information can be found here.