Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice
Article in Press, Corrected Proof
doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2006.12.005

Factors affecting adherence to a raw vegan diet
Lilli B Link

Summary

The purpose of this study was to evaluate adherence and identify predictors
of adherence to a raw   vegan  diet (i.e., uncooked plant foods) following
a stay at a raw   vegan  institute. In this cohort study of guests at a raw
vegan institute, subjects completed written questionnaires upon arrival and
12 weeks later. Of 107 eligible guests, 84 participated. Mean age was 54
years, 23 were male, and 73 white. Fifty-one completed the 12-week
follow-up. Eight (16%) reported their diet to be >= 80% raw   vegan  at
baseline and 14 (28%) at follow-up. Based on a raw   vegan  dietary
adherence score (range 0?42) created for this study, mean adherence (SD)
increased from 15.1 (5.4) to 17.0 (5.8) over 12 weeks (p=0.03). Baseline
predictors of adherence included: education (beta=0.95), severity of
disease (beta=0.98), and self-efficacy to adhere (beta=0.72). Future
interventions that evaluate this diet should address self-efficacy, an
important, potentially remediable predictor of adherence.

Article Outline

Introduction
Methods
Statistical analyses
Results
Discussion
Acknowledgements
Appendix. Appendix
References

Interesting quotes:

However, only 14 [out of 84] reported at least 80% adherence to the raw
vegan diet. In addition to already following the diet, the variables that
best predicted adherence to the diet were more education, greater comorbid
disease, greater self-efficacy for adherence, fewer close friends and
relatives, and worse physical quality of life.

This study provides evidence that some people, especially those with severe
disease diagnoses, can adopt and adhere to the extreme dietary change from
a largely Western to a raw vegan diet; but even in this self-selected
population, only a small proportion were able to adhere strictly.

PS I have read full-text. I have some reservations re: study methods, and
plan to discuss them with the authors/journal editor.

Sample paragraphs, from Introduction:

Studies have identified a variety of factors associated with dietary
change.[1] and [2] According to one heuristic framework, the "adherence
model," dietary adherence is affected by numerous variables, including
self-efficacy, perceived control over one's health, perceived severity of
the illness, social support, readiness to change, past adherence, and
sociodemographic factors.3 Although considerable information about
predictors of relatively modest dietary changes is available,[1] and [2]
little is known about the factors associated with more extreme dietary
changes.

Raw vegan food (uncooked food prepared without any animal products, dairy,
or eggs) has become increasingly popular recently. In the ancient world,
the Pythagoreans advocated a raw food diet. Germans who settled in Southern
California at the turn of the 19th century brought the raw vegan diet to
the United States, and in the 1960s, Ann Wigmore, co-founder of the
Hippocrates Health Institute, further popularized it.4 Advocates maintain
that the diet benefits both healthy individuals and those with chronic
disease.

We chose to study the raw vegan diet because it appears to have a number of
health benefits, is increasingly popular, and has not been well studied.
The purpose of this study was to identify predictors of adherence to a raw
vegan dietary program among guests at a raw vegan institute. The diet
provided and promoted at this institute consists of uncooked organic
vegetable dishes and wheatgrass and other vegetable juices (see Box 1). We
chose to study this type of diet because it has been described as
beneficial in some anecdotal reports 13 and because each of its components
is reported to have health benefits.[18], [19] and [20]

Full-text on sciencedirect website.

Tom Billings