Abstract
An emerging area of nutrition research is examining the health benefits of consuming plant-based diets (PBDs) since vegans or vegetarians tend to have better health outcomes than omnivores. However, a majority of the studies on PBDs rely on self-reported data for measuring dietary data and other variables, which are prone to bias or measurement error. One way to potentially address the limitations from current research is to use objective measurements. The development of various mobile health (mHealth) technologies, such as smart phone applications, automated text messaging, or wearable fitness activity monitors, allows researchers to use a low-cost and low-burden approach for objectively measuring dietary data. This informed the development of the present study. We identified two wearable mHealth devices—the Bite Counter and Misfit Flash—for the purpose of assessing eating, physical activity (PA), and sleep as compared to self-reported methods (dietary recalls, PA questionnaire, sleep dairies). Thirty-four participants that were following one of two diets (n = 12 vegetarian; n = 22 omnivore) enrolled in the study and used both devices for a week. Examining data from the devices, the vegetarian group averaged more daily steps (9909 ± 878 vegetarian vs. 6450 ± 566 omnivore, p < 0.001) and the omnivore group averaged more minutes of light sleep each night (247.4 ± 11.8 omnivore vs. 182.3 ± 18.9 vegetarian, p < 0.001); however, there were no differences in self-reported sleep or PA measures. These findings suggest wearable methods may represent a low-burden and more effective approach to collecting behavioral data that may not be captured using traditional self-reported methods.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Actigraph Corporation (2017). Actigraph wGT3X-BT Monitor. http://actigraphcorp.com/products/wgt3x-bt-monitor/. Accessed March 3, 2017.
Barnard, N. D., Katcher, H. I., Jenkins, D. J., Cohen, J., & Turner-McGrievy, G. (2009). Vegetarian and vegan diets in type 2 diabetes management. Nutrition Reviews, 67(5), 255–263. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-4887.2009.00198.x.
Barnard, N. D., Levin, S. M., & Yokoyama, Y. (2015). A systematic review and meta-analysis of changes in body weight in clinical trials of vegetarian diets. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 115(6), 954–969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2014.11.016.
Bowling, A. (2005). Mode of questionnaire administration can have serious effects on data quality. Journal of Public Health, 27(3), 281–291.
Carney, C. E., Buysse, D. J., Ancoli-Israel, S., Edinger, J. D., Krystal, A. D., Lichstein, K. L., & Morin, C. M. (2012). The consensus sleep diary: standardizing prospective sleep self-monitoring. Sleep, 35(2), 287–302.
Craig, W. J. (2009). Health effects of vegan diets. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89(5), 1627S–1633S. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2009.26736N.
Craig, W. J., Mangels, A. R., & American Dietetic, A. (2009). Position of the American Dietetic Association: vegetarian diets. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109(7), 1266–1282.
Dong, Y., Hoover, A., Scisco, J., & Muth, E. (2012). A new method for measuring meal intake in humans via automated wrist motion tracking. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 37(3), 205–215.
Donnelly, J. E., Blair, S. N., Jakicic, J. M., Manore, M. M., Rankin, J. W., & Smith, B. K. (2009). American College of Sports Medicine position stand. appropriate physical activity intervention strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain for adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 41(2), 459–471.
Ezzati, M., Martin, H., Skjold, S., Vander Hoorn, S., & Murray, C. J. (2006). Trends in national and state-level obesity in the USA after correction for self-report bias: analysis of health surveys. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 99(5), 250–257.
Fiordelli, M., Diviani, N., & Schulz, P. J. (2013). Mapping mHealth research: a decade of evolution. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15(5), e95.
Fraser, G. E. (2009). Vegetarian diets: what do we know of their effects on common chronic diseases? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89(5), 1607S–1612S.
Glick-Bauer, M., & Yeh, M. C. (2014). The health advantage of a vegan diet: exploring the gut microbiota connection. Nutrients, 6(11), 4822–4838. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu6114822.
Godin, G., & Shephard, R. (1985). A simple method to assess exercise behavior in the community. Canadian Journal of Applied Sport Sciences. Journal Canadien des Sciences Appliquées Au Sport, 10(3), 141–146.
Godin, G., & Shephard, R. (1997). Godin leisure-time exercise questionnaire. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(6), 36–38.
Hoover, A., Muth, E., & Dong, Y. (2012). Weight control device using bites detection. Google Patents.
Huang, R. Y., Huang, C. C., Hu, F. B., & Chavarro, J. E. (2016). Vegetarian diets and weight reduction: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 31(1), 109–116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-015-3390-7.
Japas, C., Knutsen, S., Dehom, S., Dos Santos, H., & Tonstad, S. (2014). Body mass index gain between ages 20 and 40 years and lifestyle characteristics of men at ages 40–60 years: the Adventist Health Study-2. Obesity Research & Clinical Practice, 8(6), e549-e557.
Kaartinen, K., Lammi, K., Hypen, M., Nenonen, M., Hänninen, O., & Rauma, A.-L. (2000). Vegan diet alleviates fibromyalgia symptoms. Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology, 29(5), 308–313.
Key, T. J., Davey, G. K., & Appleby, P. N. (1999). Health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 58(2), 271–275.
Kwok, C. S., Umar, S., Myint, P. K., Mamas, M. A., & Loke, Y. K. (2014). Vegetarian diet, Seventh Day Adventists and risk of cardiovascular mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Cardiology, 176(3), 680–686.
Lauderdale, D. S., Knutson, K. L., Yan, L. L., Liu, K., & Rathouz, P. J. (2008). Self-reported and measured sleep duration: how similar are they? Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.), 19(6), 838–845.
Loprinzi, P. D., & Cardinal, B. J. (2011). Association between objectively-measured physical activity and sleep, NHANES 2005–2006. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 4(2), 65–69.
Mantua, J., Gravel, N., & Spencer, R. (2016). Reliability of sleep measures from four personal health monitoring devices compared to research-based actigraphy and polysomnography. Sensors, 16(5), 646.
Markanday, S., Brennan, S. L., Gould, H., & Pasco, J. A. (2013). Sex-differences in reasons for non-participation at recruitment: Geelong Osteoporosis Study. BMC Research Notes, 6(1), 104.
Misfit Inc. (2016). Misfit Flash. http://misfit.com/products/flash. Accessed July 16 2016.
Mishra, S., Xu, J., Agarwal, U., Gonzales, J., Levin, S., & Barnard, N. D. (2013). A multicenter randomized controlled trial of a plant-based nutrition program to reduce body weight and cardiovascular risk in the corporate setting: the GEICO study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 67(7), 718–724.
Nicholson, A. S., Sklar, M., Barnard, N. D., Gore, S., Sullivan, R., & Browning, S. (1999). Toward improved management of NIDDM: a randomized, controlled, pilot intervention using a lowfat, vegetarian diet. Preventive Medicine, 29(2), 87–91.
Peuhkuri, K., Sihvola, N., & Korpela, R. (2012). Diet promotes sleep duration and quality. Nutrition Research, 32(5), 309–319.
Rizzo, N. S., Jaceldo-Siegl, K., Sabate, J., & Fraser, G. E. (2013). Nutrient profiles of vegetarian and nonvegetarian dietary patterns. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 113(12), 1610–1619.
Schoeller, D. A. (1990). How accurate is self-reported dietary energy intake? Nutrition Reviews, 48(10), 373–379.
Scisco, J. L., Muth, E. R., Dong, Y., & Hoover, A. W. (2011). Slowing bite-rate reduces energy intake: an application of the bite counter device. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(8), 1231–1235.
Scisco, J. L., Muth, E. R., & Hoover, A. W. (2014). Examining the utility of a bite-count-based measure of eating activity in free-living human beings. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 114(3), 464–469.
Shen, Y., Salley, J., Muth, E., & Hoover, A. (2016). Assessing the accuracy of a wrist motion tracking method for counting bites across demographic and food variables. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform, doi:https://doi.org/10.1109/JBHI.2016.2612580, 21, 599, 606.
Shephard, R. J. (2017). The objective monitoring of physical activity. Progress in Preventive Medicine.
Subar, A. F., Kirkpatrick, S. I., Mittl, B., Zimmerman, T. P., Thompson, F. E., Bingley, C., Willis, G., Islam, N. G., Baranowski, T., McNutt, S., & Potischman, N. (2012). The Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Dietary Recall (ASA24): a resource for researchers, clinicians and educators from the National Cancer Institute. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 112(8), 1134–1137.
Thompson, F. E., & Byers, T. (1994). Dietary assessment resource manual. The Journal of Nutrition, 124(11), 2245S.
Tonstad, S., Stewart, K., Oda, K., Batech, M., Herring, R. P., & Fraser, G. E. (2013). Vegetarian diets and incidence of diabetes in the Adventist Health Study-2. Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases, 23(4), 292–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.numecd.2011.07.004.
Troiano, R. P., Berrigan, D., Dodd, K. W., Mâsse, L. C., Tilert, T., & McDowell, M. (2008). Physical activity in the United States measured by accelerometer. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 40(1), 181–188.
Turner-McGrievy, G. M., Boutté, A., Crimarco, A., Wilcox, S., Hutto, B. E., Hoover, A., et al. (2017). Byte by bite: use of a mobile Bite Counter and weekly behavioral challenges to promote weight loss. Smart Health, 3, 20–26.
Tuso, P. J., Ismail, M. H., Ha, B. P., & Bartolotto, C. (2013). Nutritional update for physicians: plant-based diets. The Permanente Journal, 17(2), 61–66.
Vinikoor, L. C., Millikan, R. C., Satia, J. A., Schroeder, J. C., Martin, C. F., Ibrahim, J. G., & Sandler, R. S. (2010). trans-Fatty acid consumption and its association with distal colorectal cancer in the North Carolina Colon Cancer Study II. Cancer Causes & Control, 21(1), 171–180.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Crimarco, A., Turner-McGrievy, G.M. & Wright, M. Use of Mobile Wearable Devices to Compare Eating, Physical Activity, and Sleep Between Individuals Following Vegetarian and Omnivorous Diets. J. technol. behav. sci. 3, 259–267 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-018-0060-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-018-0060-8