My Diet Study: protocol for a two-part observational, longitudinal, psycho-biological study of dieting in Australian youth

Mirei Okada; Melissa J Pehlivan; Jane Miskovic-Wheatley; Sarah Barakat; Kristi R Griffiths; Stephen W Touyz; Stephen J Simpson; Sarah Maguire; Andrew J Holmes

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1281855

My Diet Study: protocol for a two-part observational, longitudinal, psycho-biological study of dieting in Australian youth

Front Public Health. 2023 Dec 14:11:1281855. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1281855. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Mirei Okada^#^{1

2}, Melissa J Pehlivan^#^{1

3}, Jane Miskovic-Wheatley^{1

3}, Sarah Barakat^{1

3}, Kristi R Griffiths^{1

3}, Stephen W Touyz^{1

3}, Stephen J Simpson^{1

2}, Sarah Maguire^{1

3}, Andrew J Holmes^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
² School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
³ InsideOut Institute for Eating Disorders, The University of Sydney and Sydney Local Health District, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Self-directed dieting (i.e., unsupervised) is very common among adolescents and young adults but has had almost no direct research. This paper describes the protocol for the My Diet Study, a two-arm observational investigation of the natural progression of dieting among young people over a period of 6-months. The study aims to examine the links between self-directed dieting, general physiological and psychological metrics of wellbeing (e.g., depressive symptoms) and biomarkers of gut-brain axis functions (e.g., microbiome and hormones) that are predicted to influence diet adherence through appetite, mood and metabolism regulation.

Methods: Young people aged 16-25, intending to start a diet will be invited to participate in this observational study. For Part 1 (psychological arm), participants will be asked to complete a set of questionnaires and diaries at the beginning of every month for 6 months, to assess overall mental (e.g., psychological distress, disordered eating) and physical (e.g., weight) health, perceived diet success, food intake and gastrointestinal movements. For Part 2 (biological arm), a subsample of 50 participants will be asked to provide feces, blood and saliva for bio-sampling each month for the first 3-months of their participation in Part 1.

Discussion: The My Diet Study will be the first longitudinal, observational study of dieting in young people combining in-depth psychological and biological data. It is anticipated that the findings will yield psychological & biological information about the impacts and effectiveness of self-directed dieting in young people, inform a framework for advice on safety in dieting among young people and help to establish the potential for biomarkers for risk management and improvement of diet-based lifestyle interventions.

Keywords: feeding behavior; gut-brain axis; metabolomics; microbiome; protocol; self-directed dieting; youth.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Australia
Biomarkers
Diet*
Feeding Behavior* / psychology
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Observational Studies as Topic
Young Adult

Substances

Biomarkers

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by philanthropy from the MAST Foundation, a not-for-profit family organization which seeks to help medical research that aims to enhance human health and wellbeing, and education, training and employment initiatives assisting children and young people in Australia.