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BackgroundThe African American (AA) population is disproportionately impacted by chronic disease as well as many of the leading causes of preventable death, including hypertension, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. In the AA community of Kane County, Illinois, the incidence of chronic disease is particularly high. A standardized Zoom-based group program that gives participants the knowledge, skills, and support to adopt a whole-food plant-based diet has been shown to rapidly improve health. The results of a cohort analysis were analyzed to assess the effectiveness of this program within an AA community characterized by a high burden of chronic illnesses.MethodsParticipants were recruited from a network of 12 AA churches in Illinois to participate in Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute’s “15-Day Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) Jumpstart” program. The medically-facilitated 15-Day Jumpstart program provided WFPB nutrition education, coaching, and cooking demonstrations during seven 1 and 2-h Zoom sessions. Participants underwent pre- and post- metabolic screenings to assess for changes in their weight, vital signs, blood sugar, and cholesterol measurements. Changes in diet, biometrics, and patient-centered outcomes from baseline to the end of the program were assessed via paired t-tests for the normally distributed measures, and a Wilcoxon signed rank test for measures that were not normally distributed.ResultsTwenty-one AA adults participated. Ten of 16 who provided results had hypertension, 5 had diabetes, 5 had pre-diabetes, and 5 had hyperlipidemia. Participants ate more vegetables (median 2 servings at baseline vs. 3 during the program), greens (1 vs. 3), fruit (2 vs. 3), whole grains (1 vs. 2), and legumes (1 vs. 2). They decreased their consumption of meat, eggs and dairy, added fat, processed foods, and high-fat plant foods (p |
