Evaluating adults' health-related values and preferences about unprocessed red meat and processed meat consumption: protocol for a cross-sectional mixed-methods study.

Background: People need to choose from a wide range of foods, and in addition to availability and accessibility, people's values and preferences largely determine their daily food choices. Given the potential adverse health consequences of red and processed meat and the limited knowledge on individuals' health-related values and preferences on the topic, such data would be useful in the development of recommendations regarding meat consumption. Methods and analysis: We will perform a cross-sectional mixed methods study. The study population will consist of adult omnivores currently consuming a minimum of three weekly servings of either unprocessed red meat or processed meat. We will explore participants' willingness to stop or reduce their unprocessed red meat, or their processed meat consumption through a direct-choice exercise. This exercise will consist of presenting a scenario tailored to each individual's average weekly consumption. That is, based on a systematic review and meta-analysis of the best estimate of the risk reduction in overall cancer incidence and cancer mortality, we will ask participants if they would stop their consumption, and/or reduce their average consumption. We will also present the corresponding certainty of the evidence for the potential risk reductions. Finally, we will measure their meat consumption three months after the interview and determine if they have made any changes to their average consumption. Ethics and dissemination: The research protocol was approved by the ethics committees in Canada (Research Ethics Board, Dalhousie University), Spain (Comitè Ètic d'Investigació Clínica de l'IDIAP Jordi Gol), Poland (The Bioethics Committee of the Jagiellonian University), and Brazil (National Research Ethics Commission). The study is based on voluntary participation and informed written consent. Results from this project will be disseminated through publications and presentations.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: MR is funded by a Sara Borrell post-doctoral contract (CD16/00157) from the Carlos III Institute of Health and the European Social Fund (ESF). BCJ has received a grant from Texas A&M AgriLife Research to fund investigator-initiated research related to saturated and polyunsaturated fats. The grant was from Texas A&M AgriLife institutional funds from interest and investment earnings, not a sponsoring organization, industry, or company. The rest of the authors conducted this study independently without involvement of the funder. No further competing interests were disclosed. The authors declared that no funding grants were involved in supporting this work.
(Copyright: © 2021 Valli C et al.)