Consuming vegetables and meat grown on local farms is the hip thing to do these days, but is it also healthy?
Hayley Billingsley of Monterey, Virginia, a senior majoring in human nutrition, foods, and exercise, is spending her summer investigating this question as part of the Fralin Life Science Institute Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program.
Working with mentor Megan O’Rourke, an assistant professor of horticulture, Billingsley recruited 20 people who invest in community supported agriculture through area farms to participate in her study.
From April to November, these people pick up a bundle of food once a week at various drop locations throughout town, including the Virginia Tech campus, Vintage Cellar, Eats Natural Foods, and Annie Kay’s Main Street market. The fee for the food is usually paid at the beginning of the growing season, but varies with each farm.
Billingsley collected a stream of baseline data from her respondents, including height, weight, body mass index, demographics, and wellness information. She will complete one 24-hour dietary recall per month this summer, in which respondents dictate what they ate the previous day.
Based on dietary recalls in June, Billingsley said, “I’m finding that the respondents’ diet composition is more plant-based.”
“They are consuming less saturated fat and added sugar and far less processed food, which is ideal. Meanwhile, they are consuming more whole grains and a lot of green, leafy vegetables, which are packed with nutritious vitamins, minerals, and fiber.”
While the results are just a snapshot due to the short duration of the study, Billingsley’s research will contribute to the larger research project of O’Rourke, who studies linkages between food systems and human and environmental health.
More information on the study can be found in the full story online.