Sustainability, as it relates to nutrition, affects all aspects of food from systems-level production to consumption. Viability of local food systems in the southwest of the United States has been largely understudied. In order to address this gap in the literature, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 farmers in Arizona and New Mexico to determine best practices, challenges and barriers to farming. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded for themes. Many trends were consistent with those reported elsewhere in the US, but the importance of water emerged, a unique need not explicitly noted in other regional studies.

Vegetarian diets are typically more sustainable than omnivorous ones due to using less environmental resources in the production of food. An important consideration with plant protein and vegetarian diets, however, is whether this would affect athletic performance. To examine this, 70 male and female endurance athletes were compared for maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max), peak torque when doing leg extensions, and body composition. Vegetarians had higher VO2 max, but peak torque was not significantly different by diet. Omnivores had higher total body mass, lean body mass, and there was a trend for peak torque to be higher.

To investigate whether plant-protein can comparably support development of lean body mass and strength development in conjunction with strength training, 61 healthy young males and females began a 12-week training and protein supplementation study. While previous training studies have shown no differences for lean body mass or strength development when consuming either soy (plant) or whey (animal) protein supplements in very large amounts (>48 grams), when consuming around 15-20 grams, whey has contributed to greater lean body mass accrual, although strength increases remain similar. The present study matched supplements by leucine content instead of by total protein amount since leucine has been shown to be a key stimulator of muscle protein synthesis and is more concentrated in animal protein. There were no significant differences between the whey or soy group for lean body mass or strength development, as assessed using isokinetic dynamometry doing leg extensions and flexions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) in guiding message design for a new health context, reducing meat consumption. The experiment was a posttest only design with a comparison and a control group. Message design was informed by the EPPM and contained threat and efficacy components. Participants (Americans ages 25-44 who eat meat approximately once a day) were randomly assigned to view a high threat/ high efficacy video, a high threat/ low efficacy video, or to be in a control group. Dependent variables were danger control outcomes (i.e., attitudes, intentions, and behavior) and fear control outcomes (i.e., perceived manipulative intent, message derogation, and defensive avoidance). Outcomes were assessed at an immediate posttest (Time 1) and at a one-week follow up (Time 2). There were 373 participants at Time 1 and 153 participants at Time 2. The data did not fully fit either the EPPM or the additive model; both videos were equally persuasive and resulted in greater message acceptance (attitude change, behavioral intention, and behavior) than the control group. Because the high threat/ low efficacy group was more persuasive than the control group, the data more closely fit the additive model. Fear control outcomes did not differ between the two video groups. Overall, the study demonstrated the effectiveness of using the EPPM to guide video message design in a new health context, reducing meat consumption. The results supported the EPPM prediction that a high-threat high-efficacy message would result in message acceptance, but support was not found for the necessity of an efficacy component for message acceptance. These findings can be used to guide new or existing health campaigns that seek to improve public health outcomes, including reducing the incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.