The YAM CanFoG Study - Design

If I take one thing away from my experience as a graduate student, it will be that the most important component of any study design is coming up with a catchy abbreviated title. Thus, I am pleased to introduce the Young Adult Male following Canada's Food Guide (YAM CanFoG) Study.

Now that this is out of the way, I am able to provide you with a description of the study itself. For those of you just tuning in, the idea for this study was developed by Eric Briere, a physical trainer that, having never looked at Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide, was disturbed by the number of servings of Fruits and Vegetables and Grain Products that it recommends he consume in a day (8-10 and 8 servings, respectively). For those interested, his video can be viewed here, and a detailed background on why I have decided to embark on a similar experiment can be found on my post entitled "Canada's Guide to Weight Gain?".

The YAM CanFoG study will look at the effect of following the Canadian food guide for one month on energy balance in a young man with low activity (me). To prepare for this, I designed a 7-day food cycle using meals and snacks that I would generally consume, which also adhered to Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide. I then conducted nutrient analysis on the diet using the USDA nutrient database to get an approximation of macronutrient and energy intake. The following table summarizes the analysis:

As you can see, this diet provides ~2000kcal/d with ~100g protein. This intake is below the 10th percentile (2100kcal/d) of estimated intake for my age / gender based on 500 simulated diets following Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide that were published in the paper describing the food guide development. The simulated diets were derived using data on dietary intake form the Federal-Provincial Food and Nutrient Survey from British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario. One possible (and likely) reason for the discrepancy in my estimated energy intake is that I am choosing foods that are lower in added sugar and fat compared to the general population for which the simulated diets were derived. However, Canada's Food Guide does recommend that "limiting food and beverages that are high in calories, fat, sugar and salt", so my food choices adhere to the food guide well, even if they are atypical.

The primary outcome for this study will be change in body weight. Each week at the same time (Monday morning), I will be weighed using a calibrated electric scale in a blinded manner. I will be wearing the same clothing for the weigh in, and will have attempted to void prior to reduce sources of error. The average of two weights to the nearest 0.1 lbs will be taken a recoded. As a safety measure, weight gain or loss greater than 3 lbs half way through the experiment will be deemed as clinically significant and mark the end of the study.

A major confounding variable when using weight as a primary outcome is physical activity. To control for this, I will be wearing BodyBugg and maintaining a physical activity journal. I am aiming for the 30-60 minutes of physical activity per day during the study as recommended in Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide.

Subject Characteristics:

Age: 27

Gender: Male

Race: White

Height: 5'5"

Weight: ~140 lbs

Occupation: Student

Illness: No known illness

Drugs / Supplements: 4+ coffee / day

Diet Records:

For interest sake, please see tables below to gain an appreciation for the range in macronutrient and energy density of foods within the same food group. These are just for the foods that I am consuming in my 7-day meal plan - all are presented in a per serving according to Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide. Using a worst and best case scenario (and assuming that the subtext of the food guide are just polite suggestions), I could be consuming anywhere between 1,025 calories and 3,308 calories per day.

Thanks for your interest.