Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41146183›Full record

Trial reportThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2025

The "Eat Less Meat" one-month challenge: a randomized controlled trial of a meat reduction pledge intervention among French university students.

Lucile Marty, Manon Biehlmann, Anne Louveau, Delphine Poquet, Eric Robinson

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05752786 (Evaluation of the Effect of the "Eat Less Meat" One-month Challenge on Meat Consumption Among French University Students), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05752786 nacompletednot on this map

Evaluation of the Effect of the "Eat Less Meat" One-month Challenge on Meat Consumption Among French University Students

TypeinterventionalSponsorInstitut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'EnvironnementRan2023 to 2023Enrolled366ConditionsDiet, Healthy, Food HabitsArms"Eat Less Meat" Challenge
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Lucile MartyUniversité Bourgogne Europe, Institut Agro, CNRS, INRAE, UMR CSGA, Dijon, 21000, France. lucile.marty@inrae.fr.
Manon BiehlmannUniversité Bourgogne Europe, Institut Agro, CNRS, INRAE, UMR CSGA, Dijon, 21000, France.
Anne LouveauUniversité Bourgogne Europe, Institut Agro, CNRS, INRAE, UMR CSGA, Dijon, 21000, France.
Delphine PoquetUniversité Paris Cité Et Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Inserm, INRAE, Centre de Recherche en Épidémiologie Et StatistiqueS (CRESS), Villejuif Cedex, 94807, France.
Eric RobinsonDepartment of Psychology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GF, UK.

Funding

Conseil régional de Bourgogne-Franche-Comté ANER 2022Y-13619
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEncouraging the shift towards more plant-based diets in new generations is one of the major current challenges to preserve population and planetary health. Personal pledges to reduce meat consumption could motivate behaviour change, but have received limited scientific testing. We examined the effect of a "Eat Less Meat" one-month challenge on immediate and long-term meat consumption of university students.

methodsIn January 2023, 366 university students (21 ± 3.2 years old) consented to participate in the "Eat Less Meat" one-month challenge and were randomized to the intervention group (n = 187, challenge in February 2023) or the wait list control group (n = 179, challenge in June 2023). Neither participants nor investigators were masked to group assignment. Participants chose between three meat reduction objectives: consuming meat 0, 3, or 6 times a week. They received a meat-free recipe book and followed an Instagram account where motivational information was posted daily during one month. All the participants completed a food frequency questionnaire in January (T0, before), February (T1, during), and May 2023 (T2, three months after the challenge) and data on meat consumption were analysed using linear mixed models.

resultsThe participants in the "Eat less meat" one-month challenge reduced their meat consumption by -67 g/day (95% CI [-82; -53]) during the challenge and by -50 g/day (95% CI [-68; -31]) three months later. The decrease was greater than in the control group by -34 g/day (95% CI [-55; -14]) during the challenge, but there was no significant difference between intervention and control group at three months follow-up.

conclusionsThe "Eat Less Meat" one-month challenge may be a promising strategy to drive short-term reductions in meat consumption and further work to improve longer-term effectiveness is now warranted.

trial registrationThe trial was pre-registered prior to data collection at Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05752786).

Indexed as

DietFeeding BehaviorHealth PromotionMeatStudentsAdultFemaleFranceHumansMaleMotivationUniversitiesYoung AdultDietInterventionMotivationPlant-basedSustainabilityYoung adults

Identifiers

PMID41146183
PMCPMC12557974

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.