Study looks at plant based, vegan diet to improve African American health risks

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – In partnership with University of South Carolina, a local vegan restaurant wants to help people live a healthier life by eating a plant based diet. It’s the Nutritious Eating with Soul Study that hopes to take people on a 12-week journey to better health.

“Pre-diabetic, cholesterol, high blood pressure,” said Nutritious Eating with Soul Study participant Cleo Brown.

When Brown realized smoothies and juicing would not help her get off prescribed medications for her illnesses, she signed up to become vegan.

“I was like ok, until we started going through some of the videos of what you can and cannot eat. I was like yeah, this is probably not going to happen,” she said. “I might be one of the few that says, yeah vegan is not for me.”

But the retired army vet said it worked and her health is better. She’s part of the Nutritious Eating with Soul or NEW Study put on by University of South Carolina and Soca Vegan Kitchen located in the Sprouts shopping center in Augusta. The program calls for African Americans between 18 and 65 to eat a plant based diet for 12 weeks. Organizers told NewsChannel 6 the goal is to improve health among Black people at high risk for certain illnesses.

“High blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and the research tells us that whenever African Americans adapt to theses types of diets that are more focused on plants, have higher nutrients in them, their risks of those conditions decrease,” said John Barnhart, USC Research Assistant Professor.

Participants must attend an hour and a half class every Monday night during the study. They are taught how to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner and even taught how to shop as a vegan.

“We teach them how to be able to consume their diet, but in a healthier manner as well as being able to incorporate vegan soul food into their diet,” USC Graduate Research Assistant, PhD Student Alexis Bell shared.

It’s a lifestyle most meat eaters have a lot of questions about.

Soca Vegan Kitchen Co-owner Georgia Alexander said, “Can I get full off of vegan food? Is it all just leaves and grass and lettuce or whatever?”

“I’m a snacker and when I learned that there are vegan and plant based cookies and cakes that made me very happy,” Brown said enthusiastically.

The study is funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. So participants will get $15 a week to eat their plant based meals. USC researchers said the study needs African American men mostly. This is the third of six co-horts with the next one happening in April. Onboarding begins soon. You can sign up here.

Alexander added Blacks sometimes don’t eat well because of historical factors.

“When it comes to African American people, the food that is provided is not necessarily beneficial for the long term health or for the life of African Americans. What we learned was that we were not educated very well. That there was socioeconomic reasons why we would choose to eat things,” Alexander said.