Publication Date

2014

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Lukaszuk, Judith M.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences

LCSH

Inflammation--Diet therapy; Food allergy--Diet therapy; Nutrition; Nutrition

Abstract

Background: Growing evidence suggests that obesity is associated with systemic inflammation. The level of inflammation can be exacerbated by one or more existing food intolerances. Furthermore, studies have shown that diet quality, not quantity, plays an important role in potential inflammation caused by foods. It is therefore, important to determine if dietary patterns alone or in combination with increased adiposity have a greater effect on systemic inflammation and body composition.||Objective: Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of food elimination using the ALCAT food elimination protocol, on body composition and overall body inflammatory markers.||Methods: One hundred thirty-one participants were randomly assigned to either a treatment (n=72) or a control (n=59) group in this pre- and post-test double blind experimental study. All participants followed a 4-week elimination diet based on ALCAT testing protocol, completed a medical symptoms questionnaire at the beginning and end of the study, had their blood drawn for inflammatory markers and provided anthropometric measurements for body composition analysis.. In additions Participants kept an exercise log and food log during the study. Within and between group differences in body composition and inflammatory markers were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. Significant main and interaction effects were analyzed using the Bonferonni post-hoc method for multiple comparisons. Univariate analysis of variance was utilized to examine body composition.||Conclusions: Overall, there was little evidence to support the ability of elimination diets in decreasing total body inflammation or altering body composition using ALCAT testing protocol.

Comments

Advisors: Judith M. Lukaszuk.||Committee members: Masih Shokrani; Josephine Umoren.

Extent

100 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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