Ta'am Mustadam Intervention to Promote Sustainable Food Choices

NCT07042412 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 21R097
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 82
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this pilot intervention is to learn if the Ta'am Mustadam program helps young adults make more sustainable food choices. It will also explore how the program affects their food choices, knowledge, intentions, practices, and self-reported behaviors towards sustainable food choices, as well as energy and nutrient intake. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does the Ta'am Mustadam program increase intake of fruits, vegetables, and plant-based foods?
• Does it reduce red and processed meat consumption?
• Does it change participants' food choice? The minor questions it aims to answer are:
• Does it improve participants' knowledge, intentions, practices toward sustainable eating?
• Does it change participant's energy and nutrient intake? Participants will:
• Take part in a 6-week program, followed by a 4-week follow-up
• Receive engaging educational messages \&awareness videos about sustainability
• Watch interactive video recipes
• Participate in hands-on activities
• Receive daily reminders
• Complete questionnaires before, right after, and one month after the program Researchers will use the RE-AIM framework to assess how well the program works and whether it can be applied in real-life settings.

Conditions

Food Preferences; Health Behaviour; Choice Behavior; Feeding Behaviors; Sustainable Healthy Eating Behaviour

Keywords

Sustainable food choices; Behaviour change wheel; Intervention; Sustainable diet; Young Adults

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Adoption of sustainable food choices measured by dietary intake

  Dietary intake will be assessed through a validated English version of Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) tailored for the UAE population. The FFQ contains 130 culture-specific food items, divided into 12 groups. For each food item, participants could select from 9 frequency categories; "never or less than once per month", "1-3 times per month", "once per week", "2 - 4 times per week", " 5 to 6 times per week", "once per day", "2-3 times per day", "4-5 times per day", "\> 6 times per day".

  At pre-intervention (1-week before the start of intervention period), post-intervention (at the end of the 6-week intervention period), and follow-up (4-week after intervention end)

• The extent of changes in food choice motives

  Food choice motives will be assessed using validated Food Choice Questionnaire tailored for Arabic-speaking countries That questionnaire consists of 37 items assessing nine factors: (i) health; (ii) mood; (iii) convenience; (iv) eco-ethics; (v) sensory appeal; (vi) familiarity; (vii) natural content; (viii) price; and (ix) weight control. Participants will be asked to rate the importance of each item on a four-point Likert scale with 1= "not at all important", 2= "a little important", 3= "moderately important" and 4= "very important". Mean scores for each factor will be calculated for individual respondents based on their responses.

  At pre-intervention (1-week before the start of intervention period), post-intervention (at the end of the 6-week intervention period), and follow-up (4-week after intervention end)

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Changes in knowledge towards sustainable diets

  At pre-intervention (1-week before the start of intervention period), post-intervention (at the end of the 6-week intervention period), and follow-up (4-week after intervention end)

• Changes in intentions towards sustainable diets

  At pre-intervention (1-week before the start of intervention period), post-intervention (at the end of the 6-week intervention period), and follow-up (4-week after intervention end)

• Changes in practices towards sustainable diets

  At pre-intervention (1-week before the start of intervention period), post-intervention (at the end of the 6-week intervention period), and follow-up (4-week after intervention end)

• Changes in self-reported behaviors towards sustainable diets

  At pre-intervention (1-week before the start of intervention period), post-intervention (at the end of the 6-week intervention period), and follow-up (4-week after intervention end)

• Changes in baseline energy and nutrient intake

  At pre-intervention (1-week before the start of intervention period), post-intervention (at the end of the 6-week intervention period), and follow-up (4-week after intervention end)

Other Outcomes (1)

• The implementation of Ta'am Mustadam intervention at individual level

  At post-intervention (at the end of the 6-week intervention period)

Study Arms (1)

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will be enrolled in the Ta'am Mustadam intervention

Behavioral: Ta'am Mustadam Intervention

Interventions

Ta'am Mustadam Intervention BEHAVIORAL

The Ta'am Mustadam intervention will be implemented over six weeks with a four-week follow-up among students in the CMHS. The intervention will consist of the following elements: 1. Education: In the mornings at 9:00 AM, educational messages will be shared via WhatsApp twice weekly (Tuesdays and Fridays), dietary tips on Wednesdays, video recipes on Saturdays, and awareness videos on Sundays. Additionally, the Planetary Health Plate will be printed on a retractable banner and placed outside the entrance of the CMHS canteen. 2. Behavioral Practice: This component engages participants withs sustainable eating habits through biweekly challenges and hands-on meal preparation activities held on Thursdays. 3. Environmental restructuring: Daily reminders and nudges will be delivered through WhatsApp messages, timed before participants' main meals, to promote the consumption of sustainable food choices. Ta'am Mustadam intervention will be evaluated using RE-AIM framework.

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Undergraduates \&postgraduates

You may not qualify if:

• Not signing the informed consent
• Reporting history of food allergies or any food intolerances (e.g., celiac disease, lactose intolerance, nut allergy, etc.)
• Reporting any medical condition that might directly affect eating patterns (e.g., Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Crohn's disease, Irritable bowel syndrome)
• Under medication that affect eating patterns
• Being pregnant or breastfeeding
• Following a vegan or vegetarian diet.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• United Arab Emirates University: lead

Study Sites (1)

College of Medicine and Health Sciences

Al Ain City, Abu Dhabi Emirate, 15551, United Arab Emirates

Location

Related Links

• Development and validation of a tool to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward diet sustainability
• Promoting sustainable food choices through the Ta'am Mustadam pilot intervention at UAE university canteen: study protocol

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Food Preferences; Feeding Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior; Behavior, Animal

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor

Model Details: The intervention will be conducted with a group of students affiliated with the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at the United Arab Emirates University. The intervention will last for 6 weeks, followed by a one-month post-intervention follow-up to assess lasting effects.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 11, 2025
• First Posted: June 29, 2025
• Study Start: October 22, 2025
• Primary Completion: December 22, 2025
• Study Completion: January 30, 2026
• Last Updated: April 22, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

AE (1)