At the end of the morning of each intervention visit, participants were provided with meals, which they consumed for seven consecutive days (in a 4-day rotation menu). Participants were instructed to consume only the meals that were provided to them during the study days. The breakfast, lunch and dinner meals of the diets were designed to contain 30% fat, 15% protein, 55% carbohydrate, and seven different menus (1500, 1750, 2000, 2250, 2500, 2750 and 3000 Kcal) to deliver the closest energy requirements of the volunteers. For the intervention diets, all the meat was replaced with buckwheat and fava bean food products, serving the same amount of buckwheat and fava bean food products for all the volunteers regardless of their energy requirements.

At the end of the morning of each intervention visit, participants were provided with meals, which they consumed for seven consecutive days (in a 4-day rotation menu). Participants were instructed to consume only the meals that were provided to them during the study days. The breakfast, lunch and dinner meals of the diets were designed to contain 30% fat, 15% protein, 55% carbohydrate, and seven different menus (1500, 1750, 2000, 2250, 2500, 2750 and 3000 Kcal) to deliver the closest energy requirements of the volunteers. For the intervention diets, all the meat was replaced with buckwheat and fava bean food products, serving the same amount of buckwheat and fava bean food products for all the volunteers regardless of their energy requirements.

Participants were instructed to consume only the meals that were provided to them during the study days. The breakfast, lunch and dinner meals of the diets were designed to contain 30% fat, 15% protein, and 55% carbohydrate, and seven different menus (1500, 1750, 2000, 2250, 2500, 2750 and 3000 Kcal) to deliver the closest energy requirements of the volunteers. For the intervention diets, all the meat was replaced with fava bean food products, serving the same amount of buckwheat and fava bean food products for all the volunteers independently of their energy requirements. During the intervention diets, all the drinks, such as coffee, juice and tea, were restricted and provided by the Human Nutrition Unit at the Rowett Institute; the volunteers were allowed to drink only water ad libitum. Alcoholic drinks were not allowed to be consumed during the intervention diet weeks.

The suitability of a vegetarian diet (buckwheat and fava bean based) to deliver sufficient nutrients per day such as protein composition, amino acids composition, fibre composition, types of NSP, and daily requirements minerals, microelements, and other bioactive such as polyphenolic phytochemicals. The macronutrient composition, including the dry matter, ash, fat, total carbohydrate, resistant starch, crude protein, and total non-starch polysaccharides of the buckwheat and fava-bean diets are measured in grams per day. The amino acid composition was measured in grams per day and the main micronutrients expressed in mg ± SD per day are measured in fava bean and buckwheat diets using quantitative ICP-MS analysis.

Appetite scores were measured hourly during the waking hours (0700-2300) with the use of visual analogue scales (VASs) during both the habitual diet week and the intervention weeks (fava bean-based and buckwheat-based diets). Six questions were asked on motivation to eat, all in the line scale format related to hunger, thirst, preoccupation with thoughts of food, fullness, desire to eat, and prospective consumption. The scales ranged from "not at all hungry" to "extremely hungry," so higher scores indicated more intense subjective sensations. These questionnaires were completed by the subjects each day of the study.

Hunger scores were measured hourly during the waking hours (0700-2300) with the use of visual analogue scales (VASs) during both the habitual diet week and the intervention weeks (fava bean-based and buckwheat-based diets). Six questions were asked on motivation to eat, all in the line scale format related to hunger, thirst, preoccupation with thoughts of food, fullness, desire to eat, and prospective consumption. The scales ranged from "not at all hungry" to "extremely hungry," so higher scores indicated more intense subjective sensations. These questionnaires were completed by the subjects each day of the study.

Blood was collected directly into heparinised tubes at day 0 and 7 of each intervention diet. Homocysteine was expressed as μM.