Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2020 Apr 22;10(1):6840. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-63910-y.
The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of, and attitudes toward, vegetarianism and veganism. We also assessed the association between vegetarianism/veganism and eating disorder, depressive, and somatic symptoms. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey in adults in Germany that was representative in terms of age, gender, and educational level was carried out. Data from 2449 adults (53.5% females) were included. Mean age was 49.6 (SD 17.1) years. A total of 5.4% of participants reported following a vegetarian or vegan diet. While the majority of participants agreed that vegetarian diets are healthy and harmless (56.1%), only 34.8% believed this to be true of vegan diets. The majority of participants also believed that a vegetarian (58.7%) or vegan (74.7%) diet can lead to nutritional deficiency. Female gender, younger age, higher education, lower body mass index (BMI), and higher depressive and eating disorder symptoms were found to be associated with vegetarianism/veganism. We did not find increased physical complaints in the group of vegetarians/vegans. Our results point toward a moderate prevalence of vegetarianism/veganism among the general population. Our findings suggest that health care professionals should keep eating disorder pathology, affective status in mind when dealing with individuals who choose a vegetarian/vegan dietary pattern.
这项研究的目的是调查素食主义和纯素食主义的流行情况和人们的态度。我们还评估了素食主义/纯素食主义与饮食失调、抑郁和躯体症状之间的关联。在德国，我们开展了一项针对成年人的具有代表性的横断面问卷调查，涉及年龄、性别和教育水平等方面。研究共纳入了 2449 名成年人（女性占 53.5%）。参与者的平均年龄为 49.6（SD 17.1）岁。共有 5.4%的参与者报告遵循素食或纯素饮食。虽然大多数参与者认为素食是健康且无害的（56.1%），但只有 34.8%的参与者认为纯素食是健康且无害的。大多数参与者还认为素食（58.7%）或纯素（74.7%）饮食可能会导致营养缺乏。女性、年龄较小、受教育程度较高、体重指数（BMI）较低以及抑郁和饮食失调症状较严重与素食主义/纯素食主义有关。我们没有发现素食者/纯素食者群体的身体投诉增加。我们的研究结果表明，素食主义/纯素食主义在普通人群中的流行程度中等。我们的研究结果表明，医疗保健专业人员在处理选择素食/纯素食饮食模式的个体时，应该注意饮食失调病理和情感状态。
