How does the health and well-being of young Australian vegetarian and semi-vegetarian women compare with non-vegetarians?

摘要

ObjectiveTo compare the sociodemographic characteristics, health status and health service use of vegetarians, semi-vegetarians and non-vegetarians.DesignIn cross-sectional data analyses of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health in 2000, 9113 women (aged 22a€“27 years) were defined as non-vegetarians if they reported including red meat in their diet, as semi-vegetarians if they excluded red meat and as vegetarians if they excluded meat, poultry and fish from their diet.ResultsThe estimated prevalence was 3% and 10% for vegetarian and semi-vegetarian young women. Compared with non-vegetarians, vegetarians and semi-vegetarians were more likely to live in urban areas and to not be married. Vegetarians and semi-vegetarians had lower body mass index (mean (95% confidence interval): 22.2 (21.7a€“22.7) and 23.0 (22.7a€“23.3) kg??ma?’??2) than non-vegetarians (23.7 (23.6a€“23.8) kg??ma?’??2) and tended to exercise more. Semi-vegetarians and vegetarians had poorer mental health, with 21a€“22% reporting depression compared with 15% of non-vegetarians (P??