Poster presentations
Section II: Applied Vegetarian Nutrition
FOOD CONSUMPTION AMONG VEGETARIAN
AND NON-VEGETARIAN CALIFORNIA SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS, 1994-1996.
Peter Pribi ,
Joan Sabate, Gary E. Fraser, Center for Health Research, Adventist Health
Studies, School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda,
CA, USA.
In the context of a validation
study for a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) as part of the Adventist
Health Study in 1994-1996, we have explored the food pattern of 158
California Seventh-day Adventists aged 23-88 years. 42% were vegetarians
(their combined consumption of any meat products was less than once
per week), the remainder consumed meat products once to eleven times
per week. Educational attainment was high in both groups (91.1% of vegetarians
and 86.8% of omnivores were college graduates). Gender and marital status
distribution was similar in both groups. The average age of vegetarians
was 56.4 years vs. 50.5 in omnivores, and the Body Mass Index in vegetarians
was 25.1 kg/m2 vs. 26.9 kg/m 2 in omnivores. The diet was assessed using a FFQ with
200 food items listed, each with a specified portion size. Marked increases
in the mean frequency of consumption were observed in vegetarians for
fresh fruits, canned fruits, dried fruit, all fruits combined, fruit
juices, legumes, and nuts . Vegetarians seems to eat less of cooked
vegetables, soups, bread, cereals, pasta/pizza, sweets/ deserts, snacks,
and seasoning/additives then omnivores. Significant differences in the
mean of frequencies between vegetarians and omnivores persisted after
adjustment for age and sex for the following food groups: dried fruits
(8.3 servings/month), all fruits combined (40.3), eggs / diary products
(-17.3), oils / margarines (-12.4), fish (-5.4), meat products (-13.2),
dressings (-9.7), and salads / raw vegetables (-10.8). The results suggest
that in a free living population other then vegetables, vegetarians
seems to eat more whole plant foods and less processed and diary products
than omnivores.
THE DIETARY HABITS OF VEGETARIAN
AND NON-VEGETARIAN CALIFORNIA ADVENTISTS. Gary E. Fraser, W. Lawrence Beeson. Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology,
and Center for Health Research, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA,
USA.
Adventists are encouraged to
adopt vegetarian eating habits. However, this admonition is followed
to a variable extent. The Adventist Health Study cohort was defined
at baseline in 1976. Dietary data was collected by a food frequency
questionnaire containing 55 questions on foods and food groups, along
with 10 other qualitative questions. We have divided the 34,198, mainly
Seventh-day Adventist subjects, to vegetarians (no meat products), partial
vegetarians (meat <weekly), and non-vegetarians. A cross-sectional
analysis using baseline data finds trends across these 3 dietary patterns
showing that vegetarian Adventists eat fruit, tomatoes, legumes, and
nuts more frequently than non- or partial vegetarians, but consume a
similar frequency of salads. Vegetarians eat fewer eggs, donuts, and
prefer whole grain breads. Trends were consistent, and differences ranged
from 10-70% across dietary categories. Non-vegetarian Adventists drink
much more coffee (17 fold difference), are much more likely to use alcohol
(22 fold difference), than vegetarians. The meat they consume is largely
beef. Consequently, the generally lower risk status of vegetarian Adventists
involves much more than the absence of meat. This research was funded
by the National Cancer Institute.
PREVALENCE OF VEGETARIAN SCHOOL
LUNCHES IN SWEDISH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS. Christel L, Larsson, Gunner K. Johansson. Department of Food and Nutrition,
Umea University, Umea, Sweden.
The aim of the present study
was to investigate the frequency of consumption of various types of
vegetarian school lunches by students in Swedish senior HIGH SCHOOLS.
The main question asked was: How many students in your school eat fish-lactoovo-vegetarian-,
lactoovo-vegetarian- and vegan food respectively? According to 86 percent
of the interviewed people there was a majority of girls eating vegetarian
food at school lunch. Under the condition that we can assume that students
eating vegetarian food at school lunch are true vegetarians, the prevalence
of vegetarians in Sweden is five percent, two percent fish-lactoovo-vegetarians,
three percent lactoovo-vegetarians and 0.2 percent vegans. The result
of this study, which comprise 75 210 students, is similar to the results
of a questionnaire study made in September 1996 on 5 707 Swedish senior
highschool students. The high occurence of vegetarians (15°) found
in the town of Umea are probably attributed to the local popularity
of the "Straight Edge" philosophy. This "movement" emphasis the avoidance
of animal products rather than health motives for their veganism. We
suspect that the Straight Edge vegan yoths have little interest in nutrition
and thereby consume a poor animal free diet, which may lead to serious
health consequences in the future. Therefore, the main health concern
might be to investigate the health consequences in Swedish adolescents
of their special kind of vegan diet. Part of this material has previously
been presented at the annual meeting of the Swedish Medical Association
1996.
PUBLISHED VEGETARIAN LITERATURE:
TRENDS IN THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION. Andrew T. Duk, Clovia L. Lee, Joan Sabaté, Department of Nutrition, Loma Linda
University, Loma Linda, CA, USA.
Since its inception in 1954,
the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) has provided a large impact in the field of nutrition
and has been a major contributor of nutrition articles to Index Medicus.
The aim of this study was to document publication trends and characterize
articles addressing vegetarian-related topics in AJCN. The Medline bibliographic
database and manual searches were used to identify published articles,
which were subsequently reviewed and quantified. Trends over time were
assessed. Between 1954 and 1995, 171 vegetarian-related articles were
published, of which 56 appeared in three monographic supplements. The
average publication rate was 1.5 per year for the first 15 years, followed
by a progressive increase during the 1970's, reaching an oscillating
plateau of 4.5 per year during the 1980's. Similar trends were observed,
even after adjusting for increases in total number of articles published
in AJCN. Two thirds of the articles were defined as original research.
Of those, 62% were comparison of groups, 13% were experimental or clinical
trials, and 16% were epidemiological studies. When specified, 75% of
the articles used Seventh-day Adventists as the study population. In
the earlier years, a high proportion of vegetarian articles focused
on nutritional adequacy issues (52%); however, the emphasis has shifted
gradually towards chronic diseases and risk factors (19% earlier vs.
42% currently).
KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES CONCERNING
VEGETARIAN DIETS: DIFFERENCES AMONG DIETITIANS IN THREE REGIONS OF THE
U.S. K. M. Duncan, E. A. Bergman. Department of Family & Consumer Sciences,
Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA, USA.
Registered Dietitians' (RD)
knowledge and attitudes about the safety, adequacy and health benefits
of vegetarian diets was estimated. A questionnaire was developed with
demographic, knowledge and attitude questions and was completed by 182
RDs from Washington, Nebraska and Vermont. The results showed that RDs
in Vermont had significantly higher attitude scores regarding vegetarian
diets than RDs in Nebraska (63% vs. 52% of questions answered correctly,
respectively) and that RDs in Washington had significantly higher knowledge
scores concerning vegetarian diets than RDs in Nebraska (73% vs. 67%
of questions answered correctly, respectively). A significantly higher
percentage of the RDs from Vermont, 52%, reported having followed some
type of vegetarian diet compared to only 28% of the RDs from Washington
or 12% of the RDs from Nebraska. Results also showed that RDs who had
followed vegetarian diets at the time of the study or at some time in
the past had significantly higher overall knowledge and attitude scores
when compared with those RDs who had never followed vegetarian diets.
There was a significant positive correlation between overall knowledge
and overall attitude score for individual subjects. This suggests that
increasing the knowledge base of RDs concerning vegetarian diets may
lead them to consider meatless diets in a more positive light. In addition,
average overall knowledge and attitude scores suggested that RDs are
not up to date with current research in the field of vegetarian nutrition.
MAINTENANCE FACTORS, SELF-PERCEPTIONS,
AND INTERACTIONS OF VEGETARIANS. Jennifer Jabs, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
As more and more research supports
the health benefits of adopting a more plant-based diet, the interest
in vegetarian diets is growing in the population. Past research has
focused on quantitative evaluation of vegetarian diets with regards
to nutritional adequacy and demographic profiles of people who follow
vegetarian diets. This project used qualitative interviews of 19 self-identified
vegetarians and nine nonvegetarians. The study's purpose was to determine
factors of maintenance of vegetarian diets and how the adoption of vegetarian
diets affect respondents' self-perceptions and interactions with others.
The in-depth, qualitative interviews with vegetarians focused on the
process of adoption of vegetarian diets, maintenance issues, and interactions
with others. Interview transcripts were analyzed using concept mapping
and the constant comparative method. From these data three main structures
emerged which were responsible for respondents maintaining a vegetarian
diets. These structures were: personal factors, support from others,
and environmental resources. These structures allowed people to maintain
their vegetarian diets even when faced with challenging situations.
The challenges vegetarians faced most often occurred in social situations
and interactions with relatives. Relatives sometimes had a role in supporting
a respondent's decision to adopt a vegetarian diet. More often relatives
discouraged the adoption of a vegetarian diet. The results of this research
can inform nutrition and health professionals about enablers and barriers
in the adoption of a vegetarian diet. This information can be used for
the encouragement and maintenance of vegetarian and more plant-based
diets.
SCI-VEG: AN INTERNET FORUM
FOR SCIENTIFICALLY-BASED DISCUSSION OF VEGETARIAN ISSUES.
Virginia L. Messina,
Carl V. Phillips. Nutrition Matters, Inc. Port Townsend, WA, USA.
Internet discussion groups are an efficient means of sharing information and the vegetarian community has taken advantage of this. Unfortunately, the rapid and uncontrolled nature of most Internet fore has encouraged the dissemination of misinformation about vegetarian nutrition and other scientific issues. Those with an interest in scientifically-based discussions of vegetarianism have been discouraged from participating due to the tendency of unsubstantiated assertions to overwhelm reasoned discourse. The sci-veg E-mail list was established to provide a controlled forum to promote the scientific understanding of nutrition and other vegetarian issues. Specifically, it provides a place where consumers can receive accurate information and offers a forum for academic and philosophical discussion of vegetarian nutrition, food science, environment, economics, etc. An ongoing goal is to bring more scientists and researchers into the Internet community of vegetarians. Sci-veg is unique among vegetarian resources on the net. It maintains scientific standards through the use of a well-defined charter, active list owners with a wide variety of scientific backgrounds, and prior-review moderation. The success of sci-veg in attracting subscribers from among laypersons, health professionals, and academicians demonstrates that with adherence to well-stated guidelines and a hands-on approach to moderating and directing an E-mail list, the interact can provide fore for reliable, accurate nutrition education and for meaningful exchanges on vegetarian issues among academicians, professionals, and consumers.
[Vegetarian Congress contents]
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Revised
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