Examining dietary behaviours, diet quality, motives and supplementation use in physically active individuals following vegetarian‐based eating patterns

Abstract

The adoption of vegetarian‐based dietary patterns among athletes has been gaining popularity. However, limited research examines the dietary behaviours within this group. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine self‐reported dietary behaviours in a cohort of physically active individuals following vegetarian‐based dietary patterns, recruited via social media. A 52‐item online survey was created with questions related to demographics, physical activity, eating patterns and supplementation use. An external link to the Australian Automated Self‐Administered 24‐h (ASA24‐AU) recall was included to examine nutrient intakes. Dietary quality was assessed using the Alternate Healthy Eating Index‐2010 (AHEI‐2010) and the Dietary Phytochemical Index (DPI) tools. A total of 781 (84.8%) respondents completed the survey in 2018. Principal motives for adhering to a vegetarian‐based dietary pattern included animal rights (86.5%), environmental concerns (75.4%), health reasons (69.6%) and improving physical performance (24.1%). Vitamin B12 was the most commonly reported supplement (58.1%) followed by protein powder (36.3%) and vitamin D (35.9%). A total of 133 respondents completed the ASA24‐AU dietary recall with generally adequate nutrient intakes and a high‐quality diet as assessed by the AHEI‐2010 and DPI. A significant minority of physically active individuals following vegetarian‐based diets do so with the aspiration of improving their exercise performance. Dietary quality was considered high in this group for recreational physical activity, although intakes of vitamin B12 and LC n‐3 PUFA were low.

Dietary Habits and Race Day Strategies among Flexitarian, Vegetarian, and Vegan Recreational Endurance Runners: A Cross-Sectional Investigation from The NURMI Study (Step 2)

“…Regarding the race day strategies, and especially the race day dietary strategies of the subgroups, it was found that there was no difference considering the means of training guidance by diet type. This result is consistent with previous findings [52,102] and most likely due to the fact that the subjects were recreational athletes and not professionals, and therefore, professional guidance is limited to the minority of subjects most probably highly motivated to perform [103]. For using a sport supplement on race day, no difference was found across the subgroups, as most subjects did not consume any supplement (63%; n = 82), which shows that it is viable to consume a meat-free diet without any additional supplementation to perform in long-distance, endurance running events.…”

Training Behaviors and Periodization Outline of Omnivorous, Vegetarian, and Vegan Recreational Runners (Part A)—Results from the NURMI Study (Step 2)

“…Considering that personal dietary motivations likely influence behavior [ 66 ] and that personal running motivations likely influence exercise training behavior [ 2 , 5 ], it is interesting that the vegetarians of the present sample were significantly less motivated than the omnivores or vegans regarding running for well-being purposes. In another study on athletes, it was found that vegetarians are highly motivated to follow their current diet based on health and well-being purposes [ 67 ]. Therefore, it seems that when it comes to running recreationally, vegetarians are more motivated (initially and currently) to run for hobby or fun than well-being, possibly based on the assumption that their diet (e.g., by the lack of flesh foods: meat and fish/shellfish) is sufficient for their health as a single factor [ 68 ].…”

Diet quality, diet motives and nutrition literacy of vegans, vegetarians and semi-vegetarians

“…Although many studies have characterized the diet quality of individuals following plantbased dietary patterns, there is a lack of evidence regarding the diet motives and nutrition literacy among different categories of plant-based dietary patterns. Additionally, previous research on the relationship between diet motives and diet quality have produced inconsistent results (21)(22)(23)(24)(25) . The health motive seems to be associated with beneficial dietary behaviors in individuals following plant-based dietary patterns (11,13,21) .…”

“…Some studies discovered that being motivated by ethics was linked to higher diet quality, while being motivated by weight control and mood was linked to lower diet quality, but these results have not been replicated (22,23) . Few studies have focused on diet motives and its relationship to diet quality in individuals following a plant-based diet (24,25) .…”

“…One study found that health-motivated vegetarians had higher HEI-2015 scores than those with other primary motivations for following a vegetarian diet (religion, family, environment) (24) . While a study including physically active adults following a vegetarian diet pattern found that aspiration to improve performance was the only motive associated with better diet quality (25) .…”