Nutritional intakes of vegetarian populations in France

Abstract

Objective: To assess food behaviour and determine nutritional intakes of various vegetarian populations in France. Design: A ®ve-day self-administered food record which was mailed to members of the three principal French vegetarian organisations. Subjects: 145 subjects, aged 7 ± 87 y; 94 classical vegetarians (19% of those contacted), 34 Hindu lactovegetarians (17% of those contacted) and 17 macrobiotic (34% of those contacted). Setting: The survey was conducted between March 1997 and July 1997 in France. Results: Vegetarianism in France is represented by three main classes of food behaviour: ovolactovegetarian (AAV), lactovegetarian (KRI) and macrobiotic (MMK). The geometric mean intakes ranged from 1952 kcalad (KRI), 2051 kcalad (MMK) to 2384 kcalad (AAV) for males and from 1302 kcalad (MMK), 1675 kcalad (AAV) to 1804 kcalad (KRI) for females, after adjusting for age and BMI. The energy consumption in the MMK group was signi®cantly lower than that in the AAV (P`0.05) and KRI groups (P`0.01), respectively. A difference among groups was observed for females (P 0.0002), but not for males. The MMK group consumed less lipid than the other two vegetarian groups, 46 gad for men and 38 gad for women vs 80 gad for men and 61 gad for women in the AAV group and 93 gad for men and 81 gad for women in the KRI group, respectively. Differences with AAV and MMK were statistically signi®cant (P`0.001 for men and women for both groups). Mean protein consumption ranged from 60 gad (AAV), 64 gad (KRI) to 77 gad (MMK) for males and from 46 gad (MMK), 50 gad (AAV) to 58 gad (KRI) for females. Mean carbohydrate intakes ranged from 247 gad (AAV), 321 gad (KRI) to 338 gad (MMK) in males and from 209 gad (MMK), 228 gad (AAV) to 242 gad (KRI) in females. There were no signi®cant differences in protein and carbohydrate intakes between the groups. Median calcium intakes ranged from 758.2 mgad (MMK), 863 mgad (AAV) to 989.3 mgad (KRI) for the men and from 500.8 mgad (MMK), 863 mgad (AAV) to 934 mgad (KRI) for the women. In the men, there was no differences in daily calcium intakes between the three vegetarian groups. However, we found a signi®cant difference for women (P 0.0041). The women in the MMK group presented signi®cantly lower daily calcium intakes than the women in the AAV (P 0.013) and KRI (P 0.0032) groups. The AAV and KRI groups consumed dairy products supplying respectively 36% and 53% for the men and 39% and 59% for the women of total calcium against 0% for men and women in the MMK group. Median iron intakes ranged between 12.5 mgad (KRI), 13.2 mgad (AAV) and 22.5 mgad (MMK) for the men and between 11.2 mgad (KRI), 14.6 mgad (AAV) and 16.9 mgad (MMK) for the women. MMK (men P 0.0172 and women P 0.0131) and AAV (only in men P 0.037) groups consumed signi®cantly higher quantities of iron than did the KRI group. The heme iron median intake in males and females of the three vegetarian groups was very low (`0.5%).Overall, the female vegetarians consumed 58.1 (MMK), 109 (AAV) and 127.4 (KRI) mg of vitamin C per day and the males 76...

How low can dietary greenhouse gas emissions be reduced without impairing nutritional adequacy, affordability and acceptability of the diet? A modelling study to guide sustainable food choices

“…However, the realism of such scenarios is questionable since the prevalence of vegetarianism is quite low in industrialized countries (e.g. estimated to be approximately 2 % in the French (46) and US (47) populations). In addition, some studies suggest that a large proportion of the population is not yet ready to consume a fully plantbased diet (48,49) .…”

Electromyogram, hand grip strength and time to fatigue in matched samples of vegetarians and non-vegetarians

“…[6] Epidemiological studies on vegetarians show that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthy and nutritionally adequate. [7][8][9][10][11] Compared to non-vegetarian (NV) diets, V diets can provide several health benefits. [12][13][14][15] However, these health benefits in vegetarians may be influenced by other non-dietary practices.…”

The Effects of a Vegetarian Diet on Iron Status in Female Students

“…It has been reported that vegetarians in France believe their diet is an answer to nutritional and medical problems, and it is a way to return to a more natural life. However, the primary reason for the rejection of meat is because of the cruelty to animals and a crusade for health (Leblanc, Yoon, Kombadjian, & Verger, 2000). Disease prevention also played a role in diet choices of female vegetarians studied.…”

“…Heme iron intake of French vegetarians accounted for 0.2 mg per day in the lacto-ovo-vegetarians, and none in the lacto-vegetarians and vegans (p<0.01) (Leblanc et al, 2000). Consumption of iron derived from the different sources of food is important because heme and nonheme iron have different bioavailability (Mahan & Escott-Stump, 2004), which is discussed later in the Review of Literature.…”

“…Vegetarians tended to spend less total time on regular physical activity, but exercised with more frequency and duration compared to nonvegetarians (Meirelles et al, 2001). In France, it was reported that 89% of the vegetarian population studied were physical active on a daily bases (Leblanc et al, 2000). Body mass index (BMI) was found to be lower in vegans and vegetarians (Due et al, 2000;Haddad et al, 1999).…”