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Date: | Fri, 13 Sep 2002 03:17:17 EDT |
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http://www.health24.co.za/news.asp?action=art&SubContentTypeId=0&
ContentID=18710
Vegetarians not healthier
September 11, 2002
Vegetarian teens are not necessarily healthier than their meat-eating peers,
says new research, because despite their healthy diets, they are not more
likely to adopt other healthy practices like exercising more or cutting back
on smoking or drinking alcohol. In a study of Swedish and Norwegian
vegetarian teenagers, researchers from the Umea University in Sweden found
that contrary to findings from other studies, a low-meat diet does not
guarantee other healthy habits.
Weight concerns not the motivation
Lead study author Dr Christel Larsson surveyed over 2 000 Swedish and
Norwegian 15- to 16-year-old students, of whom 149 reported being low-meat
consumers. Almost three-quarters of these students were female.
The low-meat eaters did not differ from the meat-eating students in weight or
body mass index, Larsson and her colleagues reported in the Journal of
Adolescent Health.
The low-meat eaters were also similar in their opinion about their weight,
indicating that a concern about weight gain was not the major reason for the
students choosing a low-meat diet, the researchers report.
Meat-eaters healthier
Health reasons were also not behind the choice to avoid meat, the report
found. In fact, those students who ate meat were more health conscious and
tended to be healthier than the vegetarians.
Women on low-meat diets reported being sick more often than their peers,
while low-meat eating men found that they were tired and experienced
headaches more often than their peers. Both the men and women also reported
being depressed more often than the meat-eaters.
The researchers found no difference in exercise habits, alcohol or smoking
habits between the low-meat eaters and the meat-eaters. – (HealthScout)
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