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)