title: Will the real vegetarian please stand up? An investigation of dietary restraint and eating disorder symptoms in vegetarians versus non-vegetarians.
abstract: Adherence to a vegetarian diet has been hypothesized to be a factor in the onset and maintenance of disordered eating behavior; however, evidence to support this assumption has been largely mixed. The two studies presented here sought to address the causes of inconsistent findings in previous research, including: small samples of true vegetarians, lack of appropriate operational definitions of "vegetarianism", and uncertainty about the appropriateness of existing assessments of eating behaviors for semi-vegetarians. Study 1 assessed eating behaviors in the largest samples of confirmed true vegetarians and vegans surveyed to date, and compared them to semi-vegetarians and omnivores. Semi-vegetarians reported the highest levels of eating-related pathology; true vegetarians and vegans appeared to be healthiest in regards to weight and eating. Study 2 examined differences between semi-vegetarians and omnivores in terms of restraint and disordered eating and found little evidence for more eating-related pathology in semi-vegetarians, compared to omnivores. Semi-vegetarians' higher scores on traditional assessments of eating behaviors appeared artificially inflated by ratings of items assessing avoidance of specific food items which should be considered normative in the context of a vegetarian diet. Findings shed light on the sources of inconsistencies in prior research on eating behaviors in vegetarians and suggest that semi-vegetarianism - as opposed to true vegetarianism or veganism - is the most likely related to disordered eating.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, USA. a.timko@usp.edu
authors.forename: C Alix
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Timko
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hormes
authors.forename: Janice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chubski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D055815:Young Adult