Dietary quality in vegetarian and omnivorous female students in Germany: a retrospective study

Blaurock, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9536-0866, Kaiser, B., Stelzl, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8911-9221, Weech, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1738-877X, Fallaize, R., Franco, R. Z., Hwang, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3243-3869, Lovegrove, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7633-9455, Finglas, P. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4143-2398 and Gedrich, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7321-2555 (2021) Dietary quality in vegetarian and omnivorous female students in Germany: a retrospective study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (4). e1888. ISSN 1660-4601 doi: 10.3390/ijerph18041888

Abstract/Summary

Vegetarian diets have gained in popularity, especially among highly educated women, and are considered beneficial to health. Comparative studies assessing the diet of vegetarians against omnivores are rather limited and often provide ambivalent results. Therefore, this study examined the nutrient intake and nutritional quality of vegetarian and omnivorous diets in a group of 61 female students in Germany. Habitual dietary intake was evaluated using a validated graphical online food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Differences in nutrient intakes were analyzed by Mann–Whitney-U-Tests. Odds Ratios (OR) were calculated for vegetarians exceeding dietary reference values (DRV) compared to omnivores. The overall nutritional quality was assessed using the Healthy-Eating-Index-2015 (HEI-2015). In omnivores, intakes of total energy from saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-n3-PUFA), cholesterol, sucrose, lactose, retinol, and cobalamin were significantly higher than in vegetarians. Significantly lower intakes were observed for fiber, magnesium, and beta-carotene. Significant OR were detected for total fat (OR = 0.29), SFA (OR = 0.04), beta-carotene (OR = 4.55), and cobalamin (OR = 0.32). HEI-2015 scores were higher for vegetarians than for omnivores (79 points versus 74 points) and significant differences were recorded for the HEI-2015 components dairy, seafood plant proteins, fatty acids, added sugars, and saturated fatty acids.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/96320
Identification Number/DOI	10.3390/ijerph18041888
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences > Human Nutrition Research Group
Uncontrolled Keywords	vegetarian, omnivores, nutrient intake, food frequency questionnaire, healthy eating index, web application, personalized dietary advices
Publisher	MDPI
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