THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VEGETARIAN DIET, PHYSICAL HEALTH, AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Keywords:
vegetarian diet, physical health, subjective well-being.Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationships between dietary patterns (omnivorous vs. vegetarian), physical health and subjective well-being. There were 66 respondents, of which 37 omnivores, 14 pesco-vegetarians and 15 vegetarians. They completed a protocol with four standardized questionnaires. Participation was voluntary, based on informed consent. Responses given to the first questionnaire revealed a healthy dietary style among pesco-vegetarians and vegetarians. The frequency of self-reported morbidity was low. Thus, less than a quarter of all respondents reported that they had been diagnosed with a somatic chronic disease (e.g., osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, asthma or hypertension). However, almost three quarters of the cases with a chronic medical condition were represented by the omnivore respondents. Compared with them, both vegetarians and pesco-vegetarians obtained a significantly lower mean for body mass index and higher means on the perception of their healthy dietary habits as well as on satisfaction with their own dietary style and physical health. Furthermore, compared with the omnivores, vegetarians reported a higher mean on the satisfaction with their own lives. There were no significant differences in self-esteem and depression. Some limits of the study and directions for a future investigation are discussed. The results suggest that vegetarian diet may have benefits not only in terms of somatic functioning and physical health, but also in subjective well-being.
References
Beezhold, B. L., Johnston, C. S., & Daigle, D. R. (2010). Vegetarian diets are associated with healthy mood states: A cross-sectional study in Seventh Day Adventist adults. Nutrition Journal, 9, 26. Articol disponibil pe www.nutritionj.com.
Beezhold, B. L., Radnitz, C., Rinne, A., & DiMatteo, J. (2015). Vegans report less stress and anxiety than omnivores. Nutritional Neuroscience, 18 (7), 289-296.
Crowe, F. L., Appleby, P. N., Allen, N. E., & Key, T. J. (2011). Diet and risk of diverticular disease in Oxford cohort of European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC): Prospective study of British vegetarians and non-vegetarians. The British Medical Journal, 343: d4131. Articol disponibil pe www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Crowe, F. L., Appleby, P. N., Travis, R. C., & Key, T. J. (2013). Risk of hospitalization or death from ischemic heart disease among British vegetarians and nonvegetarians: Results from the EPIC-Oxford cohort study. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 97 (3), 597- 603. Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49 (1), 71- 75.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125 (2), 276-302.
Driga, O., Robu, V., Driga, A., Postelnicu, C. (2007). Experimentarea inventarului BDI-Fast Screen for Medical Patients la pacienţi consultaţi în regim ambulator. Revista Medico-Chirurgicală, 111 (supl.), 156-159.
Fox, N. J., & Ward, K. J. (2008a). What are health identities and how may we study them? Sociology of Health & Illness, 30 (7), 1007-1021.
Fox, N. J., & Ward, K. J. (2008b). You are what you eat? Vegetarianism, health and identity. Social Science & Medicine, 66 (12), 2585-2595
Fraser, G. E. (2009). Vegetarian diets: What do we know of their effects on common chronic diseases? The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89 (5), 1607S-1612S. Articol disponibil pe www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Gilsing, A. M., Crowe, F. L., Lloyd-Wright, Z., Sanders, T. A., Appleby, P. N., Allen, N. E., & Key, T. J. (2010). Serum concentration of vitamin B 12 and folate in British male omnivores, vegetarians and vegans: Results from cross-sectional analysis of the EPIC-Oxford cohort study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 64 (9), 933-999.
Heatherton, T. F., & Wyland, C. L. (2003). Assessing self-esteem. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures (pp. 219-233). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Key, T. J., Appleby, P. N., Spencer, E. A., Travis, R. C., Roddam, A. V., & Allen, N. E. (2009). Mortality in British vegetarians: Results from the European Prospective investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Oxford). The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 89 (5), 1613S-1619S. Articol disponibil pe www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
Keyes, C. L. M., & Magyar-Moe J. L. (2003). The measurement and utility of adult subjective well-being. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures (pp. 411-425). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Leitzmann, C. (2014). Vegetarian nutrition: Past, present, future. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 100 (suppl.): 496S-502S. Articol disponibil pe wwww.ajcn.nutrition.org.
Marcu, R. (2013). New psychometric data on the efficiency of Satisfaction with Life Scale in Romania. Journal of Psychological and Education Research, 21 (1), 77-90.
Murtaugh, M. A., Herrick, J. S., & Sweeney, C., Baumgartner, K. B., Guiliano, A. R., Byers, T., & Slattery, M. L. (2007). Diet composition and risk of overweight and obesity in women living in the southestern United States. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 107 (8), 1311-1321.
Newby, P. K., Tucker, K. L., & Wolk, A. (2005). Risk of overweight and obesity among semivegetarian, lacto-vegetarian and vegan women. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 81 (6), 1267-1274.
Orlich, M. J., & Fraser, G. E. (2014). Vegetarian diets in the Adventist Health Study-2: A review of initial published findings. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 100 (suppl.), 353S-358S. Articol disponibil pe wwww.ajcn.nutrition.org.
Orlich, M. J., Singh, P. N., Sabaté, J., Fan, J., Sveen, L., Bennett, H., Knutsen, S. F., Beeson, W. L., Jaceldo-Siegl. K., Butler, T. L., Herring, R. P., & Fraser, G. E. (2015). Vegetarian dietary patterns and the risk of colorectal cancers. JAMA Internal Medicine, 175 (5), 767-776.
Orlich, M. J., Singh, P. N., Sabaté, J., Jaceldo-Siegl, K., Fan, J., Knutsen, S., Beeson, W. L., & Fraser, G. E. (2013). Vegetarian dietary patterns and mortality in Adventist Health Study-2. JAMA Internal Medicine, 173 (13), 1230-1238.
Robu, V., Gotcă, I. (2014). Caracteristici psihometrice ale inventarului Beck pentru evaluarea depresiei-forma foarte scurtă pentru pacienţi medicali. În C. Popa, A. M. Ciobanu (Coord.), Tulburarea depresivă II. Elemente de psihodiagnostic, terapii moderne şi studii de caz (pp. 17-28). Bucureşti: Editura Academiei Române.
Tarcea, M. (2015). Curs de nutriţie vegetariană (uz intern). Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie din Tg. Mureş.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant this journal right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work, with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as an earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
