Young Vegetarians may Have Eating Disorders

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/04/young-vegetarians-may-have-eating-disorders.html

The study analyzed data from surveys, questionnaires and observations taken at 31 Minnesota schools in 1998. The 2,516 adolescents and young adults in the study ranged in age from 15 to 23. The students were categorized as current vegetarians, former vegetarians or never vegetarian. A vegetarian diet can mean eating only plant sources or consuming some dairy and eggs or even some chicken and fish.

The study found that 19.6% of the current vegetarians and 20.9% of former vegetarians used some form of extreme, unhealthy weight-control behaviors (such as using a diet pill or laxatives or inducing vomiting), and 21.2% and 16%, respectively, said they had binged on food with a loss of control. In comparison, 9.4% of the never-vegetarian group had used extreme, unhealthy weight-control behaviors and only 4.4% said they had lost control while eating and binged.

The study was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Assoc. and commented that physicians should screen their patients for eating habits and behaviors. Young adults are believed to result in such behaviors for adherence to social expectations. Also, binge eating disorders associated with a loss of control were caused by a lack of protein and fat in the diets of reported vegetarians.