studies omni vs veg

[vegetus]

A friend of mine is thinking of trying veg*anism and is wondering if there were any nutritional studies done comparing omnivores with vegetarians and/or vegans. I know of lots of studies looking a certain types of meat consumption increasing risk of cancer/heart disease etc and also at studies looking solely at veg*an health, but was wondering if

Comments

[hajari_]

Here's an abstract which might be relevant:

We described the body composition and nutrient intake of Buddhist vegetarians and compared the data with that of omnivores in South Korea. Vegetarian subjects were 54 Buddhist nuns, who adhered to a vegetarian diet in accordance with Buddhist teachings. We compared these finding with a group of 31 omnivore Catholic nuns who shared a similar lifestyle but different dietary pattern than those of the Buddhist nuns. All subjects completed the estimated three-day dietary record. Body composition was determined by a segmental multi-frequency-bioelectrical impedance analysis method. No height difference between the dietary groups existed but the vegetarians had a significantly higher body weight, fat free mass, body fat and body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) than the omnivores. The median BMI of both vegetarians and omnivores fell in the normal range (22.6 vs. 20.7 kg/m2). In vegetarians, body fat was inversely correlated with the duration of vegetarianism (p for trend=0.043). The long duration group of the vegetarians had lower body fat than the short duration group (12.l vs. 15.0 kg, p=0.032). The status of the nutrient intake of Korean Buddhist vegetarians was comparable to that of omnivores, and the intake of some nutrients in vegetarians was more favorable than in the omnivores.
Lee, Y & Krawinkel, M 2009, 'Body composition and nutrient intake of Buddhist vegetarians', Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2009;18(2):265-71

According to the full text, their diet is mostly vegan but with a bit of dairy.

That's the first general nutrition one I found, there is lots on specific nutrients (zinc, B12, DHA) so is there anything in particular your friend is concerned about? I don't have time now but tonight I'll have a look for some more general studies done in western countries.

[vegetus]

That's great abstract, thank you. He hasn't said anything specific, just wanted comaparison studies which are alot more difficult to find compared to the "red meat increases your risk of cancer" stuff. Also stuff that is peer reviewed is great, where did you look for this, is there a particular academic website?

[asmallplanet]

These google search terms come up with dozens:

site:www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ vegan omnivore

Of course, google annoys me by equating vegan with vegetarian, but inserting a "-vegetarian" will get rid of that if you want to refine it so.

[asmallplanet]

And all are comparative and academic.

[hajari_]

I was using PubMed, which asmallplanet gave the address to. Only annoying thing is sometimes it only has the title and you can't get the actual article.

[vegetus]

Great, thanks :)