Vegetarian Diets

VEGETARIAN DIETS
Types of Vegetarian Diets

• Vegetarians:
exclude meat, poult ry, fish, seafood and other animal products
from their diets
• Lacto-ovo-vegetarians :
include milk, milk products, and eggs, but
exclude meat, poultry, fish and seafood
• Lactovegetarians :
include milk and milk products, but
• exclude meat, pou ltry, fish, seafood, and eggs
• Vegans :
• exclude all ani mal and animal-derived foods (meat, pou lt ry,
fish, eggs, and dairy products)
• Macrobiotics
Extremely restrict ive diets limited to a grains and vegetables
Position of the Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics: Vegetarian Diets, 2016
Vegetarian Diets
• Vegetarian diets are classified based on
what they exclude, but foods excluded not
nearly as important as the foods included.
• Vegetarian diets that include a variety of
whole grains, vegetables, legumes, seeds,
nuts, and fruits offer complex carbohydrate,
fiber, a variety of vitamins and minerals and
low fat - all of which reflect the Dietary
Guidelines.
Health Benefits
• Health impacts of vegetarian diet s would be
easy if the only difference was what they ate.
• Many vegetarians also have lifestyles
differences:
Maintain a healthy weight
Do not use tobacco
• Use little {if any) alcohol
• Are physica lly active
• Make it difficult to determine if health
benefits due to diet or other lifestyle factors.
Health Benefits
• Even when dietary effects are correlated with
health benefits, this only means health effects
go with diets, not that health effects are
caused by diet.
• Still, even with cautions, research suggest
well-planned vegetarian diets offer adults
nutrition and health benefits.
IBody Weight
• Vegetarians tend to have healthier body
weight than non-vegetarians
Vegetarians' lower body weight is correlated
with their higher fiber and lower fat intakes
Since being overweight can increase many health
risks, this gives vegetarians a health advantage
Blood Pressure
• Vegetarians tend to have lower blood
pressure than non-vegetarian
A healthy body weight along with a diet low in
total fat and saturated fat and high in fiber, fruits
and vegetables helps maintain a healthy blood
pressure
Other lifestyle factors, such as not using tobacco,
little {if any) alcohol use, and being physically
active help lower blood pressure
Heart Disease
• Vegetarians tend to have a lower incidence of
heart disease than non-vegetarians
Dietary factors related to heart disease ri sk are
high total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol
Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in total fat,
saturated fat, and cholesterol
Vegetarian diets tend to supply monounsaturated
fats from olives, seeds, and nuts and
polyunsaturat ed fats from vegetable oi ls associated
with decreased heart disease risk
Vegetarian diets also tend to be higher in dietary
fiber associated with lower heart disease risk
Cancer
• Vegetarians tend to have lower rates of
certain types of cancer, most notably colon
cancer, than non-vegetarians
Lower cancer rates may be due to the higher
fruit and vegetable and lower fat intake
Fruits and vegetables provide ample amounts of
fiber, antioxidant nutrients and phytochemcials
and low fat
Planning Vegetarian Diets
• Vegetarians and non-vegetarians have the
same meal-planning challenge - utilizing a
variety of foods to provide all the nutrients
needed while staying within a calorie range
that maintains a healthy weight.
!Vegetarian Food Guide
• Most vegetarians consume adequate
amounts of nutrients found in abundance in
plant food s including thiamin, folate, and
vitamins B6, C, A, and E
• Vegetarian food patterns help to ensure
adequate intakes of nutrients vegetarian diets
might otherwise lack including iron, zinc,
calcium, vitamin B12, and vitamin D
Vegan food guides, all modeled
on the US Department of
Agriculture’s ChooseMyPlate,
are available online, and include
speciﬁcations regarding sour-ces
of calcium, vitamin B-12, iodine,
and n-3 fatty acids
https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/My
VeganPlate.pdf
Protein
• Recommended protein intakes for
vegetarians is the same as for non-
vegetarians, although some have suggested
that vegetarian protein requirements should
be higher due to the lower digestibility of
plant protein.
• Lacto-ovo-vegetarians who include milk and
eggs receive high-quality proteins and are
likely to meet protein needs.
Protein
• Even vegans, who exclude milk and eggs, able
to meet protein needs if consume adequate
calories and varied sources of protein
• Whole gains, legumes, seeds, nuts, and
vegetables can provide adequate amounts of
protein and all the amino acids.
• Many plant based protein foods tend to be
lower in saturated fat and higher in fiber and
some vitamins and minerals than animal based
protein foods.
!Vitamins and Minerals
• Getting enough iron can be a problem for
both vegetarians and non-vegetarians.
• However, vegetarians must pay particular
attention to iron intake.
• Iron is poorly absorbed from plant foods
such as legumes, dark green leafy
vegetables, iron-fortified cereals, and whole-
grain breads and cereals.
Vitamins and Minerals
• Because iron is less available from plant
sources, the iron ORI for vegetarians is
higher than non-vegetarians.
• Fortunately, the body is more efficient at
absorbing iron when dietary intake is low.
• In addition, vitamin C increases iron
absorption, and vegetarian diets typically
provide ample fruits and vegetables rich in
vitamin C.
• Zinc is similar to iron. Meat is a rich food
source of zinc; and zinc is not well absorbed
from plant sources.
• In addition, soy, which is commonly
consumed as a meat alternate in vegetarian
meals, interferes with zinc absorption .
• However, most adults who follow vegetarian
adults are not deficient in zinc.
• Calcium intake of lactovegetaria ns is similar
to the general population.
• However, vegetarians who do not include
milk and milk product s are at risk for
inadequate calcium intake.
• If milk is not included in the diet,
recommendations are to choose ample
amounts of calcium-rich foods, such as
calcium-fortified juices, soy milk, and
breakfast cereals.
• Including plenty of these calcium rich foods
is especially important for children and
adolescents.
• Some other good food sources of calcium
include figs, some legumes, some green
vegetables such as broccoli and turnip
greens, some nuts such as almonds, certain
seeds such as sesame seeds, and calci um-set
tofu.
• Because plant sources of calcium can be
limited, including a variety of calcium rich
foods is important.
• The DRI for vitamin B12 is low, but vitamin
B12 is only found in animal food s.
• Bacteria used to ferment soy products such
as tempeh may provide some vitamin B12,
but much of the vitamin B12 may be an
inactive form.
DRI is the general term for a set of reference values used to plan and assess nutrient intakes of healthy people.
• Seaweeds such as nori and chlorella supply
only a very small amount of vitamin 812,
and excessive intake of these food s can
result in iodine toxicity.
• To protect against vitamin 812 deficiency,
vegans must depend on foods fortified with
vitamin 812 such as soy milk and breakfast
cereals or dietary supplements.
• Vitamin D is also a nutrient of concern for
vegetarians to support bone growth and
maintenance.
• Vegetarians who do not consume foods
fortified with vitamin D and do not receive
enough sunlight exposure to synthesize
adequate vitamin D may need
supplementation.
• Adequate vitamin D intake is especially
important for infants, children, and older
adults.
• Young children following vegan diets who
live in northern climates during winter
months can easily develop rickets which is a
vitamin D deficiency disease.
Vegetarian Diets Through the Life Span
• Carefully planned vegetarian diets can
provide adequate calories and nutrients to
support good health.
• However, obtaining adequate calories and
nutrients can be difficult for vegans who
excludes all animal products; particularly for
growing children and pregnant and lactating
women .
Vegetarian Diets Through the Life Span
• Plant foods typically provide fewer calories
than animal foods.
• Lower calorie intakes can be helpful for
overweight adults, it can be harmful for
growing infants, children and adolescences.
• Diet during pregnancy, lactation, infancy,
childhood, and adolescence must provide
adequate calories and nutrients for growth
and development.
Healthy Food Choices
• Diet quality doesn't depend on whether
meat is included, but on whether the other
food selected are nutritionally sound.
• A diet that includes plenty of fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and
seeds is higher in fiber, antioxidant vitamins
and minerals, and phytochemcials, and
lower in total and saturated fat.
• The key to nutritiona l adequacy of
vegetarian diets is including a variety of
foods.
• Restrictive vegetarian eating plans, such as
macrobiotic diets that limit selections to a
few grains and vegetables cannot possi bly
deliver a full variety of nutrients.
• In addition, both vegetarians and non-
vegetarian diets can be low in some
nutrients if poorly planned .
• Poorly planned vegetarian diets are often
low in iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin B12, and
vitamin D
• Poorly planned non-vegetarian diets are
often low in vitamin A, vitamin D, folate, and
fiber.
• In general, negative health aspects of any
diet, including vegetarian diets, reflect poor
diet planning.
• Careful planning to adequate calories and
problem nutrients can ensure adequacy.
• It's important to remember that diet is only
one factor affecting health.
• In addition to diet, not smoking, moderate
alcohol intake {if at all), regular physical
activity, and adequate rest all contribute to
health.
• Healthy lifestyles early in life seem to be the
most important step one can take to reduce
risk of disease later in life.

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VEGETARIAN DIETS

Types of Vegetarian Diets

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