Vegetarian diets and eating disorders in adolescents and young adults: A systematic review

The aim of this 2020 study was to assess the relationship between eating disorders and vegetarian diets in adolescents and young adults. Sergentanis et al. identified that the prevalence rates of eating disorders are rising among adolescents and young adults, while the number of vegetarians is also increasing in these age groups. To find a connection between vegetarian diets and incidence of eating disorders, a systematic review was conducted on related articles published in PubMed, PsychInfo and Google Scholar up to 30 May 2019. Twenty studies met the inclusion criteria for this review, providing data of 14,391 trial participants. Most articles reported significant links between vegetarianism and eating disorders. However, it could not be confirmed whether vegetarian diets cause eating disorders because the included cohorts were cross-sectional studies (an observational study that analyzes data at one given time point). Although vegetarianism appears to be interlinked with eating disorders, we will need longitudinal data to establish these patterns between vegetarianism and the emergence of disordered eating. [NPID: vegetarian diet, vegetarianism, eating disorder, adolescents, young adults, review, systematic review]

Year: 2021

Reference: Sergentanis, T. N., Chelmi, M. E., Liampas, A., Yfanti, C. M., Panagouli, E., Vlachopapadopoulou, E., Michalacos, S., Bacopoulou, F., Psaltopoulou, T., & Tsitsika, A. (2020). Vegetarian Diets and Eating Disorders in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 8(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/children8010012