Vegetarian diet and mental disorders: results from a representative community survey.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to investigate associations between vegetarian diet and mental disorders, including depressive, anxiety, and somatoform disorders.
Results Summary
Vegetarians showed higher prevalence rates of depressive, anxiety, and somatoform disorders compared to non-vegetarians. The study found that adopting a vegetarian diet tended to follow the onset of mental disorders, suggesting no causal role of vegetarian diet in mental disorder etiology.
Population
Representative sample from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey and its Mental Health Supplement (GHS-MHS), including completely vegetarian (N = 54), predominantly vegetarian (N = 190), and non-vegetarian (N = 3872) participants.
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vegetarian diet | increase | depressive disorders | participants from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey and its Mental Health Supplement | - | displayed elevated prevalence rates | #1 |
vegetarian diet | increase | anxiety disorders | participants from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey and its Mental Health Supplement | - | displayed elevated prevalence rates | #2 |
vegetarian diet | increase | somatoform disorders | participants from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey and its Mental Health Supplement | - | displayed elevated prevalence rates | #3 |
vegetarian diet | increase | mental disorders | - | - | is associated with an elevated risk | #4 |
vegetarian diet | no change | mental disorders | - | - | no evidence for a causal role | #5 |
BACKGROUND: The present study investigated associations between vegetarian diet and mental disorders. METHODS: Participants were drawn from the representative sample of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey and its Mental Health Supplement (GHS-MHS). Completely vegetarian (N = 54) and predominantly vegetarian (N = 190) participants were compared with non-vegetarian participants (N = 3872) and with a non-vegetarian socio-demographically matched subsample (N = 242). RESULTS: Vegetarians displayed elevated prevalence rates for depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and somatoform disorders. Due to the matching procedure, the findings cannot be explained by socio-demographic characteristics of vegetarians (e.g. higher rates of females, predominant residency in urban areas, high proportion of singles). The analysis of the respective ages at adoption of a vegetarian diet and onset of a mental disorder showed that the adoption of the vegetarian diet tends to follow the onset of mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Vegetarian diet is associated with an elevated risk of mental disorders. However, there was no evidence for a causal role of vegetarian diet in the etiology of mental disorders.