Adopting vegetarian and vegan eating patterns: Associations with disordered eating behaviors among young adult college students

Introduction

Vegan and vegetarian diets are increasingly popular, though there is concern that disordered eating can drive, emerge, or intensify from the choice to adopt dietary restrictions.

Objective

We sought to ascertain whether disordered eating or weight-control behaviors are associated with newly adopting a vegetarian/vegan diet during college and to assess symptom awareness and treatment utilization.

Methods

Data came from 11,503 students in the Healthy Minds Study spanning 2015–2021. We examined associations between (i) the SCOFF eating disorder screener and (ii) symptom-specific items from the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, and recent adoption of a vegan/vegetarian diet. Participants' knowledge of eating disorder symptoms and experiences with treatment utilization were also assessed.

Results

Five-hundred thirty-two participants (∼5 %) reported adopting a vegan/vegetarian diet. Compared to students who did not change eating patterns, those who adopted vegetarianism/veganism had higher past-month prevalence of binge eating (25 % vs, 16 %), compulsive exercise (18 % vs. 9 %), and fasting (12 % vs. 8 %). Each behavior was significantly associated with greater odds of having recently adopted a vegetarian/vegan diet. A positive SCOFF screen (2+ items) was associated with 1.79-times (95 % CI: 1.48, 2.16) greater odds of newly adopting a vegetarian/vegan diet. There were no observed differences between groups with respect to knowledge of eating disorder symptoms or treatment-seeking attitudes and behaviors.

Discussion

Disordered eating or weight-control behaviors were prevalent in this population of young adults and were associated with adopting a vegetarian/vegan diet, though awareness and help-seeking were not elevated among those with higher eating disorder risk.