Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
Cancel
×
×
Home
  • Home
Article
  • Cited by 143
  • Cited by
    Crossref Citations
    Crossref logo
    This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by CrossRef.
    Kronberg, Scott L. and Ryschawy, Julie 2019. Agroecosystem Diversity. p. 75.
    Gupta, Rahul Behera, Chittaranjan Paudwal, Gourav Rawat, Neha Baldi, Ashish and Gupta, Prem N. 2019. Recent Advances in Formulation Strategies for Efficient Delivery of Vitamin D. AAPS PharmSciTech, Vol. 20, Issue. 1,
    Vanacore, Daniela Messina, Giovanni Lama, Stefania Bitti, Giuseppe Ambrosio, Pasqualina Tenore, Giancarlo Messina, Antonietta Monda, Vincenzo Zappavigna, Silvia Boccellino, Mariarosaria Novellino, Ettore Monda, Marcellino and Stiuso, Paola 2018. Effect of restriction vegan diet's on muscle mass, oxidative status, and myocytes differentiation: A pilot study. Journal of Cellular Physiology, Vol. 233, Issue. 12, p. 9345.
    Wirnitzer, Katharina C. 2018. Therapeutic, Probiotic, and Unconventional Foods. p. 387.
    Lütjohann, Dieter Meyer, Sven von Bergmann, Klaus and Stellaard, Frans 2018. Cholesterol Absorption and Synthesis in Vegetarians and Omnivores. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, Vol. 62, Issue. 6, p. 1700689.
    Nair, K. Madhavan and Augustine, Little Flower 2018. Food synergies for improving bioavailability of micronutrients from plant foods. Food Chemistry, Vol. 238, Issue. , p. 180.
    Haque, Ahasanul Hashim, Nurhazirah and Yasmin, Farzana 2018. Preparation and Processing of Religious and Cultural Foods. p. 57.
    Leung, Brenda Lauche, Romy Leach, Matthew Zhang, Yan Cramer, Holger and Sibbritt, David 2018. Special diets in modern America: Analysis of the 2012 National Health Interview Survey data. Nutrition and Health, Vol. 24, Issue. 1, p. 11.
    Carfì, David Donato, Alessia and Panuccio, Dania 2018. Game Theory. p. 71.
    Burdge, Graham C. and Henry, Christiani J. 2018. Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Metabolism. p. 193.
    Bauer, Deidre Arnold, Julia and Kremer, Kerstin 2018. Consumption-Intention Formation in Education for Sustainable Development: An Adapted Model Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Sustainability, Vol. 10, Issue. 10, p. 3455.
    Yegen, Ceren and Aydın, B. Oğuz 2018. Postmodern Bir Kimlik Olarak Veganlık ve Bir Çevrimiçi Vegan Ağının Analizi. Galatasaray Üniversitesi İleti-ş-im Dergisi, p. 91.
    Šebeková, Katarína and Brouder Šebeková, Katarína 2018. Glycated proteins in nutrition: Friend or foe?. Experimental Gerontology,
    Varzakas, Theodoros Zakynthinos, George and Proestos, Charalampos 2018. Preparation and Processing of Religious and Cultural Foods. p. 193.
    Heiss, Sydney Coffino, Jaime A. and Hormes, Julia M. 2018. What does the ORTO-15 measure? Assessing the construct validity of a common orthorexia nervosa questionnaire in a meat avoiding sample. Appetite,
    Bacon, Linda and Krpan, Dario 2018. (Not) Eating for the environment: The impact of restaurant menu design on vegetarian food choice. Appetite, Vol. 125, Issue. , p. 190.
    Gajski, Goran Gerić, Marko Vučić Lovrenčić, Marijana Božičević, Sandra Rubelj, Ivica Nanić, Lucia Škrobot Vidaček, Nikolina Bendix, Laila Peraica, Maja Rašić, Dubravka Domijan, Ana-Marija Gluščić, Valentina Jurasović, Jasna Orct, Tatjana Cvijetić Avdagić, Selma Jurak, Gordana Bošnir, Jasna and Garaj-Vrhovac, Vera 2018. Analysis of health-related biomarkers between vegetarians and non-vegetarians: A multi-biomarker approach. Journal of Functional Foods, Vol. 48, Issue. , p. 643.
    Shridhar, Krithiga Satija, Ambika Dhillon, Preet K. Agrawal, Sutapa Gupta, Ruby Bowen, Liza Kinra, Sanjay Bharathi, A. V. Prabhakaran, D. Srinath Reddy, K. and Ebrahim, Shah 2018. Association between empirically derived dietary patterns with blood lipids, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure in adults - the India migration study. Nutrition Journal, Vol. 17, Issue. 1,
    Cofnas, Nathan 2018. Is vegetarianism healthy for children?. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, p. 1.
    Gathani, Toral Barnes, Isobel Ali, Raghib Arumugham, Rajkumar Chacko, Raju Digumarti, Raghunadharao Jivarajani, Parimal Kannan, Ravi Loknatha, Dasappa Malhotra, Hemant and Mathew, Beela S. 2017. Lifelong vegetarianism and breast cancer risk: a large multicentre case control study in India. BMC Women's Health, Vol. 17, Issue. 1,
    Download full list
    ×
  • Access

Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets

  • Timothy J. Key (a1), Paul N. Appleby (a1) and Magdalena S. Rosell (a1)
Abstract

Vegetarian diets do not contain meat, poultry or fish; vegan diets further exclude dairy products and eggs. Vegetarian and vegan diets can vary widely, but the empirical evidence largely relates to the nutritional content and health effects of the average diet of well-educated vegetarians living in Western countries, together with some information on vegetarians in non-Western countries. In general, vegetarian diets provide relatively large amounts of cereals, pulses, nuts, fruits and vegetables. In terms of nutrients, vegetarian diets are usually rich in carbohydrates, n−6 fatty acids, dietary fibre, carotenoids, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E and Mg, and relatively low in protein, saturated fat, long-chain n−3 fatty acids, retinol, vitamin B12 and Zn; vegans may have particularly low intakes of vitamin B12 and low intakes of Ca. Cross-sectional studies of vegetarians and vegans have shown that on average they have a relatively low BMI and a low plasma cholesterol concentration; recent studies have also shown higher plasma homocysteine concentrations than in non-vegetarians. Cohort studies of vegetarians have shown a moderate reduction in mortality from IHD but little difference in other major causes of death or all-cause mortality in comparison with health-conscious non-vegetarians from the same population. Studies of cancer have not shown clear differences in cancer rates between vegetarians and non-vegetarians. More data are needed, particularly on the health of vegans and on the possible impacts on health of low intakes of long-chain n−3 fatty acids and vitamin B12. Overall, the data suggest that the health of Western vegetarians is good and similar to that of comparable non-vegetarians.

    •
      • Send article to Kindle

      To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about sending to your Kindle.

      Note you can select to send to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be sent to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

      Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

      Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets
      Available formats
      ×
      Send article to Dropbox

      To send this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your <service> account. Find out more about sending content to Dropbox.

      Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets
      Available formats
      ×
      Send article to Google Drive

      To send this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your <service> account. Find out more about sending content to Google Drive.

      Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets
      Available formats
      ×
Copyright
COPYRIGHT: © The Nutrition Society 2006
Corresponding author
*Corresponding author: Professor Tim Key, fax +44 1865 289 610, email tim.key@ceu.ox.ac.uk
References
Hide All
Allen, NE, Appleby, PN, Davey, GK, Kaaks, R, Rinaldi, S & Key, TJ (2002) The associations of diet with serum insulin-like growth factor I and its main binding proteins in 292 women meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 11 1441–1448.
Allen, NE, Appleby, PN, Davey, GK & Key, TJ (2000) Hormones and diet: low insulin-like growth factor-I but normal bioavailable androgens in vegan men. British Journal of Cancer 83 95–97.
American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada (2003) Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian diets. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 103 748–765.
Antony, AC (2003) Vegetarianism and vitamin B-12 (cobalamin) deficiency. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78 3–6.
Appleby, PN, Davey, GK, Key, TJ (2002) Hypertension and blood pressure among meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans in EPIC-Oxford. Public Health Nutrition 5 645–654.
Armstrong, BK, Davis, RE, Nicol, DJ, van Merwyk, AJ, Larnwood, CJ (1974) Hematological, vitamin B-12 and folate studies on seventh-day Adventist vegetarians. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 27 712–718.
Barr, SI & Rideout, CA (2004) Nutritional considerations for vegetarian athletes. Nutrition 20 696–703.
Beilin, LJ, Rouse, IL, Armstrong, BK, Margetts, BM & Vandongen, R (1988) Vegetarian diet and blood pressure levels: incidental or causal association? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 48 806–810.
Chang-Claude, J, Hermann, S, Eilber, U & Steindorf, K (2005) Lifestyle determinants and mortality in German vegetarians and health-conscious persons: results of a 21-year follow-up. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 14 963–968.
Dagnelie, PC (1997) Some algae are potentially adequate sources of vitamin B-12 for vegans. Journal of Nutrition 127 379
Dagnelie, PC, van Staveren, WA, van den Berg, H (1991) Vitamin B-12 from algae appears not to be bioavailable. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53 695–697.
Davey, GK, Spencer, EA, Appleby, PN, Allen, NE, Knox, KH & Key, TJ (2003) EPIC-Oxford: lifestyle characteristics and nutrient intakes in a cohort of 33 883 meat-eaters and 31 546 non meat-eaters in the UK. Public Health Nutrition 6 259–269.
Davis, BC, Kris-Etherton, PM (2003) Achieving optimal essential fatty acid status in vegetarians: current knowledge and practical implications. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78 Suppl. 640S–646S
Department of Health (1991) Dietary Reference Values for Food Energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom. Report on Health and Social Subjects no. 41. London: H. M. Stationery Office.
Dos Santos Silva, I, Mangtani, P, McCormack, V, Bhakta, D, Sevak, L & McMichael, AJ (2002) Lifelong vegetarianism and risk of breast cancer: a population-based case-control study among South Asian migrant women living in England. International Journal of Cancer 99 238–244.
Eaton, NE, Reeves, GK, Appleby, PN & Key, TJ (1999) Endogenous sex hormones and prostate cancer: a quantitative review of prospective studies. British Journal of Cancer 80 930–934.
Fraser, GE (1999) Associations between diet and cancer, ischemic heart disease, and all-cause mortality in non-Hispanic white California Seventh-day Adventists. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70, Suppl. 532S–538S.
Henderson, L, Gregory, J & Swan, G (2002) National Diet and Nutrition Survey: Adults Aged 19 to 64 Years. vol. 1: Types and Quantities of Foods Consumed. London: The Stationery Office.
Herbert, V (1988) Vitamin B-12: plant sources, requirements, and assay. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 48 Suppl. 852–858
Herrmann, W & Geisel, J (2002) Vegetarian lifestyle and monitoring of vitamin B-12 status. Clinica Chimica Acta 326 47–59.
Herrmann, W, Schorr, H, Obeid, R & Geisel, J (2003) Vitamin B-12 status, particularly holotranscobalamin II and methylmalonic acid concentrations, and hyperhomocysteinemia in vegetarians. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78 131–136.
Hung, CJ, Huang, PC, Lu, SC, Li, YH, Huang, HB, Lin, BF, Chang, SJ & Chou, HF (2002) Plasma homocysteine levels in Taiwanese vegetarians are higher than those of omnivores. Journal of Nutrition 132 152–158.
International Vegetarian Union (2005) 37th IVU World Vegetarian Congress Goa, India, September 10–16, 2006. Healthy Lifestyle – Vegetarian Way! http://www.ivu.org/congress/2006/whyindia.html (accessed June 2005).
Jebb, SA, Rennie, KL, Cole, TJ (2004) Prevalence of overweight and obesity among young people in Great Britain. Public Health Nutrition 7 461–465.
Jenkins, DJ, Kendall, CW, Marchie, A, Faulkner, DA, Wong, JM, de Souza, R et al. (2003) Effects of a dietary portfolio of cholesterol-lowering foods vs lovastatin on serum lipids and C-reactive protein. Journal of the American Medical Association 290 502–510.
Key, T, Appleby, P, Barnes, I & Reeves, G (2002) Endogenous sex hormones and breast cancer in postmenopausal women: reanalysis of nine prospective studies. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 94 606–616.
Key, T & Davey, G (1996) Prevalence of obesity is low in people who do not eat meat. British Medical Journal 313 816–817.
Key, TJ, Appleby, PN, Davey, GK, Allen, NE, Spencer, EA & Travis, RC (2003) Mortality in British vegetarians: review and preliminary results from EPIC-Oxford. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78, Suppl. 533S – 538S
Key, TJ, Davey, GK & Appleby, PN (1999 a) Health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 58 271–275.
Key, TJ, Fraser, GE, Thorogood, M, Appleby, PN, Beral, V, Reeves, G et al. (1999 b) Mortality in vegetarians and nonvegetarians: detailed findings from a collaborative analysis of 5 prospective studies. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70, Suppl. 516S–524S.
Key, TJ, Schatzkin, A, Willett, WC, Allen, NE, Spencer, EA, Travis, RC (2004) Diet, nutrition and the prevention of cancer. Public Health Nutrition 7 187–200.
Koebnick, C, Hoffmann, I, Dagnelie, PC, Heins, UA, Wickramasinghe, SN, Ratnayaka, ID, Gruendel, S, Lindemans, J & Leitzmann, C (2004) Long-term ovo-lacto vegetarian diet impairs vitamin B-12 status in pregnant women. Journal of Nutrition 134 3319–3326.
Kwok, T, Cheng, G, Woo, J, Lai, WK, Pang, CP (2002) Independent effect of vitamin B12 deficiency on hematological status in older Chinese vegetarian women. American Journal of Hematology 70 186–190.
Law, MR, Wald, NJ, Wu, T, Hackshaw, A & Bailey, A (1994) Systematic underestimation of association between serum cholesterol concentration and ischaemic heart disease in observational studies: data from the BUPA study. British Medical Journal 308 363–366.
Mann, NJ, Li, D, Sinclair, AJ, Dudman, NP, Guo, XW, Elsworth, GR, Wilson, AK, Kelly, FD (1999) The effect of diet on plasma homocysteine concentrations in healthy male subjects. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53 895–899.
Mezzano, D, Kosiel, K, Martinez, C, Cuevas, A, Panes, O, Aranda, E, Strobel, P, Perez, DD, Pereira, J, Rozowski, J & Leighton, F (2000) Cardiovascular risk factors in vegetarians. Normalization of hyperhomocysteinemia with vitamin B(12) and reduction of platelet aggregation with n-3 fatty acids. Thrombosis Research 100 153–160.
Mills, PK, Beeson, WL, Phillips, RL & Fraser, GE (1989 a) Dietary habits and breast cancer incidence among Seventh-day Adventists. Cancer 64 582–590.
Mills, PK, Beeson, WL, Phillips, RL & Fraser, GE (1989 b) Cohort study of diet, lifestyle, and prostate cancer in Adventist men. Cancer 64 598–604.
New, SA (2004) Do vegetarians have a normal bone mass? Osteoporosis International 15 679–688.
Nieman, DC (1999) Physical fitness and vegetarian diets: is there a relation? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70, Suppl. 570S–575S.
Norat, T, Bingham, S, Ferrari, P, Slimani, N, Jenab, M, Mazuir, M et al. (2005) Meat, fish, and colorectal cancer risk: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 97 906–916.
Pais, P, Pogue, J, Gerstein, H, Zachariah, E, Savitha, D, Jayprakash, S, Nayak, PR & Yusuf, S (1996) Risk factors for acute myocardial infarction in Indians: a case-control study. Lancet 348 358–363.
Peeters, PH, Keinan-Boker, L, van der Schouw, YT, Grobbee, DB (2003) Phytoestrogens and breast cancer risk. Review of the epidemiological evidence. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 77 171–183.
Rao, DN, Ganesh, B & Desai, PB (1994) Role of reproductive factors in breast cancer in a low-risk area: a case-control study. British Journal of Cancer 70 129–132.
Reddy, S, Sanders, TA, Owen, RW & Thompson, MH (1998) Faecal pH, bile acid and sterol concentrations in premenopausal Indian and white vegetarians compared with white omnivores. British Journal of Nutrition 79 495–500.
Refsum, H, Yajnik, CS, Gadkari, M, Schneede, J, Vollset, SE, Orning, L, Guttormsen, AB, Joglekar, A, Sayyad, MG, Ulvik, A & Ueland, PM (2001) Hyperhomocysteinemia and elevated methylmalonic acid indicate a high prevalence of cobalamin deficiency in Asian Indians. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 74 233–241.
Renehan, AG, Zwahlen, M, Minder, C, O'Dwyer, ST, Shalet, SM & Egger, M (2004) Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, IGF binding protein-3, and cancer risk: systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Lancet 363 346–353.
Rosell, M, Appleby, P, Key, T (2005 a) Height, age at menarche, body weight, and body mass index in life-long vegetarians. Public Health Nutrition 8 870–878.
Rosell, M, Appleby, P, Spencer, E & Key, T (2005 b) Weight gain over 5 years in 21 966 meat-eating, fish-eating, vegetarian and vegan men and women in EPIC-Oxford. International Journal of Obesity (In the Press).
Rosell, MS, Lloyd-Wright, Z, Appleby, PN, Sanders, TAB, Allen, NE, Key, TJ (2005 c) Long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in plasma in British meat-eating, vegetarian, and vegan men. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 82 327–334.
Sanders, TA (1999 a) The nutritional adequacy of plant-based diets. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 58 265–269.
Sanders, TA (1999 b) Essential fatty acid requirements of vegetarians in pregnancy, lactation, and infancy. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 70, Suppl. 555S–559S.
Sanders, TA, Ellis, FR, Dickerson, JW (1978 a) Studies of vegans: the fatty acid composition of plasma choline phosphoglycerides, erythrocytes, adipose tissue, and breast milk, and some indicators of susceptibility to ischemic heart disease in vegans and omnivore controls. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 31 805–813.
Sanders, TA, Ellis, FR, Dickerson, JW (1978 b) Haematological studies on vegans. British Journal of Nutrition 40 9–15.
Sanjoaquin, MA, Appleby, PN, Spencer, EA & Key, TJ (2004 a) Nutrition and lifestyle in relation to bowel movement frequency: a cross-sectional study of 20 630 men and women in EPIC-Oxford. Public Health Nutrition 7 77–83.
Sanjoaquin, MA, Appleby, PN, Thorogood, M, Mann, JI, Key, TJ (2004 b) Nutrition, lifestyle and colorectal cancer incidence: a prospective investigation of 10 998 vegetarians and non-vegetarians in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Cancer 90 118–121.
Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (2003) Salt and Health. London: The Stationery Office.
Shetty, PS (2002) Nutrition transition in India. Public Health Nutrition 5 175–182.
Spencer, EA, Appleby, PN, Davey, GK & Key, TJ (2003) Diet and body mass index in 38 000 EPIC-Oxford meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 27 728–734.
Stabler, SP & Allen, RH (2004) Vitamin B12 deficiency as a worldwide problem. Annual Review of Nutrition 24 299–326.
Steinfeld, H (2004) The livestock revolution – a global veterinary mission. Veterinary Parasitology 125 19–41.
Thomas, HV, Davey, GK, Key, TJ (1999) Oestradiol and sex hormone-binding globulin in premenopausal and post-menopausal meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans. British Journal of Cancer 80 1470–1475.
Waldmann, A, Koschizke, JW, Leitzmann, C, Hahn, A (2004) Dietary iron intake and iron status of German female vegans: results of the German vegan study. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism 48 103–108.
Willett, W (1999) Lessons from dietary studies in Adventists and questions for the future. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78, Suppl. 539S–543S.
Williams, CM & Burdge, G (2006) Long-chain n-3 PUFA: plant v. marine sources. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 65 42–50.
World Health Organization (2003) Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. WHO Technical Report Series no. 916. Geneva: WHO.
Recommend this journal

Email your librarian or administrator to recommend adding this journal to your organisation's collection.

Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
  • ISSN: 0029-6651
  • EISSN: 1475-2719
  • URL: /core/journals/proceedings-of-the-nutrition-society
Please enter your name
Please enter a valid email address
Who would you like to send this to? *

CAPTCHA *

Skip to the audio challenge
×

Keywords

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Abstract views

Total abstract views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between <date>. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed

Cancel
Confirm
×