Vegetarian Teens May Face Higher Eating Disorder Risk

April 1, 2009— -- Even as teens and young adults who choose to be vegetarians reap a number of benefits -- including a healthier overall diet and a decreased risk of obesity -- some may also have a higher risk of eating disorders such as binge eating.

In a new study released today in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers looked at more than 2,500 young adults aged 15-23. The researchers compared subjects' responses to a survey of eating behaviors against their weight and the efforts they took to control it.

What they found was that vegetarians, on the whole, tended to eat a healthier diet and be at a healthier weight than their meat-eating counterparts. But they also found that those who reported either currently being vegetarian or having been at some point in the past were also more likely to report engaging in more unhealthy weight control behaviors -- including binge eating, taking diet pills, inducing vomiting or using laxatives.

"Parents should know that vegetarianism can be a healthful dietary option for teens," when done properly, said lead study researcher Ramona Robinson-O'Brien of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in Minnesota.

But, she said, "Parents should talk to their child about their motivations for embarking on a vegetarian diet. If reasons are primarily related to weight loss, parents should explore this topic in more depth to further assess an increased risk of disordered eating behaviors."

Eating disorders specialist Dr. David Waller, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, agreed that teens with eating disorders may try to use their supposed vegetarianism as a convenient excuse to eat less.

"What we would be concerned about ... might be that in some instances a [claim of a] vegetarian diet could conceal an underlying decision to lose weight and restrict food intake," he said. "This might be, for some teenagers, a more acceptable way of restricting their eating rather than being more overt or explicit about it."