photograph from Freepik
by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
About 2% of 8-17 12 months olds in america persistently have been vegan and 21% generally or all the time ate vegan meals when consuming out in keeping with a 2021 ballot commissioned by The Vegetarian Useful resource Group (1). There was little analysis completed on vegan tweens and youths, so it was intriguing to see a current research of Austrian 10-19 12 months olds (2).
What’s the research?
The research was carried out on-line and concerned nearly 8,700 college students in Austria. The research topics accomplished a questionnaire which requested about their diet habits, the motivations for his or her dietary decisions, their bodily exercise ranges, and their use of alcohol and tobacco. Individuals have been between 10 and 19 years outdated with the typical age of 15.1 years. The researchers used a mixture of the scholars’ description of their diets and experiences of the meals that they ate to designate them as vegan (no animal merchandise or components), vegetarian (no meat, poultry, fish or shellfish however ate eggs and dairy merchandise), or nonvegetarian/omnivorous.
What did this research discover?
Among the many research contributors, 142 or 1.6% have been vegan, 5.6% have been vegetarian, and the rest (92.8%) have been nonvegetarians. Vegan and vegetarian diets have been extra widespread in females than in males and in center schoolers in comparison with excessive schoolers.
Well being, sports activities efficiency, and animal welfare have been the primary motivations for these selecting vegan diets; animal welfare, private well being, and style/choice have been the highest three motivations for vegetarians; and well being, style/choice, and no particular purpose have been the primary causes given for following a nonvegetarian weight loss plan.
Vegans have been extra lively than the opposite two teams primarily based on the variety of days per week they participated in bodily exercise, sports activities, and train. Greater than 80% of vegans ate fruit every day which was considerably larger than both vegetarians (72%) or nonvegetarians (65%). Greater than 80% of each vegetarians and vegans ate greens every day; this was considerably greater than nonvegetarians, 62% of whom ate greens every day. Vegans and nonvegetarians have been much less more likely to eat alcohol than vegetarians have been.
The research researchers conclude, “following a vegan weight loss plan throughout childhood and adolescence is related to extra advantageous well being behavioral decisions.”
Ideally, research much like this will likely be carried out in different international locations to supply additional insights into the well being behaviors and motivations of vegan college students.
References:
- Stahler C, Mangels R. How Many Youth within the U.S are Vegan? How Many Teenagers Eat Vegetarian When Consuming Out? The Vegetarian Useful resource Group asks in a YouGov Ballot. www.vrg.org/nutshell/Yougov2021youthteenwriteup.pdf. 2021.
- Wirnitzer KC, Tanous DR, Drenowatz C, et al. Distinction in motives and fundamental well being conduct of 8799 youngsters and adolescents aged 10-19 years following a vegan, vegetarian, or omnivorous weight loss plan. Curr Dev Nutr. 2025;9:107498.
To learn extra about vegan teenagers see:
