Another Study Damning Vegetarian Diets

A recent Study entitled “Nutrition and Health – The Association Between Eating Behavior and Various Health Parameters: A Matched Sample Study” is the latest evidence that shows that mainstream media outlets do not examine the studies they report. 

The study researchers concluded that Austrian adults who consume a vegetarian diet are less healthy (in terms of cancer, allergies, and mental health disorders), have a lower quality of life, and also require more medical treatment than Austrians who eat any one type of three different carnivorous diets.

In his book “Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition”, T. Colin Campbell recommends asking and answering these three questions when evaluating the conclusions of scientific studies:

1. Is it true?

2. Is it the whole truth?

     3.   Does it Matter?

Here is some information about the study.

15,474 individuals were interviewed.  Each individual was categorized as consuming one of the following diets: vegetarian, carnivorous diet rich in fruits, carnivorous diet less rich in meat or carnivorous diet rich in meat.

Only 343 interviewees fell into the vegetarian group.  Of those, only 31 were vegans. The rest were either lacto-ovo vegetarians (consumed milk and eggs) or vegetarians that consumed fish, milk and eggs.  The researchers admit that there was no detailed measurement of food intake.  So the 31 vegans could be junk food vegans (ie eating oils, refined flours and sugars, mock meats/cheeses, etc..) The remaining vegetarians may consume large amounts of dairy, eggs and fish, in addition to eating highly processed plant foods.  The researchers also admit that the vegetarians may have been following a vegetarian diet as a consequence of their disorders. (emphasis mine)

All vegetarians were categorized according to their sex, age (in age-groups spanning 5 years, e.g. 20- to 24-yearolds), and socioeconomic status (SES). Each such vegetarian was then matched with one subject consuming a carnivorous diet rich in fruits and vegetables, one individual eating a carnivorous diet less rich in meat, and one subject consuming a carnivorous diet rich in meat. Only 96.2% of the vegetarians were included in the analyses, since not all of them corresponded to a subject of the same sex, age, and SES from a different dietary habit group. Therefore, the total number of analyzed subjects was 1320 (comprising 330 vegetarians, 330 subjects consuming a carnivorous diet rich in fruits and vegetables, 330 individuals eating a carnivorous diet less rich in meat, and 330 subjects consuming a carnivorous diet rich in meat).

 My Thoughts:

This is just another example of a study that compares one unhealthy diet to another unhealthy diet. The vast majority of the vegetarians in the study consumed animal products at undetermined levels.  The quality of the plant foods that they ate was also unknown.  There is a great chance that none of them were following a whole food plant based (WFPB) diet. 

Another aspect of the study that is troubling is the 330 individuals from each of the carnivorous groups (carnivorous diet rich in fruits, carnivorous diet less rich in meat and carnivorous diet rich in meat)  represent only  9.0%, 4.4% and 8.3% of each group respectively.  So there is a good chance that the collection of the individuals used does not adequately represent each group.

Finally, the sample size of 330 for each group is very small.

The researchers concluded that Austrian adults who consume a vegetarian diet are less healthy (in terms of cancer, allergies, and mental health disorders), have a lower quality of life, and also require more medical treatment than Austrians who eat any one type of three different carnivorous diets.

 Is it true?

The small sample size and the chance that the vegetarians were sick prior to becoming vegetarians,  and the limited details of each diet lead me to conclude that the answer to this question is “INCONCLUSIVE”.

 Is it the Whole Truth?

 This also has to be INCONCLUSIVE

 Does it Matter?

Even if the researchers conclusions are true, my answer to this question is NO because they didn’t compare a WFPB diet with the carnivorous diets. However it may matter to people who consider themselves vegetarians yet eat moderate to high amounts of animal foods and processed junk.