Teenage vegetarians may embrace the all-fruits-and-veggies diet for its healthful benefits but they are more likely to turn to binge eating and other unhealthy dietary behaviors than their meat-eating counterparts, according to a recent Minnesota study.  The higher likelihood of binge eating leads researchers to suggest the vegetarian teens may choose the diet less for health reasons and more for its expected weight maintenance benefits.

Romona Robinson-O’Brien, assistant professor at Minnesota’s College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, led the survey-based study of 2,516 teenagers and young adults, aged 15 to 23, on their eating habits.  Study participants attended 31 schools across the state.

While it’s true the vegetarian teenagers, most of whom were female, enjoyed the healthy benefits of a fruit- and vegetable-rich diet, as many as 25% of the current and former vegetarians reported weight-control tactics that were not healthy but dangerous instead.  These teens and young adults said they’d turned to binge eating, vomiting/purging, laxatives and diuretics, and diet pills to control or lose weight.

Robinson-O’Brien writes in her report, published in the latest issue of the ‘Journal of the American Dietetic Association,’ that vegetarians are less likely to become overweight or develop obesity, which may be why these particular young vegetarians turn to the diet in the first place.

Robinson-O’Brien suggests clinicians explore the motives behind choosing a vegetarian diet during adolescence or young adulthood and offer guidance on nutritional meal planning strategies for the healthiest outcome.  She also emphasizes the importance of addressing any risky dietary behaviors that may accompany a young person’s choice of vegetarianism.