If we needed another reminder about the epidemic of size prejudice that exists in our society, we have one. A PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) billboard that went up in Jacksonville, Florida took aim at beachgoers’ insecurities about their bodies with a cartoon picture of a larger woman and a tagline that reads “Save the Whales” followed by “Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian”.  The billboard has already been called disrespectful, tasteless, mean-spirited, and cruel by Jacksonville residents, bloggers, feminists and others who are speaking out about the ad so we won’t waste time re-stating the obvious.  However, in addition to causing unnecessary humiliation and shame, we are deeply concerned about the billboard’s misguided message about using vegetarianism as a weight-loss method.　　　　

At The Center for Eating Disorders, we were very concerned about the possibility that PETA’s billboard could potentially sway many people, especially adolescents, into unnecessary or unsupervised attempts at becoming vegetarians based on faulty information that it is an effective way to lose weight.  As a result, our team of registered dietitians put together some more factual information about vegetarianism for our readers.　

•  Adolescents and young adults who are struggling emotionally and have a negative body image may be drawn to vegetarianism as a means to lose weight and “fit in”.
• The decision to stop eating meat, or any other food group, may be a warning sign of an underlying eating disorder; becoming a vegetarian gives someone a socially acceptable cover-up for restricting food which is a major symptom of anorexia nervosa. 
• Overly restricted or inappropriately selected vegetarian diets can easily result in significant malnutrition, delayed growth spurt, iron deficiency anemia and Vitamin B12 deficiency which can lead to irreversible damage to the nervous system.  
• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies due to a poorly maintained vegetarian diet can be particularly detrimental to the growth and development of children and adolescents and breastfed infants of vegetarian mothers.
• Vegetarianism is NOT a weight loss tool!  Adhering to vegetarianism takes diligence, knowledge, professional nutritional guidance and an increased intake of other foods that contain the vitamins and nutrients your body needs but is not receiving from meat.  In fact, it can take a larger amount of non-meat foods to satisfy the daily nutritional requirements that meat would supply in smaller portions.

A significant association between vegetarianism and eating disorders has been highlighted in several studies:

• Young vegetarians between the ages of 15 and 23 report more binge eating episodes than non-vegetarians; Binge eating disorder is more common in vegetarian teens than in the general teen population. (1)
• Vegetarian teens were found to be 2x as likely to diet frequently, 4x as likely to diet intensively and 8x as likely to abuse laxatives. (2)
• 20-25% of current and former vegetarians were found to be taking part in unhealthy weight control behoviors including taking diet pills, abusing laxatives and purging. (1)
• College women who claimed to be vegetarians had a significantly greater risk of developing eating disorders than did those who ate meat. (1)
• Vegetarian males made up an especially high risk group for unhealthy weight control practices. (1)

In summary, vegetarian does NOT automatically = healthy.  When done properly and for the right reasons, being a vegetarian can be an appropriate lifestyle, but there is not enough information to suggest that a diet which includes meat and is based on recommended guidelines is not equally as beneficial as vegetarianism.  Furthermore, it is important to be knowledgeable about the risks associated with being a vegetarian, specifically that it can be a red flag for an eating disorder. 

Parents who observe their child becoming a vegetarian and believe it may be stemming from a desire to lose weight or that it might be related to an eating disorder can call our admissions coordinators at (410) 938-5252 for more information.

Contributions by:  Hannah Huguenin, MS, RD, LDN and Courtney Perkins, RD, LDN

References

1. Robinson-O’Brien C, Perry CL, Wall MM, Story M, Neumark-Sztainer D: Adolescent and Young Adult Vegetarianism: Better Dietary Intake and Weight Outcomes but Increased Risk of Disordered Eating Behaviors. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2009; 109(4):648-655

2.  Klopp SA, Heiss CJ & Smith HS. (1997). Self-reported vegetarianism may be a marker for college women at risk for disordered eating. Available at http://plaza.ufl.edu/chvaugha/Veggie%20paper.pdf