Vegetarians More Likely to Have Eating Disorder History

According to an August study in Journal of the American of Academy of Dietetics and Nutrition, when individuals with a suspected or diagnosed eating disorder adopt a vegetarian diet, health care professionals might worry that this choice could function as a socially acceptable way to legitimize food avoidance. Yet only limited research has examined vegetarianism in relation to eating disorders. The study compared individuals with and without an eating disorder history and individuals at different stages of eating disorder recovery on past and current vegetarianism and motivations for and age at becoming vegetarian. Participants were females seen at some point for an eating disorder and controls who never had an eating disorder 

Compared with controls, individuals with an eating disorder history were considerably more likely to have been vegetarian. Clinicians need to be aware of this discovery.