Attitudes Towards Healthy Eating and Diet Satisfaction of Vegetarians: A Cross-sectional Study in Turkey

Öz

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the attitudes of individuals who prefer a vegetarian diet about adequate and balanced nutrition, their dietary satisfaction and the problems they experience. Material and Methods: Participants were administered an online questionnaire including the attitude scale about adequate and balanced nutrition, diet satisfaction scale and questions about the problems they experienced while maintaining a vegetarian diet through Google forms. Results: According to the results of the study, it was determined that vegetarian individuals had high attitudes about adequate and balanced. In detailed analysis, it was found that females had higher attitudes towards adequate and balanced nutrition than males, high school and university graduates had higher attitudes than primary school graduates, and individuals with normal BMI had higher attitudes towards adequate and balanced nutrition than overweight and obese individuals (p<0.05). While the diet satisfaction of the participants was high, university graduates had lower diet satisfaction than high school graduates (p<0.05). The most common problem experienced by vegetarian individuals while maintaining their diets is that vegetarian products are expensive and difficult to find in the market. Conclusion: In this study, it can be stated that among the vegetarian individuals, those with female gender, higher education level and normal BMI were better in terms of their attitudes towards adequate and balanced nutrition. It has been determined that individuals experience various problems while following vegetarian diets. Therefore, there is a need to support vegetarian diets in Turkey in terms of both health and sustainability.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Vegetarian diet
• healthy eating
• diet satisfaction
• sustainability

Attitudes Towards Healthy Eating and Diet Satisfaction of Vegetarians: A Cross-sectional Study in Turkey

Öz

Amaç: Bu çalışmada vejeteryan beslenmeyi tercih eden bireylerin yeterli ve dengeli beslenme hakkındaki tutumları ve diyet memnuniyetlerini ve yaşadıkları sorunları değerlendirmek amaçlanmıştır. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Katılımcılara yeterli ve dengeli beslenme hakkında tutum ölçeği, diyet memnuniyet ölçeği ve vejetaryen beslenmeyi sürdürürken yaşadıkları problemleri içeren sorular Google formlar aracılığı ile oluşturulan online anket formu ile uygulanmıştır. Bulgular: Çalışma sonuçlarına göre vejetaryen bireylerin yeterli ve dengeli beslenme hakkında tutumlarının yüksek olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Kadınların erkeklere, lise ve üniversite mezunu olanların ilköğretim mezunlarına ve normal BMI’ye sahip olanların hafif şişman ve obez bireylere göre yeterli ve dengeli beslenme hakkındaki tutum puanları daha yüksek bulunmuştur (p<0,05). Katılımcıların diyet memnuniyetlerinin yüksek olduğu görülürken üniversite mezunlarının lise mezunlarına göre diyet memnuniyetleri daha düşüktür (p<0,05). Vejetaryen bireylerin diyetlerini sürdürürken en sık yaşadıkları problem vejetaryen ürünlerin pahalı olması ve markette zor bulunması olarak belirlenmiştir. Sonuç: Bu çalışmada vejetaryen beslenen bireyler içinde kadın cinsiyet, yüksek eğitim düzeyi ve normal BMI özelliklerine sahip olanların yeterli ve dengeli beslenme hakkındaki tutumları açısından daha iyi durumda olduğu ifade edilebilir. Bireylerin vejetaryen diyetleri uygularken çeşitli sorunlarla karşılaştığı belirlenmiştir. Bu nedenle Türkiye’de vejetaryen diyetlerin hem sağlık hem de sürdürülebilirlik açısından desteklenmesine ihtiyaç bulunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Vejetaryen diyet
• sağlıklı beslenme
• diyet memnuniyeti
• sürdürülebilirlik

Kaynakça

1. 1. The Vegan Society. Definition Veganism; 2022. https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism. Accessed: 11.05.2023.
2. 2. Balcı TN, Göktas Z. A pilot study on comparison of nutritional status of vegans-vegetarians living in Turkey. Bes Diy Derg. 2023;51(1):50-60.
3. 3. Shani A, Di Pietrio RB. Vegetarians: A typology for foodservice menu development. Hospitality Review. 2007;25(2):66-73.
4. 4. Secim Y, Akyol N, Kaya M. Vegetarian diets. Journal of Social, Humanities and Administrative Sciences (JOHSAS). 2022;5(1):66-82.
5. 5. Meyer, M. This is how many vegans are in the world right now (2021 Update); 2021. https://thevou.com/lifestyle/2019-the-world-of-vegan-but-how-many-vegans-are-in-the-world/. Accessed: 14.06.2023.
6. 6. Meat Atlas Report. Meat atlas facts and figures about the animals we eat; 2021. https://eu.boell.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/MeatAtlas2021_final_web.pdf Accessed: 13.07.2023
7. 7. Euromonitor International. Top 10 global consumer trends for 2017; 2017. https://go.euromonitor.com/webinar-consumers-2017-Top-10-Global-Consumer-Trends-2017.html?utm_campaign=WB-170202-Top-10-GCT 2017&utm_medium=Blog&utm_source=Blog. Accessed: 19.08.2023.
8. 8. Guler O, Caglayan GD. How did I become vegan? A phenomenological qualitative research. Journal of Contemporary Tourism Research (IJCTR). 2021;5(2):287-304.

9. 9. Göbel P, Şanlier N. Vegetarian nutrition types and its effect on health. Turkiye Klinikleri J Nutr Diet-Special Topics. 2021;7(1):9-18.
10. 10. Ozcan T, Baysal S. Vegetarian diet and effects of vegetarian nutrition on health. Bursa Uludag Üniv. Ziraat Fak. Derg. 2016;30(2),101-116.
11. 11. Herrmann W, Geisel J. Vegetarian lifestyle and monitoring of vitamin B-12 status. Clin. Chim. Acta. 2002;326(1-2):47-59.
12. 12. Davey GK, Spencer EA, Appleby PN, Allen NE, Knox KH, Key TJ. EPIC–Oxford:lifestyle characteristics and nutrient intakes in a cohort of 33 883 meat-eaters and 31 546 non meat-eaters in the UK. Public Health Nutrition. Cambridge University Press. 2003;6(3):259–68.
13. 13. Neufingerl N, Eilander A. Nutrient intake and status in adults consuming plant-based diets compared to meat-eaters: A systematic review. Nutrients. 2022;14(1):29.
14. 14. Lousuebsakul-Matthews V, Thorpe DL, Knutsen R, Beeson WL, Fraser GE, Knutsen SF. Legumes and meat analogues consumption are associated with hip fracture risk independently of meat intake among Caucasian men and women: The Adventist Health Study 2. Public Health Nutr. 2014;17(10):2333-2343.
15. 15. Ayyıldız S, Sezgin AC. Food-drink place choices and problems of vegan/vegetarian individuals. Journal of Tourism Research Institute. 2021;2(1):1-16.
16. 16. Fehér A, Gazdecki M, Véha M, Szakály M, Szakály Z. A comprehensive review of the benefits of and the barriers to the switch to a plant-based diet. Sustainability. 2020;12(10):4136.
17. 17. Huang YC, Chen LH, Lu CW, Shen JL. Being a vegetarian traveller is not easy. Br Food J. 2020;122(6):1983-1998.
18. 18. Kara A, Bilim Y. Vegan and vegetarian consumers within the scope of accessible tourism. Journal of Gastronomy Hospitality and Travel (JOGHAT). 2022;5(2):515-528.
19. 19. Senkiv MI, Tserklevych VS. Prerequisites of development of an accessible tourism for everyone in the European Union. J. Geol. Geogr. Geoecology. 2021;30(3):562-570.
20. 20. Beyaz Sipahi B. Obesity and poverty: evidence from Turkey. Erciyes University Journal of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. 2023;64:73-79.
21. 21. Zarei, M. The water-energy-food nexus: A holistic approach for resource security in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. Water-Energy Nexus. 2020;3:81-94.
22. 22. Işik S, Özbuğday FC. The impact of agricultural input costs on food prices in Turkey: A case study. Agricultural Economics (Czech Republic). 2021;67(3):101-110.
23. 23. Coskun R, Altunışık R, Yıldırım E. Research methods in social sciences: Applied SPSS. 9nd ed. Sakarya: Sakarya Publishing; 2017.
24. 24. Okur Sahin Z. Development of attitude scale about adequate and balanced nutrition and evaluation of high school students’ attitude about adequate and balanced nutrition in terms of different variable. [Master Thesis]. Konya, Necmettin Erbakan University; 2019.
25. 25. Eskici G, Karahan Yılmaz S. The validity and reliability study of the Turkish form of diet satisfaction scale. Journal of Ankara Health Sciences. 2021;10(1):35-45.
26. 26. World Health Organization. A healthy lifestyle-WHO recommendations; 2010. https://www.who.int/europe/news-room/fact-sheets/item/a-healthy-lifestyle---who-recommendations. Accessed: 19.07.2023.
27. 27. Shipman D. Vegetarian model in nutrition. Aydın Gastronomy. 2021;5(1):45-62.
28. 28. World Health Organization. Plant-based diets and their impact on health, sustainability and the environment: a review of the evidence: WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2021. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/349086/WHO-EURO-2021-4007-43766-61591-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Accessed: 07.08.2023.
29. 29. Melina V, Craig W, Levin S. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: vegetarian diets. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016;116(12):1970-1980.
30. 30. Hargreaves SM, Raposo A, Saraiva A, Zandonadi RP. Vegetarian diet: an overview through the perspective of quality of life domains. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2021;18(8):4067.
31. 31. Global Obesity Levels. Obesity rates by country (on-line). 2021. Accessed: 03.09.2023. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/obesity-rates-by-country
32. 32. Key TJ, Appleby PN, Rosell MS. Health effects of vegetarian and vegan diets. Proc. Nutr. Soc. 2006;65(1):35-41.
33. 33. Tonstad S, Butler T, Yan R, Fraser GE. Type of vegetarian diet, body weight, and prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2009;32(5):791-796.
34. 34. Chuang SY, Chiu TH, Lee CY, Liu TT, Tsao CK, Hsiung CA, Chiu YF. Vegetarian diet reduces the risk of hypertension independent of abdominal obesity and inflammation: a prospective study. J. Hypertens. 2016;34(11):2164-2171.
35. 35. Farmer B. Nutritional adequacy of plant-based diets for weight management: observations from the NHANES. Am J Clin Nutr. 2014;100:365-368.
36. 36. Gokcen M, Aksoy YÇ, Ozcan BA. Overview of vegan nutrition in regards to health J. Health Sci. 2019;1(2):50-54.
37. 37. Pilis W, Stec K, Zych M, Pilis A. Health benefits and risk associated with adopting a vegetarian diet. Rocz. Panstw. Zakl. Hig. 2014;65(1):9-14.
38. 38. Sevim Y, Derli G. Food consumption and body mass index differences in vegetarian diets. Journal of Samsun Health Sciences. 2022;7(3):965-986.
39. 39. Tuncay GY. Health-wise vegan/vegetarianism. EurasianJHS. 2018;1(1):25-29.
40. 40. Akkan E, Bozyigit S. Vegan products in turkey as a niche market: an exploratory study from the consumer perspective. J. Consum. Res. 2020;12(1):101-149.
41. 41. Özenoglu A, Gün B, Karadeniz B, Koç F, Bilgin V, Bembeyaz Z, Saha BS. The attitudes of nutrition literacy in adults towards healthy nutrition and its relation with body mass index. Life Sci. (NWSALS) 2021;16(1):1-18.
42. 42. Qureshi SA, Straiton M, Gele AA. Associations of socio-demographic factors with adiposity among immigrants in Norway: a secondary data analysis. BMC Public Health 2020;20:772.
43. 43. Avcı YD. Personal health responsibility. TAF Prev. Med. Bull. 2016;15(3): 259-266.
44. 44. Spronk I, Kullen C, Burdon C, O'Connor H. Relationship between nutrition knowledge and dietary intake. Br. J. Nutr. 2014;111(10):1713-1726.
45. 45. Atasoy S, Güngör AE. Evaluation of nutritional knowledge level and obesity status of university students. Turkish Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care (TJFMPC) 2022;16(2): 340-349.
46. 46. Sezgin AC, Ayyıldız S. Vegetarian/vegan approach in gastronomy; investigation of Giresun region cuisine within the scope of a vegetarian kitchen. Siyasi Sosyal ve Kültürel Yönleriyle Türkiye ve Rusya. 2019;1(1):505-553.