Title:Non-consumption of Meat and Health Status in Italy: 2013-2016 Snapshot
Volume: 19
Issue: 6
Author(s): Elisa Ponzio, Pamela Barbadoro*, Matteo D'Errico, Jacopo Dolcini and Marcello M. D’Errico
Affiliation:
- Department of Biomedical Sciences and Public Health, Section of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health,
Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
Keywords:
Diet, vegetarian, outcome assessment (health care), lifestyle, health, vegan.
Abstract:
Background: A large number of individuals around the world consider themselves to
be vegetarians for many individual reasons, and the vegetarian diet appears very heterogeneous.
The prevalence of vegetarianism varies widely around the world.
Objective: This paper examined the variables associated with the non-consumption of meat and
valued trends in the plant-based diet among Italian adults in relation to the level of self-perceived
health in this category of people in 4 years (2013-2016).
Methods: Data were drawn from the survey “Aspects of daily life” conducted by the ISTAT (Istituto
Nazionale di Statistica). We considered the data of the 2013-2016 editions to evaluate the
trend and attitude of the Italian population towards the non-consumption of meat during 4 years
and assessed trends in the plant-based diet among Italian adults in relation to the level of selfperceived
health.
Results: The results showed an increasing trend from 2013 to 2016. In statistical analysis, vegetarian
status was associated to under the age of 45, having a high level of education, being mainly
separated or divorced, being resident in the North-West regions, and with a poor selfperceived
state of health. Furthermore, vegetarians had shown healthier lifestyles and lower risk
factors for non-communicable diseases than non-vegetarians.
Conclusion: The results suggest that despite perceiving a worse health status, the long-term
health of vegetarians is good and may be better than that of comparable non-vegetarians for some
conditions and diseases, such as Obesity and IHD. As for all types of diet, well-designed health
educational interventions conveying information on correct eating behavior may significantly
contribute to increasing the degree of perceived health.
