Dietary Intake of High-Protein Foods and Other Major Foods in Meat-Eaters, Poultry-Eaters, Fish-Eaters, Vegetarians, and Vegans in UK Biobank.

Kathryn Bradbury,Timothy Key,Tammy Tong

doi:10.3390/nu9121317

Abstract

Vegetarian diets are defined by the absence of meat and fish, but differences in the intake of other foods between meat-eaters and low or non-meat eaters are also important to document. We examined intakes of high-protein foods (meat, poultry, fish, legumes, nuts, vegetarian protein alternatives, dairy products, and eggs) and other major food groups (fruit, vegetables, bread, pasta, rice, snack foods, and beverages) in regular meat-eaters, low meat-eaters, poultry-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans of white ethnicity participating in UK Biobank who had completed at least one web-based 24-h dietary assessment (n = 199,944). In regular meat-eaters, around 25% of total energy came from meat, fish, dairy and plant milk, cheese, yogurt, and eggs. In vegetarians, around 20% of energy came from dairy and plant milk, cheese, yoghurt, eggs, legumes, nuts, and vegetarian protein alternatives, and in vegans around 15% came from plant milk, legumes, vegetarian alternatives, and nuts. Low and non-meat eaters had higher intakes of fruit and vegetables and lower intakes of roast or fried potatoes compared to regular meat-eaters. The differences in the intakes of meat, plant-based high-protein foods, and other foods between meat-eaters and low and non-meat eaters in UK Biobank may contribute to differences in health outcomes.

Highlights

Vegetarian diets are defined by the absence of meat and fish; vegan diets are defined by the absence of all animal foods—meat, fish, dairy products, and eggs
The objective of this paper is to compare intakes of major protein food sources includingred and processed meat, poultry, fish, legumes and pulses, vegetarian protein alternatives (soy burgers/sausages; tofu; Quorn; other vegetarian alternatives), nuts, cheese, yogurt, dairy milk, plant milk, and eggs, and other main food groups including fruit, vegetables, pasta, rice, bread, snack foods, and beverages, in white adult men and women of a range of diet groups—regular meat-eaters, low meat-eaters, poultry-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans—who participated in UK Biobank and completed at least one web-based
We found that vegetarians and vegans consumed more of fruit, total energy from these high‐protein source foods

Summary

Introduction

Vegetarian diets are defined by the absence of meat and fish; vegan diets are defined by the absence of all animal foods—meat, fish, dairy products, and eggs. Previous studies have observed lower rates of ischaemic heart disease [1] and some cancers [2,3] in vegetarians. Nutritional epidemiological studies have modeled the effects of replacing red and processed meat with substitutes such as chicken, fish, low-fat dairy products, nuts, vegetables and potatoes on health outcomes including coronary heart disease [13,14,15], stroke [16], cancer [17], and mortality [18,19], in cohorts where the vast majority of participants eat red meat. There is a paucity of information on the actual food intakes of low- and non-meat eaters and this information is needed to inform realistic substitution analyses of meat alternatives

Objectives

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion