RELACIÓN ENTRE EL CONOCIMIENTO Y LA SUPLEMENTACIÓN CON VITAMINA B12 EN VEGETARIANOS DE ARGENTINA

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: the percentage of people who choose to follow vegetarian diets is rising, but several studies showed that many of them lack sufficient knowledge about the importance of B12 vitamin supplementation. Objectives: to analyze the relationship between knowledge and supplementation of vitamin B12, as well as the relation between the aforementioned variables and sex, age, education achieved, diet and the sources of information queried. Materials and methods: the sample of this study were 410 people. The studied variables were knowledge, supplementation, diet, level of education achieved, and sources of information used. To evaluate these, an online questionnaire was assembled by the author, and the data was gathered between may and august of 2020. Results: of the polled, 39% did not supplement with vitamin B12, and 81,9% didn’t meet the basic requirements. 55,4% knew that supplementation with B12 is necessary in all vegetarian diets. Only 47,6% had an adequate knowledge level. The main source of information queried was the Internet. It was found that, of the people that supplemented with B12, women, younger people and vegans, as well as people that consulted scientific societies, nutritionists and the internet as sources of information, were the ones with the highest knowledge level. It was also observed that vegans were the group with the highest supplementation rate. Conclusions: it was determined that the levels of knowledge and supplementation of vitamin B12 in vegetarians residing in Argentina were both low, and that being young, vegan and a woman were predictors of higher knowledge and consumption of supplements.