In addition,
Vegan adolescents do exercise more:
Although health is the best food motive for all students, new research reveals that vegan adolescents are much more active and consume more fruits and vegetables, which raises important questions for school health policies.
Study: difference in reasons and basic health behavior of 8,799 children and adolescents aged 10 to 19 after a vegan, vegetarian or omnivorous diet. Moreover, Image credit: Storytime Studio / Shutterstock
In a recent study published in the journal Current nutrition developmentsThe researchers examined the health behavior. Consequently, the motivations of secondary school students following vegetarian, vegan and omnivorous regimes.
Plant-based food is increasing, but vegan adolescents do exercise more what leads to change?
In Europe, 10% of people follow vegetarian or vegan diets. Nevertheless, The omnivorous regime is currently the most common, with approximately 91% of the omnivorous world population. However. Meanwhile, 51% of Europeans, 59% of Germans and 51% of Austrians have reduced meat intake, Germany dubbing the number of vegetarians and vegans during the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVI-19).
The massive change of food preference towards plant diets. Moreover, in particular by young people, could be linked to health, well-being, animal welfare, ethics and environmental protection.
Lifestyle. Therefore, health -related behaviors often consolidate in childhood and adolescence and persist in adulthood, with a limited possibility of learning healthy behavior in adulthood. Therefore, As such, schools represent an excellent environment for health behavior interventions.
The authors also note that the recent reforms of Austrian school policies now require that plant meal options be available in schools. For example, vegan adolescents do exercise more reflecting broader support for food diets based on educational areas.
About the study – Vegan adolescents do exercise more
In this study. For example, researchers have analyzed the motivations and health behavior of secondary school students following vegetarian, vegan and omnivorous regimes in Austria. Therefore, They used a cluster sampling strategy on several levels after a transverse design. A standardized survey was available for participation at the national level by high school students.
The survey could be carried out at any time using a computer. a tablet or a smartphone under the supervision of parents or school staff. It was based on individual characteristics, physical activity (PA), exercise, sports, diet, nutrition and health. Control questions were included throughout the survey to determine illegitimate conflicts and responses.
The survey has collected information on age. nationality, sex, residence, anthropometry, type of diet (vegan, vegetarian or omnivorous), food motifs (for example, animal welfare, health, tradition, environmental vegan adolescents do exercise more protection), lifestyle and food behavior (consumption of vegetables and fruit, admission of liquids).
Students were classified as vegans, omnivorous or vegetarian depending on the responses to the survey. The analysis of the variance (anova) and the tests of the chi square were used for statistical analyzes. The authors recognize certain limits, such as the data has declared and sample sizes for diet groups that are unbalanced.
The transversal nature of the study also means that causality cannot be established.
Who eats what? Diet trends, sex and age
In total, 8,799 students were included. On average, there were 15.1 years old and had normal body weight. Most students were women (63%), rural residents (68%) and followed an omnivorous diet (92%). Only 7.2% of students followed predominant plants, with 1.6% vegan and 5.6% vegetarian. More men have followed an omnivorous diet, while more women have followed a vegan or vegan adolescents do exercise more vegetarian diet.
The document suggests that this could be due to several factors. including parental habits and the socio -cultural association of diets centered on meat with masculinity.
Revealed motivations: what makes students choose their diet?
Vegetable and omnivorous diets were more common among college students, while vegetarian diets were more common among secondary school students. There was a significantly higher prevalence of sub-ponderation among vegetarian students compared to omnivorous students. Animal well-being was the most common pattern of vegetarian students, followed by health.
Conversely. health was the most popular motive for students following an omnivorous or vegan diet, followed by sports performance for vegans and taste for omnivores. The lifestyle of a specific sport and exercise, exercise and AP were most often considered cool through the sample. Meanwhile, 1.4% and 6.1% of students considered smoking and alcohol consumption, respectively.
Although a vegan lifestyle has been considered vegan adolescents do exercise more cool by some. the authors note that this does not yet correspond to the results of other countries, as a British study where young people have described a vegan lifestyle as “cooler than smoking”.
Choice of lifestyle: activity. diet and “freshness” in adolescence
In particular, more men said they had eaten meat as fresh as women, while women have more often mentioned a vegetarian lifestyle and a diet. Most participants (82%) regularly engaged in leisure sports.
The prevalence of activity in leisure time was higher among vegan students (86%). although participation in more organized club sports did not differ significantly between groups. It is also important to note that despite these differences. the average activity level for all groups has not successfully completed the daily recommendation of 60 minutes for adolescents.
In addition, most students have declared a daily consumption of fruit (66%) and vegetables (64%).
Daily habits: fruits. vegetables and what students drink
In food sub-groups, the daily intake of fruits was much more widespread in vegan students than in omnivores or vegetarians. Meanwhile, the consumption of daily vegetables was significantly more widespread in vegetarian and vegan students compared to omnivores. The level of fluid intake was comparable between the food sub-groups.
The water was the most common drink, followed by syrup, fruit juices and carbonated drinks.
More vegetarians said that water was their most common drink (84%) than vegans (75%) and omnivores (72%). Conversely. syrup and fruit juice were the most common drinks among omnivores, and tea was the most common drink for vegans. About 47% of students consumed alcohol and 9.3% were smokers.
Alcohol intake was significantly higher in vegetarians (55%) compared to omnivores (46.5%) or vegans (38.0%).
The authors of the newspaper note that this could be linked to the vegan adolescents do exercise more vegetarian group being considerably older on average (15.9 years), by placing more at the age of legal consumption or near Austria for beer and wine.
What does this mean for schools and students’ health?
In short. health remains the best reason for food choice, sporting commitment and lifestyle being the main reasons for the preference for lifestyle. While the omnivorous diet was the predominant food choice. students of a vegan diet were the most active in free time.
The results support the idea that the predominant diets of plants are linked to healthier activity levels. which could be a major factor in the fight against the global obesity epidemic.
The authors point out that these results highlight the potential of schools to become crucial environments for public health intervention. They plead for a double “healthy. active food” approach (healing) in the school program and suggest that improving vegan adolescents do exercise more the availability and quality of meal options predominantly in schools could improve not only eating habits but also levels of physical activity among students.
Although these results are the most directly relevant to Austria. the authors note that they can also apply to culturally similar countries.
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