Nutrition and Health – The Association between Eating Behavior and Various Health Parameters: A Matched Sample Study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 9; no. 2; p. e88278
• Main Authors: Burkert, Nathalie T., Muckenhuber, Johanna, Großschädl, Franziska, Rásky, Éva, Freidl, Wolfgang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 07.02.2014; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alcohol use; Alcoholic beverages; Allergies; Analysis; Austria; Body mass; Body mass index; Cancer; Chronic conditions; Chronic illnesses; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes; Diet; Eating behavior; Feeding Behavior - physiology; Female; Food habits; Fruits (Food); Health aspects; Health care; Health risks; Health services; Health Status; Health Surveys; Human nutrition; Humans; Male; Meat; Medical care quality; Medical treatment; Medicine; Mental disorders; Mental health; Middle Aged; Mortality; Nutrition; Nutritional Status; Population studies; Public health; Quality of Life; Risk factors; Social Class; Socio-economic aspects; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomics; Surveys; Type 2 diabetes; Variance analysis; Vegetables; Vegetarian diet; Vegetarianism; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088278

Population-based studies have consistently shown that our diet has an influence on health. Therefore, the aim of our study was to analyze differences between different dietary habit groups in terms of health-related variables. The sample used for this cross-sectional study was taken from the Austrian Health Interview Survey AT-HIS 2006/07. In a first step, subjects were matched according to their age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). After matching, the total number of subjects included in the analysis was 1320 (N = 330 for each form of diet - vegetarian, carnivorous diet rich in fruits and vegetables, carnivorous diet less rich in meat, and carnivorous diet rich in meat). Analyses of variance were conducted controlling for lifestyle factors in the following domains: health (self-assessed health, impairment, number of chronic conditions, vascular risk), health care (medical treatment, vaccinations, preventive check-ups), and quality of life. In addition, differences concerning the presence of 18 chronic conditions were analyzed by means of Chi-square tests. Overall, 76.4% of all subjects were female. 40.0% of the individuals were younger than 30 years, 35.4% between 30 and 49 years, and 24.0% older than 50 years. 30.3% of the subjects had a low SES, 48.8% a middle one, and 20.9% had a high SES. Our results revealed that a vegetarian diet is related to a lower BMI and less frequent alcohol consumption. Moreover, our results showed that a vegetarian diet is associated with poorer health (higher incidences of cancer, allergies, and mental health disorders), a higher need for health care, and poorer quality of life. Therefore, public health programs are needed in order to reduce the health risk due to nutritional factors.