Nutritional intakes of vegetarian populations in France

OBJECTIVE: To assess food behaviour and determine nutritional intakes of various vegetarian populations in France. DESIGN: A five-day self-administered food record which was mailed to members of the three principal French vegetarian organisations. SUBJECTS: 145 subjects, aged 7-87 y; 94 classical vegetarians (19% of those contacted), 34 Hindu lactovegetarians (17% of those contacted) and 17 macrobiotic (34% of those contacted). SETTING: The survey was conducted between March 1997 and July 1997 in France. RESULTS: Vegetarianism in France is represented by three main classes of food behaviour: ovolactovegetarian (AAV), lactovegetarian (KRI) and macrobiotic (MMK). The geometric mean intakes ranged from 1952 kcal/d (KRI), 2051 kcal/d (MMK) to 2384 kcal/d (AAV) for males and from 1302 kcal/d (MMK), 1675 kcal/d (AAV) to 1804 kcal/d (KRI) for females, after adjusting for age and BMI. The energy consumption in the MMK group was significantly lower than that in the AAV (P<0.05) and KRI groups (P<0.01), respectively. A difference among groups was observed for females (P=0.0002), but not for males. The MMK group consumed less lipid than the other two vegetarian groups, 46 g/d for men and 38 g/d for women vs 80 g/d for men and 61 g/d for women in the AAV group and 93 g/d for men and 81 g/d for women in the KRI group, respectively. Differences with AAV and MMK were statistically significant (P<0.001 for men and women for both groups). Mean protein consumption ranged from 60 g/d (AAV), 64 g/d (KRI) to 77 g/d (MMK) for males and from 46 g/d (MMK), 50 g/d (AAV) to 58 g/d (KRI) for females. Mean carbohydrate intakes ranged from 247 g/d (AAV), 321 g/d (KRI) to 338 g/d (MMK) in males and from 209 g/d (MMK), 228 g/d (AAV) to 242 g/d (KRI) in females. There were no significant differences in protein and carbohydrate intakes between the groups. Median calcium intakes ranged from 758.2 mg/d (MMK), 863 mg/d (AAV) to 989.3 mg/d (KRI) for the men and from 500.8 mg/d (MMK), 863 mg/d (AAV) to 934 mg/d (KRI) for the women. In the men, there was no differences in daily calcium intakes between the three vegetarian groups. However, we found a significant difference for women (P=0. 0041). The women in the MMK group presented significantly lower daily calcium intakes than the women in the AAV (P=0.013) and KRI (P=0.0032) groups. The AAV and KRI groups consumed dairy products supplying respectively 36% and 53% for the men and 39% and 59% for the women of total calcium against 0% for men and women in the MMK group. Median iron intakes ranged between 12.5 mg/d (KRI), 13.2 mg/d (AAV) and 22.5 mg/d (MMK) for the men and between 11.2 mg/d (KRI), 14.6 mg/d (AAV) and 16.9 mg/d (MMK) for the women. MMK (men P=0.0172 and women P=0.0131) and AAV (only in men P=0.037) groups consumed significantly higher quantities of iron than did the KRI group. The heme iron median intake in males and females of the three vegetarian groups was very low (