Risks of Eating Disorders among Teen Vegetarians

By Hugh C. McBride

Within hours of the invention of the dinner table, surely some young person was stuck sitting at one without dessert because he had refused to eat his vegetables.

Although fruits and veggies are at the core of a healthy diet, studies have shown that it is, indeed, possible to get too much of a good thing, especially when those “good things” are consumed in a tightly controlled or overly exclusionary manner.

Several groups of researchers have expressed scientifically supported concerns that adolescents who follow a vegetarian diet may be at risk for binge eating and other types of eating disorders.

Is Vegetarianism Dangerous?

When undertaken in an informed and responsible manner, vegetarianism can be a healthy lifestyle choice. For example, vegetarian diets have been associated with lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and decreased risk of developing heart disease and certain types of cancers.

Many young people have adopted a vegetarian diet and suffered no ill effects, but for some, the decision to stop eating meat may be a warning sign of an underlying disorder.

In a paper that is posted on the website of Canada’s National Eating Disorder Information Centre, author Brooke Finnegan reports on two studies that found a higher risk of eating disorders among vegetarian teens than among their meat-eating peers:

• In 1997, researchers at California State University-Northridge reported that college women who claimed to be vegetarians had a significantly greater risk of developing eating disorders than did those who ate meat.

• A 2003 study at the University of Minnesota noted that vegetarian males made up an especially high risk group for unhealthy weight control practices

• The Minnesota study revealed that teen vegetarians were more likely to contemplate and attempt suicide.

Ms. Finnegan does not attempt to blame a lack of meat-eating for causing suicidal ideation or eating disorders in teen vegetarians; rather, she notes that the young vegetarians who experienced these difficulties were likely to already be suffering from or at risk for developing mental health problems.

“The research indicated that teens who were already susceptible to emotional difficulties were drawn to vegetarianism as a means to lose weight and fit in, but that vegetarianism itself had no correlation with emotional difficulties,” she wrote.

Vegetarianism & Anorexia

In her article on the Empowered Parents website, psychotherapist Abigail Natenshon described a teen’s interest in becoming a vegetarian as a “flashing yellow light warning that here might be a child who is beginning to use food in a restrictive and inflexible way in response to underlying and unresolved emotional issues.”

The relationship between vegetarianism and one type of eating disorder was discussed in some detail in an article by Ann Lien that appeared in the September 1999 issue of Vegetarian Times:

Anorexia, a pathological fear of weight gain that leads to excessive weight loss, often manifests itself with an obsessive-compulsive personality. Vegetarianism is not simply a lifestyle choice for an anorexic girl. What and how she eats become the daily yardstick by which she measures her worth. Common beliefs among anorexics include, "If I'm a good person, I can have five extra bites at dinner" and "I'm a strong person because I can eat less than other people. Everyone else is weak."

A report in the Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine (August, 1997) analyzed how teens hide eating disorders behind the healthy facade of vegetarianism. The study found that while [vegetarian] teens ate more fruits and vegetables than their omnivorous peers, they were also twice as likely to diet frequently, four times as likely to diet intensively and eight times as likely to abuse laxatives – all behaviors associated with eating disorders.

A potentially lethal condition, anorexia is an eating disorder that manifests itself as perpetual dissatisfaction with one’s weight and body, which leads to a pattern of self-starvation.

Vegetarianism & Binge Eating Disorder

A study that was led by Romona Robinson-O'Brien of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in Minnesota found that binge eating disorder is more common among vegetarian teens than among the general teenage population. The study also found that adults who experimented with vegetarianism during their teen years were at increased risk for employing unhealthy means of controlling their weight.

Highlights of the study were outlined in an April 1 article by Reuters writer Patricia Reaney:

After examining the diets, weight and drug and alcohol use of 2,516 teenagers and young adults aged 15 to 23 who took part in a survey in 31 Minnesota schools they found that young vegetarians reported more binge eating than meat eaters. …

Robinson-O'Brien and her team, who reported the findings in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, said about 20 [to] 25 percent of current and former vegetarians in the study displayed unhealthy weight-control behaviors such as taking diet pills, vomiting, using laxatives and diuretics and binge eating. ...

“Adolescents often experience a heightened sensitivity about their appearance and pressure to conform to a cultural ideal, resulting in body dissatisfaction and experimentation with various weight loss methods," she explained.

Teens who engage in binge eating often exhibit the following symptoms:

• Eating much more rapidly than normal
• Eating until uncomfortably full
• Eating large amounts of food, even when not physically hungry
• Eating alone out of embarrassment at the quantity of food being eaten
• Feelings of disgust, depression, or guilt with overeating.

How to Help

Parents whose children are interested in adopting a vegetarian diet should make an effort to educate themselves and their teen about how to follow such a diet plan in a safe and healthy manner.

Parents who believe that their child’s interest in becoming a vegetarian may be related to an eating disorder, or who observe eating disorder symptoms in their teen, should make an appointment with their family physician immediately.

Depending upon the nature and severity of a teen’s problem, effective eating disorder treatment can occur via outpatient therapy or during a stay in a residential treatment facility. But because many disordered eaters either refuse to acknowledge their problem, or resist the idea that they need treatment, it is essential that parents or other caregivers take the necessary steps to ensure that these struggling young people get the help they need.