DIETITIANS AND VEGETARIANISM
By Whitney Blomquist, Charles Stahler, and Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
For years, food companies, marketers, researchers, students, and media have been asking The Vegetarian Resource Group about the number of vegetarians and vegans, and what can be labeled vegetarian and vegan. To be able to give answers, we have conducted numerous consumer polls. See http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faq.htm#poll.
In order to obtain another perspective, and additional information, we wanted to find out what registered dietitians are thinking, since dietitians are often involved in developing food policy for companies and institutions. Dietitians also advise clients who are vegetarian or who are thinking about being vegetarian. We wondered if dietitians would have the same views as consumers who are interested in vegetarianism.
We did an online survey of 109 registered dietitians who said that they have expertise in vegetarian diets. Sixty-five percent of these dietitians are not vegetarian or vegan. Sometimes we receive calls from people specifically looking for a vegetarian dietitian. It may not matter if your health professional is vegetarian or not in terms of getting correct information, but it is interesting that so many non-vegetarian and non-vegan dietitians are interested in counseling vegetarian and vegan clients.
In general, vegan, vegetarian, and non-vegetarian dietitians who say they have vegetarian expertise are giving similar recommendations. Their recommendations do not differ markedly either due to their own diets or to the diets of their clients. One exception is in the area of soy products. More vegan dietitians report recommending soy products such as soymilk or veggie burgers for everyone. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian dietitians are more likely to recommend soy products for vegetarian clients than for non-vegetarian clients. Fewer than half of dietitians recommend calcium-fortified orange juice to their clients. The reasons for this may vary; one dietitian stated that as a pediatric dietitian, she does not promote juice drinking for her clients.
Regardless of their personal diets, dietitians responding to the survey were more likely to think that it was acceptable for restaurants to identify products as 'vegetarian' without investigating micro-ingredients than for food packagers to label products as 'vegetarian' without researching micro-ingredients. About half of each group would want restaurants to check microingredients before labeling a product as 'vegetarian.' For labeling packages, about a third of each group would not require investigation of microingredients. A sizeable majority of each group thought that microingredients and processing aids should be investigated prior to labeling a product as 'vegan' in a restaurant or on a food package.
Of the dietitians surveyed, 109 listed vegetarian diets as an expertise; 14 said they were vegan and appeared to be vegan (or vegan except for honey) based on foods they said they did not eat; 24 said they were vegetarian and appeared to be vegetarian based on foods they said they did not eat; and 71 ate meat, fish, or poultry.
Of the self-identified vegans surveyed (14 total), all of them do not eat meat, fish, poultry, eggs, or dairy. Half of them do not eat meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, and honey. Half do not eat other animal products, but do eat honey.
Of the self-identified vegetarians (32 total), 75% do not eat meat, fish or poultry, which we classify as vegetarian, while 25% do eat meat, fish or poultry.
See the detailed questions we asked and the survey results below.
What foods do vegan, vegetarian, and non- vegetarian dietitians recommend to their clients?
What foods do self-identified vegetarian dietitians recommend?
| To all their clients | To their vegetarian clients | |
|---|---|---|
| lentils | 91% | 100% |
| chickpeas | 81% | 90% |
| brown rice | 91% | 90% |
| kale | 81% | 77% |
| orange juice with calcium | 34% | 33% |
| soymilk | 47% | 80% |
| veggie burgers | 38% | 53% |
| omega-3 fatty acids | 81% | 93% |
| almonds | 94% | 93% |
What foods do self-identified vegan dietitians recommend?
| To all their clients | To their vegetarian clients | |
|---|---|---|
| lentils | 100% | 100% |
| chickpeas | 100% | 100% |
| brown rice | 92% | 85% |
| kale | 92% | 92% |
| orange juice with calcium | 23% | 23% |
| soymilk | 85% | 85% |
| veggie burgers | 77% | 77% |
| omega-3 fatty acids | 69% | 69% |
| almonds | 85% | 85% |
What foods do dietitians who are not vegan or vegetarian recommend?
| To all their clients | To their vegetarian clients | |
|---|---|---|
| lentils | 95% | 100% |
| chickpeas | 92% | 93% |
| brown rice | 90% | 87% |
| kale | 82% | 80% |
| orange juice with calcium | 38% | 50% |
| soymilk | 59% | 90% |
| veggie burgers | 59% | 82% |
| omega-3 fatty acids | 84% | 88% |
| almonds | 98% | 93% |
Define vegan & vegetarian.
We also asked the dietitians to give us their definition of vegetarian. A good number of vegetarian, vegan, and non-vegetarian dietitians gave variants of the vegetarian organizational definition of not eating meat, fish, or poultry, but possibly sometimes dairy and eggs. Several dietitians pointed out that some people say they're vegetarian, but eat fish, or that the definition may vary immensely from client to client. So a dietitian has to be sure to ask the client or patient what he/she eats or doesn't eat. One respondent said, "The dietitian's job is not to define it, but to help them navigate a healthy diet."
In addition, we asked dietitians to give us their definition of vegan. Answers were similar to the vegetarian organizational definition of no meat, fish, fowl, dairy, or eggs. Some respondents were more explicit, naming items such as mono and diglycerides. A few said honey can be an exception and some included non-food items such as leather shoes. One person stated, "All vegans are vegetarians, not all vegetarians are vegan. I am a vegetarian. I do not eat animals but I wear wool, silk, leather, etc. I am not vegan but am often forced to label myself as such because of the misconception that not eating beef means you are vegetarian."
We asked vegans, vegetarians, and non-vegetarians if it is OK for a restaurant to identify a product as VEGETARIAN without investigating the micro-ingredients, as long as an item does NOT contain meat, fish, or poultry (or obvious animal items like gelatin).
Self-identified vegans: 50%; Self-identified vegetarians: 44%; Non-vegetarians: 41%
Is it okay to label a product as VEGETARIAN on a food package without investigating the micro-ingredients or processing aids as long as an item does NOT contain meat, fish or poultry (or obvious animal items like gelatin)?
Self-identified vegans: 36%; Self-identified vegetarians: 28%; Non-vegetarians: 27%
As long as a product does NOT contain meat, fish, or poultry (or obvious animal items like gelatin), it is OK to label products containing the following as VEGETARIAN.
| Self-identified vegans | Self-identified vegetarians | Not identified vegan or vegetarian | |
|---|---|---|---|
| sugar from an unspecified source | 36% | 47% | 48% |
| vitamin D from lanolin | 29% | 25% | 24% |
| cysteine from an animal product | 7% | 13% | 10% |
| cysteine from human hair | 36% | 22% | 13% |
| ingredients made from feathers | 21% | 16% | 13% |
| fruit covered with wax from an animal secretion1 | 14% | 13% | 16% |
| an otherwise vegan veggie burger cooked on the same grill where meat is cooked if the grill is cleaned first | 57% | 59% | 59% |
| none of the above | 28% | 34% | 33% |
We asked vegans, vegetarians, and non-vegetarians if it is OK for a restaurant to identify a product as VEGAN without investigating the micro-ingredients, as long as an item does NOT contain meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, or honey (or other obvious animal items like gelatin).
Self-identified vegans: 21%; Self-identified vegetarians: 19%; Non-vegetarians: 21%
Is it okay to label a product as VEGAN on a food package without investigating the micro-ingredients or processing aids, as long as a product does NOT contain meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs or honey (or obvious animal items like gelatin)?
Self-identified vegans: 21%; Self-identified vegetarians: 9%; Non-vegetarians :10%
As long as a product does NOT contain meat, fish, poultry, dairy, eggs, or honey (or obvious animal items like gelatin), it is OK to label a product containing the following as VEGAN.
| Self-identified vegans | Self-identified vegetarians | Not identified vegan or vegetarian | |
|---|---|---|---|
| sugar from an unspecified source | 29% | 21% | 24% |
| vitamin D from lanolin | 7% | 9% | 6% |
| cysteine from an animal product | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| cysteine from human hair | 29% | 6% | 2% |
| ingredients made from feathers | 7% | 3% | 3% |
| fruit covered with wax from an animal secretion1 | 29% | 0% | 3% |
| an otherwise vegan veggie burger cooked on the same grill where meat is cooked if the grill is cleaned first | 50% | 41% | 27% |
| none of the above | 36% | 47% | 57% |
