Non-consumption of Meat and Health Status in Italy: 2013-2016 Snapshot

Background: A large number of individuals around the world consider themselves to be vegetarians for many individual reasons, and the vegetarian diet appears very heterogeneous. The prevalence of vegetarianism varies widely around the world. Objective: This paper examined the variables associated with the non-consumption of meat and valued trends in the plant-based diet among Italian adults in relation to the level of self-perceived health in this category of people in 4 years (2013-2016). Methods: Data were drawn from the survey “Aspects of daily life” conducted by the ISTAT (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica). We considered the data of the 2013-2016 editions to evaluate the trend and attitude of the Italian population towards the non-consumption of meat during 4 years and assessed trends in the plant-based diet among Italian adults in relation to the level of selfperceived health. Results: The results showed an increasing trend from 2013 to 2016. In statistical analysis, vegetarian status was associated to under the age of 45, having a high level of education, being mainly separated or divorced, being resident in the North-West regions, and with a poor selfperceived state of health. Furthermore, vegetarians had shown healthier lifestyles and lower risk factors for non-communicable diseases than non-vegetarians. Conclusion: The results suggest that despite perceiving a worse health status, the long-term health of vegetarians is good and may be better than that of comparable non-vegetarians for some conditions and diseases, such as Obesity and IHD. As for all types of diet, well-designed health educational interventions conveying information on correct eating behavior may significantly contribute to increasing the degree of perceived health.