Vegetarianism Among U.S. Female Physicians
Previous studies have found rates of vegetarianism among general population to be about 1 to 3%.
8% of female physicians were self-described vegetarians; 5% stated they had not eaten meat, fish or fowl in the week prior to the survey.
Vegetarianism was most common among the 40-49 year old female physicians (11%) and least common among the oldest and youngest.
By ethnicity, Asian-Americans (15%) and “other” (30%) reported the highest levels of vegetarianism, while African Americans (3%) were the lowest.
By religion, the reported levels were Seventh-day Adventist (57%), Hindu (54%), Buddhist (20%), Mormon (20%), Protestant (3%), Catholic (5%), Christian (5%).
Physicians who considered themselves as very liberal were almost twice as likely to consider themselves as vegetarian, versus those who characterize themselves as conservative (13% vs. 17%).
By area of practice, 31% of neurologists, and 2% of opthmologists were vegetarian.
59.3% of self-categorized vegetarians ate some type of animal flesh at least once in the preceding month.
Vegetarians were less likely to consider themselves overweight and more likely to be content with their diet than omnivores, although both groups had proportionally similar groups of women who wanted to lose weight.
Self-categorized vegetarians cited the following reasons for their diet (could choose more than one reason):
- Health (69.0%)
- Environment (32.1%)
- Animal welfare (41.6%)
- Religion (30.0%)
- Taste (40.6%) Weight (25.7%)
- Other (10.7%)
Respondents who cited health reasons had a higher fish consumption than others, and those citing religion consumed more dairy, processed foods and exercised less, while those citing weight ate more poultry and fish, less dairy and processed food and exercised more.
Physicians were the selected segment of study because they are expected to be more likely to engage in preventative behaviors, compared to the general population. In addition, they are more likely to influence their patients.
