Study title and authors:
'Vegetarian diet and mental disorders: results from a representative community survey'.
Michalak J, Zhang XC, Jacobi F.
This study can be accessed here.
The study investigated the association between meat eaters or vegetarians and mental disorders. The study included 4,181 participants, aged 18 to 65 years and examined the prevalence rates of mental disorders at one month, 12 months and lifetime.
(Prevalence rates is the proportion of people in a population who have a particular disease over a specified period of time).
The following mental disorders were investigated:
(i) Depressive disorders: Major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder.The study found:
(ii) Anxiety disorders: Panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia), agoraphobia without a history of panic disorder; specific phobias, social phobia; obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder.
(iii) Somatoform disorders and syndromes: Somatization Disorder, "abridged somatization disorder" hypochondriasis and pain disorder.
(iv) Eating disorders: Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa (including atypical anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa).
(a) Regarding depressive disorders:
(a:i) Vegetarians had 44% higher one month prevalence risk of depressive disorders than meat eaters.(b) Regarding anxiety disorders:
(a:ii) Vegetarians had 75% higher 12 month prevalence risk of depressive disorders than meat eaters.
(a:iii) Vegetarians had 48% higher lifetime prevalence risk of depressive disorders than meat eaters.
(b:i) Vegetarians had 76% higher one month prevalence risk of anxiety disorders than meat eaters.(c) Regarding somatoform disorders:
(b:ii) Vegetarians had 87% higher 12 month prevalence risk of anxiety disorders than meat eaters.
(b:iii) Vegetarians had 77% higher lifetime prevalence risk of anxiety disorders than meat eaters.
(c:i) Vegetarians had 72% higher one month prevalence risk of somatoform disorders than meat eaters.(d) Regarding eating disorders:
(c:ii) Vegetarians had 104% higher 12 month prevalence risk of somatoform disorders than meat eaters.
(c:iii) Vegetarians had 93% higher lifetime prevalence risk of somatoform disorders than meat eaters.
For eating disorders prevalence risk could not be calculated accurately. However, descriptively the study found elevated one month, 12 month and lifetime prevalence rates in the vegetarian group.The study also compared the kinds of food eaten by the participants with and without mental disorders.
The study found for meat consumption:
(e) Regarding depressive disorders:
(e:i) Those with a one month prevalence of depressive disorders consumed 5.4% less meat than those without a one month prevalence of depressive disorders.(f) Regarding anxiety disorders:
(e:ii) Those with a 12 month prevalence of depressive disorders consumed 6.2% less meat than those without a 12 month prevalence of depressive disorders.
(e:iii) Those with a lifetime prevalence of depressive disorders consumed 7.6% less meat than those without a one month prevalence of depressive disorders.
(f:i) Those with a one month prevalence of anxiety disorders consumed 4.8% less meat than those without a one month prevalence of anxiety disorders.(g) Regarding somatoform disorders:
(f:ii) Those with a 12 month prevalence of anxiety disorders consumed 5.6% less meat than those without a 12 month prevalence of anxiety disorders.
(f:iii) Those with a lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders consumed 5.1% less meat than those without a one month prevalence of anxiety disorders.
(g:i) Those with a one month prevalence of somatoform disorders consumed 7.4% less meat than those without a one month prevalence of somatoform disorders.(h) Regarding eating disorders:
(g:ii) Those with a 12 month prevalence of somatoform disorders consumed 5.6% less meat than those without a 12 month prevalence of somatoform disorders.
(g:iii) Those with a lifetime prevalence of somatoform disorders consumed 6.2% less meat than those without a one month prevalence of somatoform disorders.
(h:i) Those with a one month prevalence of eating disorders consumed 181.3% less meat than those without a one month prevalence of eating disorders.The results of the study strongly demonstrate that diets containing meat are associated with better mental health.
(h:ii) Those with a 12 month prevalence of eating disorders consumed 70.7% less meat than those without a 12 month prevalence of eating disorders.
(h:iii) Those with a lifetime prevalence of eating disorders consumed 0.3% less meat than those without a one month prevalence of eating disorders.
Reader Comments
Makes sense to me, my husband struggles with eating meat vs. veggie, and has terrible depressive problems at times.
Right on. People who are aware enough to become vegetarian in this society which promotes animal products at every meal, have to have an awareness of other serious problems around them. If to avoid being depressed is supposed to be a goal, then there is always alcohol... that goes well with beef. Maybe the meat eaters are too tipsy and brain impaired to notice much else.
"People who are aware enough to become vegetarian in this society which promotes animal products at every meal, have to have an awareness of other serious problems around them." - Since when are people who turn to vegetarianism more aware of the ills of this world than meat eaters? Do you have evidence to support your claim?
As for your last sentence. That´s plain rude. Maybe you should read the Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith and be enlighted how "aware" (read deluded) vegetarians are about their contribution to a better world. Wait, let me make it easy for you:
[Link]
In regards to the conclusion of the article, ofcourse, people who base their nutrition solely on a vegetarian diet are missing some very vital nutrients, which are only present in a diet containing meat.
in every strata of society. However those that take decisions on the basis of assumption and here-say are not even close to becoming informed. In our "click-rant-I-disagree" society it is hard to know where idiocy and intransigence ever have an opportunity to meet up with critical thought and considered research.
Research like this so often gets binned moments after the title by those offended by the mere suggestion. Although a veggie diet has potential lacks, it certainly also seems to encourage a narrower mind as much as a depressed one.
To make it even more fun, no diet will prevent a bloody or narrow mind from rearing its ill formed head!
It makes sense that some vegetarians would be more anxious and more prone to depression than meat eaters - but not because they don't eat animals.
A vegetarian refuses to kill and eat animals and lives in full awareness of the brutal and mass-butchering of billions of innocent beings every day. A vegetarian investigates the misery, gets to the truth of the cruelty and abuse and then attempts to live with that nightmare information.
Due to his/her raw sensitivity and open-minded acknowledgement of the daily animal massacres, it is natural that a vegetarian might be on edge and overwhelmed with having to witness this unjust tradition that is still being justified.
The author concludes, "The results of the study strongly demonstrate that diets containing meat are associated with better mental health".
[There are, by the way, many other studies that demonstrate exactly the opposite].
It would be more apt if this author had written:
"The results of the study strongly demonstrate that people who are deeply compassionate regarding animal suffering, are more likely to experience mental health issues, as a result of their sensitivity, than those who are not as caring".
Or...
"The results of the study strongly demonstrate that people who disregard the holocaust of animals used as human food are likely to have less mental health issues than those who challenge the abuse and act on it".
Check out the documentary "Earthlings". [Link]
What about us meat eaters who are sensitive and open-minded enough to recognize the daily plant massacres and the turmoil these plants must go through- never mind the complete destruction of entire ecosystems so that one single crop can be grown?