Table 1.

Summary of studies that have assessed the relationship between the degree to which people reduce their meat consumption and restrained eating and/or eating disorders.

Reference; Country	Participants; Sample compositiona	Outcome variable(s)b; Measurement scale	Findings
(5), Canada	45 women (age: 20–40 years); 23 vegetarians and 22 omnivores (consuming three or more servings of meat per week)	Dietary restraint; Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ)	Dietary restraint was higher in omnivores than vegetarians.
(36); UK	131 undergraduate women; 45 current and former vegetariansc and 86 omnivores	Dietary restraint; Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ)	Dietary restraint was higher among vegetarians than among meat eaters. No differences between groups was found in proportion who reported that they were dieting.
(37); USA	160 women (age: >16 years); 93 with a history of eating disorders, 67 with no prior history of eating disorders	Vegetarianism; Self-reported current and lifetime vegetarianismc	More individuals with a history of an eating disorder reported ever having been a vegetarian, as well as currently being vegetarian, compared to individuals with no eating disorder history.
(38), UK	180 men and women with anorexia nervosa	Vegetarianism; retrospective analyses of case notes. Vegetarianism was categorized as “absent,” “occasional,” “usual,” and “severe”	82 had been vegetarian as a pervasive feature at some stage of their illness and of these 77 patients were vegetarian (29 “usual,” 48 “severe”) at the time of first attendance at the clinic. The remaining 98 patients were omnivores (88 “absent,” 10 “occasional”).
(39); Australia	116 patients with anorexia nervosa.	Vegetarianism; retrospective analyses of case notes.	Sixty-three patients were semi-vegetarian. In four of these patients, meat avoidance predated the onset of their anorexia nervosa.
(40); USA	278 women; 69 with a diagnosed eating disorder (clinical), 136 who endorsed recent eating pathology (subclinical), 73 who denied any eating pathology (non-clinical)	Vegetarianism: Self-reported current and lifetime vegetarianism and assessed consumption of various food items.	The prevalence of lifetime vegetarianism was significantly higher in the clinical group compared to the subclinical group, which in turn was significantly higher than the nonclinical group. Those in the clinical group were more likely than those in both other groups to self-identify as current vegetarians.
(41); Turkey	1205 undergraduate men and women; 31 vegetariansc and 1174 omnivores	Disordered Eating; Eating Attitudes Test (EAT).	The mean EAT-26 score of the vegetarian participants was higher than that of the omnivorous participants of both genders.
(42); USA	143 undergraduate women; 30 vegetariansc and 113 omnivores	Disordered Eating; EAT.	The median EAT score of the vegetarians was significantly higher than that of the non-vegetarians. A greater proportion of vegetarians scored higher than 30 on the EAT compared with the omnivores.
(43) Canada	596 undergraduate women; 47 vegetarians and 549 omnivores	Dietary restraint; TFEQ Disordered eating; self-report of diagnosis	Those who had higher restraint scores were more likely to be vegetarian. Relative to omnivores, a higher percentage vegetarian participants reported an eating disorder diagnosis.
(44); USA	321 male and female adolescents (age: 12–20 years); 107 vegetariansc and 214 omnivores	Disordered eating; questions about frequency of dieting, and whether they engaged in binge eating, self-induced vomiting, and laxative use	A higher percentage of vegetarian adolescents reported engaging in frequent dieting, binge eating, self-induced vomiting, and laxative use compared to omnivores.
(45); USA	2,516 men and women (age: 15–23 years); 2,112 omnivores, 108 current vegetariansc, 268 former vegetarians.	Binge eating; 2 questions that assessed loss of control over eating.	Current vegetarians reported engaging in binge eating with loss of control when compared to never vegetarians.
(46); Canada	224 men and women (age: 15 −45 years); 70 vegetarians, 49 semi-vegetarians, 105 omnivores	Dietary restraint; TFEQ Feminism was measured as a moderator variable.	Dietary restraint was positively correlated with the degree to which men and feminist women reduced their meat intake.
(47); Australia	1070 female adolescents (mean age: 16 years); 245 vegetariansc, 825 omnivores	Dietary restraint; TFEQ	Dietary restraint was higher in vegetarians than in omnivores.
(48); USA	256 undergraduate women; 52 vegetariansc and 204 omnivores	Dietary restraint; DEBQ and TFEQ Disordered eating; Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-II) and EAT	Dietary restraint and disordered eating behavior did not differ between vegetarians and omnivores.
(49); USA	240 undergraduate women; 55 vegetarians, 28 pesco-vegetarians, 29 semi-vegetarians, 37 flexitarians, 91 omnivores	Dietary restraint; TFEQ Disordered eating; EAT	Dietary restraint scores were significantly higher in semi-vegetarians and flexitarians relative to omnivores. However, restraint scores of vegetarians and pesco-vegetarians did not differ from omnivores. There were no significant between-group differences in disordered eating.
(50); USA	Experiment 1: undergraduate and community men and women; 35 vegans, 111 vegetarians, 75 semi-vegetarians, and 265 omnivores Experiment 2: undergraduate women; 44 semi-vegetarians and 74 omnivores	Dietary restraint; DEBQ Disordered eating; EAT-26 Dietary restraint; Restraint Scale (RS) Disordered eating; Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q)	Dietary restraint significantly differed across groups; vegans had significantly lower levels of restraint than semi-vegetarians, and semi-vegetarians had higher levels of restraint than omnivores. Semi-vegetarians had marginally higher scores than the other groups on the EAT-26. Dietary restraint and eating concerns (subscale of EDE-Q) were higher in semi-vegetarians than omnivores. There were no significant differences on the weight concern, shape concern and restraint subscales of the EDE-Q.
(51); USA	90 undergraduate, faculty, and community women (age: 18–57 years); 20 vegetarians, 16 semi-vegetarians, 54 omnivores	Dietary restraint; TFEQ Weight control motivation; rank-order food motivation questionnaire	Dietary restraint was significantly higher in semi-vegetarians and non-vegetarians compared to vegetarians; weight-motivated semi-vegetarians reported higher levels of dietary restraint than did weight-motivated vegetarians

^aSample sizes and groups are reported based on those included in the primary analyses conducted in each study.

^bAlthough many studies measured multiple outcome variables, only restrained eating, disordered eating, and vegetarianism are reviewed.

^cIn addition to those who limit all meat and fish from their diet, this group consisted of semi-vegetarians who consumed poultry and/or fish.