VEGETARIANISM—a clinician's view

In Western countries people adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet for a variety of reasons, and though their numbers appear to be increasing, vegetarians and vegans are a minority of the population. However, the world scene is very different, for a large proportion of the world's population has a near vegan diet. This kind of diet is almost always associated with malnutrition often involving deficiencies of energy, protein or specific vitamins. It might be thought that eradication of malnutrition would best be achieved by promoting a western‐type omnivorous diet. This would involve increasing production and consumption of food from animal sources, but it is doubtful if this would be either economically feasible, or nutritionally acceptable. It seems important therefore to establish whether a good vegetarian or vegan diet is consistent with health, and what effects the diet has on commonly used indices of nutritional status.