Dietary Restriction: A Comparison of Vegetarians and Non-
vegetarians One type of vegetarians was at higher risk for
disordered eating. Reprinted from Eating Disorders Review
May/June 2012 Volume 23, Number 3 ©2012 Gürze Books
Vegetarianism is an increasingly popular lifestyle, and an
estimated 1% of the US population now identify themselves as
vegetarians. This seemed an ideal opportunity for psychologist
Dr. Alix Timko and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania
and Towson University to investigate claims of a link between
adherence to a vegetarian diet and the onset and maintenance of
disordered eating (Appetite 2012;
doi:10.1016/j.appet.2012.02.005). According to the authors,
results of previous studies have been hampered by small samples
of true vegetarians, lack of appropriate operational definitions
of "vegetarianism," and uncertainly about the appropriate
assessments of eating behaviors for semi-vegetarians. Three
categories of 'vegetarians' Vegetarians are usually defined in
three categories: ovo