No-meat eaters are less likely to be overweight or obese, but take dietary supplements more often: results from the Swiss National Nutrition survey menuCH.

objectiveTo describe and analyse the sociodemographic, anthropometric, behavioural and dietary characteristics of different types of Swiss (no-)meat eaters.

designNo-, low-, medium- and high-meat eaters were compared with respect to energy and total protein intake and sociodemographic, anthropometric and behavioural characteristics.

settingNational Nutrition Survey menuCH, the first representative survey in Switzerland.

participants2057 participants, aged 18-75 years old, who completed two 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR) and a questionnaire on dietary habits, sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Body weight and height were measured by trained interviewers. No-meat eaters were participants who reported meat avoidance in the questionnaire and did not report any meat consumption in the 24-HDR. Remaining study participants were assigned to the group of low-, medium- or high-meat eaters based on energy contributions of total meat intake to total energy intake (meat:energy ratio). Fifteen percentage of the participants were assigned to the low- and high-meat eating groups, and the remaining to the medium-meat eating group.

resultsOverall, 4·4 % of the study participants did not consume meat. Compared with medium-meat eaters, no-meat eaters were more likely to be single and users of dietary supplements. Women and high-educated individuals were less likely to be high-meat eaters, whereas overweight and obese individuals were more likely to be high-meat eaters. Total energy intake was similar between the four different meat consumption groups, but no-meat eaters had lowest total protein intake.

conclusionsThis study identified important differences in sociodemographic, anthropometric, behavioural and dietary factors between menuCH participants with different meat-eating habits.