BS IN NUTRITION
(2021)
Perceived Benefits and Barriers of Plant-Based Diet Among Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Adults in the Philippines

Adviser

Leila Africa, RND, Ph.D.

A plant-based diet is a diet focused on consuming food from plants and several studies have assessed that it works effectively among overweight patients. Having known the effects of this diet, it is important to know the perceptions of vegetarians and non vegetarians. A convenience sampling technique was used to recruit participants for the study. Sample size of the study was 277 individuals with 134 vegetarians and 143 for non-vegetarians. After computing the body mass index from from the self-reported weight and height of the respondents, 63% had normal BMI but non-vegetarians had a higher proportion of normal nutritional status (64%). However, it was found that there was a moderate association found in adapting a vegetarian diet to having a normal nutritional status. In the study, vegetarians perceived that their diet is beneficial to the environment (100%), quality of life (99.3%), amount of intake of fiber (99.3%), and contentment with oneself (99.3%). Non-vegetarians, perceived a vegetarian diet to be also beneficial with their digestion (96.5%), intake of saturated fat (93.7%), fiber intake (92.3%), and overall health (92.3%) but they have not agreed that a vegetarian diet is tasty. Overall, most adults despite their dietary group mostly perceived a plant-based diet as beneficial, but a strong association was only found with vegetarians. Barriers of vegetarian diet were related to the information regarding the diet, and accessibility which were agreed by both groups.

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