Abstract
Vegetarian diets are popular for their documented health benefits, ethical considerations, cost-effectiveness, and other perceived benefits. These diets can be nutritionally superior to the typical Western diet for reducing chronic disease risk including cardiovascular disease, obesity, certain cancers, and type 2 diabetes. Although the health benefits of vegetarian diets are well documented, they are comparable to other diets that do not necessarily restrict animal products, such as the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Mediterranean diets. Restricting entire food groups can present nutritional concerns, including potentially inadequate intakes of some micronutrients; however, the clinical manifestations of such deficiencies are seemingly uncommon in the United States. Supplementation may be required to ensure adequate intake for key nutrients especially for those who are pregnant, elderly, or taking certain medications. Therefore, adequate nutrition assessment, counseling, and evaluation are important to address nutritional needs of patients who wish to follow vegetarian diets.
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Miketinas, D., Champagne, C.M. (2022). The Vegetarian/Flexitarian Diets. In: Wilson, T., Temple, N.J., Bray, G.A. (eds) Nutrition Guide for Physicians and Related Healthcare Professions. Nutrition and Health. Humana, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82515-7_17
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