ABSTRACT
Vegetarians rarely show any excess weight. In today’s western societies they are considered, and consider themselves as slim. Through the study of 116 articles published in the medical literature between 1980–1987, it appears that anthropometric figures are usually lower for vegetarians (and especially for their children) when compared to official norms (see, for example Van Staveren et al., 1985; Fulton, Hutton and Stitt, 1980). Dwyer et al. (1980a,b), who carried out extensive research on vegetarians in the U.S., state that the growth curves obtained for vegetarian (school) children were from 0.5 to 1.0 kg and 1 to 2 cm smaller, depending on age, sex and diet, than were curves for a reference population of nonvegetarian children. In general, height is affected more than weight. Calculated curves for children fed macrobiotic diets are inferior to those obtained for other vegetarians. Measurements of females are more consistently affected than males and their diets reflect higher animal food avoidance. Finally, the caloric supply seems to be lower than commonly recommended norms, although the quantity of proteins appears to be sufficient. With different measurements from those relating weight to length (subscapular skinfolds, arm-muscle circumference) the same researchers point out in another study (Dwyer et al., 1980b) that, while only a few of these children are overweight, quite a few are lean.
