ABSTRACT
Introduction
Plant-based nutrition is gaining in popularity for many reasons relating to health, sustainability and animal welfare. While there is potential for diets with low or no animal source foods (ASF) to be healthy, this is not necessarily the case. Emerging adults may be at the forefront of a social movement away from ASF in the UK. This age group also have generally poor diets. Modern day plant-based diets, particularly those followed by younger people, may include more convenience foods and less fruit and vegetables than traditional plant-based diets. This study aims to examine whether young people following plant-based diets consume higher or lower quality diets than young people who consume ASF (omnivores).
Methods
We conducted secondary analysis of a cross-sectional online survey of a nationally representative sample of UK university students, completed in February 2022, to explore some indicators of diet quality in students following plant-based diets compared with omnivores. We conducted univariable and multivariable analyses (adjusted for age group, gender, ethnicity, income and parental socio-economic group) to examine the associations between specific diets and diet indicators (fruit and vegetable intake, frequency of consumption of specific foods high in fat, sugar and/or salt, and frequency of cooking from scratch).
Results
Of 2921 student participants, 1468 (50.3%) reported themselves as omnivores, 511 (17.5%) mainly vegetarian, 208 (7.1%) pescatarian, 290 (9.9%) vegetarian, and 149 (5.1%) vegan. The remainder indicated another dietary pattern or did not respond. Demographics and socio-economic status varied significantly across diet groups. In fully adjusted models, all plant-based diets had higher fruit and vegetable consumption than omnivores, up to 1.41 (95% CI 1.04–1.78) additional portions of fruit in pescatarians and 0.92 (0.50–1.34) additional portions of vegetables in vegans. Vegetarians and ‘mainly vegetarians’ had higher odds of frequently cooking from scratch than omnivores. ‘Mainly vegetarians’ were less likely than omnivores to frequently consume processed meat. Frequent consumption of other foods high in fat, sugar and/or salt was not significantly different in any of the plant-based diets compared with omnivore diets.
Conclusion
Students following plant-based diets have higher quality diets by some indices than omnivore students.
Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Volume 39, Issue 2, April 2026. Read More