“VEGETARIAN DIETS”
Vegetarian diets: Evaluation of nutritional adequacy of diets and systematic review on the effect of vegetarian diets on cardiometabolic diseases
Working Group: Sabina Sieri, Claudia Agnoli, Luciana Baroni, Iacopo Bertini, Salvatore Ciappellano, Alessandra Fabbri, Silvia Goggi, Daniela Metro, Mattia Papa, Nicoletta Pellegrini, Rosella Sbarbati, Maria Laura Scarino, Vincenzino Siani
Group of interest: Sabina Sieri (Coordinator), Claudia Agnoli, Luciana Baroni, Iacopo Bertini, Salvatore Ciappellano, Amleto D’Amicis, Alessandra Fabbri, Andrea Ghiselli, Silvia Goggi, Michelangelo Giampietro, Daniela Metro, Mattia Papa, Nicoletta Pellegrini, Leonardo Pinelli, Rosella Sbarbati, Maria Laura Scarino, Vincenzino Siani.
The “Vegetarian Diets” Working Group started in 2012 in order to develop a summary document to evaluate the nutritional adequacy of vegetarian diets. The document summarizes the evidence pertaining to the availability of proteins, vitamin B12, iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin D, and n-3 fatty acids, in vegetarian diets and the nutritional status of vegetarians of all ages and lifestyles.
The work program was divided into two phases. In the first phase, it was developed a systematic review of the literature concerning the nutrient bioavailability and nutrient intake in relation to requirements in children, adults, elderly people and athletes. In the second phase, a document was developed to evaluate the nutritional adequacy of vegetarian diets.
Phase 1:
The review of the literature about bioavailability and nutritional adequacy, according to age and lifestyle, was completed; in particular, the following nutrients were considered: proteins, iron, calcium, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin B12 and omega 3.
Phase 2:
The evaluation of the nutritional adequacy of vegetarian diets in all age groups and different lifestyle produced the following documents:
Summary document download here
Final document download here
Paper published in the NMCD Journal: C. Agnoli, L. Baroni, I. Bertini, S. Ciappellano, A. Fabbri, M. Papa, N. Pellegrini, R. Sbarbati, M.L. Scarino, V. Siani, S. Sieri. Position paper on vegetarian diets from the working group of the Italian Society of Human Nutrition. NMCD; 2017; 27: 1037-1052. download here
The “Vegetarian Diets” Working Group in 2016 undertook a new project with the aim of developing a systematic review of the literature concerning vegetarian diets, cardiometabolic diseases (metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases) and different risk factors (obesity, dyslipidemia and hypertension).
The work program is divided into two phases. The first involves a systematic review of the literature concerning vegetarian diets and the selected clinical outcomes. Afterwards, a document will be written up.
Phase 1:
Methodology: Review of the scientific literature up to November 2018, with possible updates of relevant papers published in following months, organized as follows:
a) selection of papers retrieved based on the presence in the title and abstract of selected keywords
b) cross-check (by at least two members of the working group) of the relevance to the topics of interest
c) download of full papers
d) final selection of papers to be included
Phase 2:
Writing the final document.