Do Vegetarians Get Enough Essential Nutrients?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective is to find out if vegetarians get enough essential nutrients Methods/Materials Nine people (3 non vegetarians, 3 flexatarians1, 3 vegetarians) were asked to write down what they ate for three days to determine what foods they ate. Once I had that information, I used the USDA My Pyramid Tracker to calculate what nutrients they ate for those three days. The required amounts were used as a sort of control to determine what the subjects should eat. The amount of nutrients they should eat was determined by age, gender, height, and weight. (1) A flexatarian is someone who eats fish and minimal amounts of meat Results In all groups of subjects, there was an adequate if not more than needed, supply of vitamin B12, vitamin B6, Protein, carbohydrates, vitamin C, and iron. All groups needed more potassium and fiber. All groups except for non-vegetarians needed more calcium. Vegetarians tended to get less than needed of zinc and vitamin A Conclusions/Discussion My hypothesis turned out to be partially incorrect. According to my results, being a vegetarian does not necessarily mean you do not get enough nutrients. There were a few nutrients vegetarians didn#t get enough of, but that can easily be accomplished by eating more fruits, vegetables, and dairy. Vegetarians do get less protein than other people, but that doesn#t mean they don#t get enough. If you are a vegetarian, you simply get less protein than non-vegetarians.

Competition history

• CSEF 2008 Pharmacology/ Toxicology · Entry J1511

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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