Characterization of the dietary and sociodemographic profile of a group of Colombian vegetarian women in childbearing age during the period 2021-2022

Objective To determine the dietary and sociodemographic profile of vegetarian women of childbearing age (18 and 49 years) from the Valle de Aburra Metropolitan Area in 2021-2022 Methods Through an online survey, 232 vegetarian and vegan women of childbearing age (18 to 49 years) from the Valle de Aburra Metropolitan Area were surveyed regarding their sociodemographic characteristics, amount of time following this eating pattern and, type and reason for choosing vegetarianism, physical activity, use of nutritional supplements and frequency of consumption of certain food groups. Descriptive analyses, association of variables with the type of vegetarianism and multinomial regression models were performed. Results A total of 232 vegetarian women were surveyed: 60.8% were between 18 and 30 years of age and belonged mainly to the middle class. According to the type of diet, 68.1% used an ovolactovegetarian diet, 18.1% were vegan, 9.0% lacto-vegetarian and 4.8% ovovegetarian. Among the factors evaluated in their potential relationship with the different types of vegetarianism,it is highlighted that vitamin B12 supplementation presents a statistically significant association when using veganism as a comparison category. Conclusion According to the results, among young female adults the vegetarian eating style predominates, without significant differences as to the educational level, adequate levels of physical activity in most of the population; there was a higher prevalence of ovo-lacto-vegetarianism. Vitamin B12 supplementation was significantly higher in the vegan population, indicating that ovo-lacto and ovo-vegetarian populations may be at high risk of vitamin B12 deficiency.