Food Quality and Nutritional Status of Vegetarians in Two Main Cities of a Sub-Saharan Country

The objective of this research is to study the nutritional status and the diet quality of vegetarians in two main cities of Benin, Cotonou and Porto-Novo in order to contribute to the improvement of their diet. Data were collected from 101 vegetarians selected by commodity in vegetarian restaurants. BMI, waist circumference, energy intake from macronutrient, micronutrient intakes, alcohol consumption, physical activity level, and blood levels of iron, calcium and albumin are the main variables. Analyses were set using SPSS and ALIMENTHEQUE software. Associations were tested using Fisher and Chi square tests. Inadequate nutritional status is obesity (6.93%), overweight (26.73%) and under nutrition (4.95%). People with a low daily fiber intake was higher among those with a BMI greater than 25 compared to those with a BMI less than 25 (82.3% vs 61.1% with p=0.03). As the diet becomes stricter, the prevalence of people with low daily vitamin B12 intakes significantly increases: presco/semi-vegetarians (8.23%), lacto-vegetarians (27.05%), vegans (52.94%) ovo-lacto-vegetarians (3.8%) p=0.04. In general, a lack of balance in macronutrient intake (only 18.81% of normal carbohydrate, fat and protein intake) was noted, leading to problems of obesity (abdominal obesity=23.7% Micronutrient intakes were low for the majority of subjects (vitamin B12=84.16%, zinc= 73.27%, calcium= 65.35%) except for iron (32.6%), with normal serum levels except for iron (deficiency=19.5%). Fiber intakes were also low for the majority (68.3%), which has a negative effect on BMI and therefore on nutritional status. The vegetarian diet in this context is therefore related to nutritional problems.