NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenagers often set the trend when it comes to music and fashion. Now, study findings suggest that certain teens are on the cutting edge when it comes to food and health.

According to the report, adolescent vegetarians and semi-vegetarians, who do not consume red meat but eat chicken and fish, tend to consume less fat and more servings of fruits and vegetables than non-vegetarians. This makes the vegetarians and semi-vegetarians more likely than their peers to meet national nutrition goals for 2010.

"Since dietary patterns are learned in childhood and adolescence, this could have important implications for long-term health in terms of preventing chronic diseases such as heart disease and some cancers," Dr. Cheryl L. Perry, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

She said the findings should ease the fears of parents of vegetarians, who may worry that their son or daughter is falling short of certain nutrients. In the study, vegetarians consumed adequate amounts of protein, for instance.

"This study shows that they are forming patterns that are even better than (those of) their peers," said Perry, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

However, the study also found that many vegetarians, mostly females, used their diet to control their food intake. Although vegetarian diets do not lead to eating disorders, doctors might question teenage vegetarians about their eating habits and motivations for following a meatless diet, the researchers suggest.

The findings are based on a survey of nearly more than 4,500 adolescents in Minnesota, aged 11 to 18 years.

Vegetarians were more than twice as likely as meat-eaters to consume less than 30% of their total calories from fat, and nearly three times more likely to consume less than 10% of their calories from saturated fat.

They were also up to two times more likely to eat at least two servings of fruit, and at least three servings of vegetables daily, according to the report in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

What's more, teenage vegetarians consumed less fast food, cholesterol and regular soda and more folate, vitamin A, fiber and iron than their meat-eating peers did. However, they consumed more diet soda and caffeine, and less vitamin B12 than nonvegetarians.

The majority of teens in the study, regardless of their eating habits, fell short of recommendations for calcium. Just 30% of those surveyed consumed the recommended 1,300 milligrams (mg) of calcium daily needed to build bones and prevent osteoporosis later in life. Many adolescents reported avoiding calcium-rich foods as a way to maintain or lose weight.

Still, a vegetarian diet seems to come closer to goals of Healthy People 2010, nutrition and health goals set by federal officials, Perry and colleagues conclude.

"It seems that rather than viewing adolescent vegetarianism as a difficult phase or fad, the dietary pattern could be viewed as a healthy alternative to the traditional American meat-based diet," they write.

The study also found that adolescent vegetarians in the study were more likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies, to report dieting and to have been told by a doctor that they had an eating disorder. They were also more likely to have contemplated or attempted suicide.

In the study, almost half of the students surveyed were white, nearly one-fifth was black and an equal number were Asian. Nearly half of the vegetarians were white, about 27% were Asian and 11% were black. Roughly three quarters of the vegetarians were female.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2002;156:431-437.

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