New research suggests most vegans and vegetarians return to eating red meat.
The research was conducted by Psychologist Hal Herzog, who was working to explain why her 31-year-old daughter returned to meat after maintaining veganism since the age of 13, according to a press release.
"The proportion of true vegetarians and vegans in the United State is surprisingly small. Only about 2 [percent] of respondents did not consume any meat - 1.5 [percent] was vegetarians and 0.5 [percent] were vegans. These finding are generally consistent with other studies," Herzog said.
The recent study found five out of six people who give up meat eventually go back to their carnivorous ways. Eighty-six percent of the vegetarians looked at in the study went back to eating meat while only 70 percent of vegans did.
The study also found vegetarians and vegans tend to be politically liberal while meat-eaters were more likely to be conservative. Women were more likely to be either a past or present meat-avoider and were also more likely to be concerned about animal rights issues. When liberal individuals who had given up meat went back to their old ways they tended to become politically closer to conservatives.
The study found people most often gave up meat for reasons such as "taste, concern for animals, feelings of disgust, social justice, and religious beliefs," according to the news release. Herzog said her daughter gave up animal products in the first place because of a desire to be different (they lived in a community that was made of nearly 100 percent carnivores).
The study showed 29 percent of ex-vegetarians and vegans believed they had experienced health-related symptoms while they were on the meat-free diet. Additionally, 37 percent of ex-vegetarians and vegans believed they would one day go back to their past lifestyle.
The findings were published in a recent edition of Psychology Today.
