IJCS | Volume 32, Nº6, November / December 2019

627 Table 1 - General characteristics of the study population Variables n (%) Type of diet Vegetarian 56 (58.3) Omnivore 40 (41.7) Sex Male 36 (37.5) Female 60 (62.5) Educational attainment Completed high school 9 (9) Some superior education 21 (22) Superior or postgraduate education 66 (69) Smoker Yes 4 (4) No 91 (96) Marital status With a partner 54 (56) Without a partner 42 (44) Physical activity Active 53 (55) Inactive 43 (45) Age (years) (m ± DP) 33.5 + 7.2 BMI (kg/m 2 ) (median (1 st Q – 3 rd Q); 22.7 (21.3 – 25.0)* * BMI: body mass index; 1 st Q: first quartile; 3 rd Q: third quartile. Pimentel et al. Nutritional status and vegetarians Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2019;32(6):623-634 Original Article To identify possible differences in life style between vegetarians and omnivores, categorical variables, physical activity data, sleeping hours number of meals, smoking habit and use of vitaminwere compared between the two groups using the chi-square test (Table 4). The use of vitamins and dietary supplements was more frequent among vegetarians than omnivores (48.1% vs 20.5%, p = 0.012). Also, although not statistically significant, the practice of exercise was more frequent in vegetarians than in omnivores (64.3%vs 42.5%, p = 0.056). Comparisons of anthropometric and biochemical variables are summarized in Table 5. No statistically differences were found for age, sex, smoking habits, practice of physical activity, sleeping hours, number of meals per day, TC, LDL-c and TC. However, significant differences were found between the groups for WC (p = 0.003), BMI (p < 0.001), use of vitamins and supplements (p = 0.012), glycemia (p = 0.004), body weight (p = 0.038), insulin (p = 0.035) and HDL-c (p = 0.008). Although statistically differences were found for anthropometric and biochemical variables between the groups, mean BMI, and glucose and HDL-c levels are within recommended ranges. To increase the power of the analysis, the variables were then categorized into normal and altered (reference values described inMethods). Thus, statistically significant differences between vegetarians and omnivores were found for WC (p = 0.004), BMI (p = 0.002) and HDL-c (p = 0.034) (Table 6). Discussion In the present study, we found that the use of vitamins and supplements is significantly higher among vegetarians than omnivores (48.1% vs 20.5%, p = 0.012) and, although not statistically significant, a higher number of vegetarians are physically active compared with non-vegetarians. The percentages of individuals with BMI, WC and HDL-c within normal ranges were also higher among vegetarians, indicating lower cardiovascular risk in this group. Althoughmean glucose levels were found within normal ranges in both groups, the lower values in the vegetarian group suggests higher insulin sensitivity. While 8.9% of vegetarians showed an alteredWC, this percentage was nearly four times greater in omnivores (35%).