Melbourne: A new study has found that though people on veggie diet maybe healthier than meat-eaters, they are not generally happier.
According to the Alere Wellness Index, vegetarians tend to drink and smoke less and are physically more active than non-vegetarians, but they are also more likely to have mental problems like depression and anxiety disorders.
Dr John Lang, who developed the wellness index made up of scores for nutrition, fitness, smoking, alcohol, psychological wellbeing, body mass and medical conditions, said the adoption of a vegetarian diet can sometimes follow the onset of mental disorders.
The analysis is based on 50,000 surveys a year conducted by Roy Morgan Research, and also shows that vegetarians were less hopeful about the future, with 28 per cent likelier to suffer panic attacks and anxiety disorders, and 18 per cent from depression than the general population.
However, vegetarians do have the highest nutrition scores, with 105.9 points compared to 100.7 points for meat-eaters, and Vegetarian Victoria president Mark Doneddu, who's been on the plant based diet for about 22 years said he's never felt happier.
