Food costs in vegetarian, vegan and omnivore diets of children and adolescents - Results of the cross-sectional VeChi Youth Study

Purpose: The aim was to analyse total food costs (€/day, €/1000kcal) and the impact of food groups to total food costs among vegetarian, vegan and omnivore children and adolescents in Germany. Methods: : Based on 390 three-day weighed dietary records of 6-18-year-old children and adolescents of the VeChi Youth Study, total daily food costs and food group costs (both €/day, €/1000kcal) of a vegetarian (n=145 study participants), vegan (n=110) and omnivore (n=135) diet were calculated. Minimum retail prices of 1,000 empirically selected foods reported in the dietary records were linked to individual food intakes. Group differences were analysed using ANCOVA. For food groups with a high number of non-consumers, Kruskal-Wallis tests were performed. Results: : Vegans had the highest energy adjusted total food costs at 2.98 €/1000kcal, vegetarians the lowest at 2.52 €/1000 kcal. Omnivores also had significantly higher costs than vegetarians with 2.83 €/1000 kcal (p=0.01) but total costs did not differ significantly between omnivores and vegans (€/d and €/1000 kcal). Compared to vegetarians vegans had significantly higher daily expenditures (€/day) on fruit (p=0.0003), vegetables (p=0.006), dairy alternatives (p=0.0003) and legumes/nuts (p=0.0003). Expenditure on starchy foods was significantly higher in vegetarian or vegan than in omnivore diets (p=0.0003). Omnivores spent a quarter of total food costs on animal source foods (25%), which is equivalent to the sum of food costs for legumes/nuts, dairy alternatives, meat alternatives in vegans and additionally dairy in vegetarians. Conclusion: In the VeChi Youth Study a vegetarian diet pattern was the least expensive compared to an omnivore diet pattern, and food costs of a vegan pattern are comparable with an omnivore pattern.