By Janice Billingsley,HealthSCOUT Reporter

SUNDAY, Sept. 24 (HealthSCOUT) -- A survey of vegetarians in England finds that while many consider themselves robustly healthy, they tend to be less sociable than meat eaters.

Though "this is a survey and is not in any way empirical research, it's kind of interesting, nonetheless," says psychologist and nutritionist David Lewis. He analyzed the results of a telephone marketing survey of vegetarians and meat eaters.

The survey was conducted for Linda McCartney Foods, a vegetarian food company started by the wife of Beatle Paul McCartney. Participants included 500 vegetarians and 500 meat eaters, ages 18 to 66, with each group equally divided by gender. The vegetarians were chosen from membership lists of vegetarian magazines and The Vegetarian Society in England. Approximately 80 percent had been vegetarians for at least six years.

The survey focused on how the two groups perceived themselves in terms of health, state of mind and overall well being. Lewis says the results showed the vegetarians felt healthier than the meat eaters, but meat eaters generally were more sociable.

Forty-two percent of the vegetarians described themselves as being "in robust good health almost all the time," compared with only 29 percent of the meat eaters, Lewis says. Fifty two percent of the vegetarians said they felt "reasonably fit," compared with 59 percent of the meat eaters, while 5 percent of vegetarians and 9 percent of the meat eaters described themselves in poor health.

However, on sociability, 59 percent of meat eaters described themselves has having a "wide circle of friends and enjoying meeting people," compared with 48 percent of the vegetarians.

Both groups claimed to be generally cheerful and optimistic -- 80 percent of the vegetarians and 76 percent of the meat eaters.

Lewis says vegetarians may feel healthier because they pay more attention to food.

"Vegetarians are more informed about health issues, more aware of food, which may lead to a greater sense of psychological confidence in yourself," he says.

Lewis, who is a vegetarian, says he is "not evangelical" about a non-meat diet, but says people should pay more attention to what they eat.

"People should take note of what goes into their mouths. We [in England] have a very bad diet -- too much fat, and refined products," he says.

"You can be healthy on a vegetarian diet and also on one that contains meat," says Tammy Baker, an Arizona nutritionist and spokesman for the American Dietetic Association. "It's not that one is better than the other, but that the composition of the diet is healthy."

(From HealthSCOUT)