Knowledge of health professionals about vegetarian diets: integrative review

Abstract

Objective: To assess studies on the knowledge of health professionals regarding vegetarian diets. Methods: This integrative review was conducted from November to December 2020 and updated in January 2022 in 5 databases and the gray literature. Two investigators performed the article selection. The inclusion criteria were scientific articles with any study design that addressed the intended topic with no date or language limitation. Results: Eleven studies were included. The main common finding was that health professionals, except dietitians, were not satisfied with the available nutritional information in general, not only regarding vegetarian diets. Despite this gap, half of the studies showed a positive view by professionals concerning the vegetarian diet.Conclusions: Many professionals do not feel confident about encouraging a vegetarian diet since they do not know the details of its benefits and risks.