Science & Research | Original Contribution 98 Ernaehrungs Umschau international | 6/2015 Peer-reviewed | Manuscript received: October 06, 2014 | Revision accepted: March 11, 2015 Vegan diet: motives, approach and duration Initial results of a quantitative sociological study Pamela Kerschke-Risch, Hamburg Introduction Vegans voluntarily choose to fol- low a diet that excludes meat and all other animal products. They are an example of a group which differs from the majority of the population in terms of diet. Up until now there has been no reliable data on the evo- lution in the number of vegans and on their exact proportion of the total population in Germany. The above-mentioned study on the vegan diet, whose data was gathered as part of the project entitled “Ge- schlechtsspeziische Aspekte bei der Lebensmittelwahl” [Gender-Speci- ic Aspects in Food Choice] 1 at the University of Hamburg in July and August 2013, is the irst quantita- tive sociological study of its kind in Germany. In previous quantitative research, such as e. g. the “Oxford Vegetarian Study” [1] or the “Gie- ßener Vegetarierstudie” [Gießen Vege- tarian Study] [2], vegans have only constituted a sub-group, if any at all, and were e. g. labelled as “strict vegetarians”. In contrast to vegeta- rians, vegans have only been per- ceived as an independent group with very strict dietary prescriptions for the last few years [3]; related publi- cations however deal primarily with state of health and nutrient supply [4–8], rather than sociological deter- minants. The data basis of previous studies with sociological questions comprises qualitative interviews [9, 10], whereby in GRUBE [3] an ad- ditional 150 people took part in a written quantitative questionnaire in 1987/88. There are no reliable igures on the evolution of the group of vegans. Estimates in 1983 assumed a vege- tarian proportion of 0.6 % in the for- mer West Germany [3], and in the mid-1990s a proportion between 2 and 3 % [11] or 3.6 % [3] of the en- tire united German population. The proportion of vegans represented only a fraction of these igures, esti- mated at approximately 6–8 %, sug- gesting the likely number of vegans 20 years ago fell between 100,000 and a maximum of 230,000 [3, 11]. However, these igures are probably too high, as according to the Natio- nale Verzehrsstudie II (NVS II) [Na- tional Nutrition Survey II] between November 2005 and January 2007 less than 0.1 % of the German po- pulation is vegan, corresponding to only 80,000 people [12]. However, a survey by the market research agency YouGov [13] showed that the number of vegans in Germany may have risen sharply in recent years. According to their indings, the proportion of vegans in 2014 was approx. 1.5 %, corresponding to approx. 1.2 million people. The increasing interest in a vegan diet is evident in the growing number of newly-published vegan cookery books: only 12 titles in 2011, rising to 50 in 2013 and already at 77 in the third quarter of 2014 [14]. The fact that these books primarily ad- dress issues of health, lifestyle and itness (as evident in most titles), and Summary According to various surveys, the proportion of people following a vegan diet, i.e. people foregoing not only meat and ish but all products of animal origin, has increased in Germany in recent years. This article illustrates the initial descriptive results of a German quantitative sociological study, in which only vegans were questioned via an online survey. The three most important motives for following a vegan diet are reports on factory farming, climate protection and health. Most respondents believe that it is now easier to follow a vegan diet than in the past. More than a third of respondents had followed a vegan diet for more than two years. Key words: vegan diet, quantitative sociological vegan study, dietary behavior Citation: Kerschke-Risch P (2015) Vegan diet: motives, approach and duration. Initial results of a quantitative sociological study. Ernahrungs Umschau 62(6): 98–103 This article is available online: DOI: 10.4455/eu.2015.016 1 The project is supported by the Gleichstel- lungsfonds [Equality Fund] from the Univer- sity of Hamburg and by the Frauenförderfonds [Development Fund for Women] from the WiSo-Faculty. Author’s copy! Any use beyond the limits of copyright law without the consent of the publisher is prohibited and punishable. This applies in particular to duplications, translations, microilming as well as storage and processing in electronic systems.