Initially, vegetarian diets were followed by followers of religions like Jainism, Buddhism and some Hindus, but in recent years there have been other reasons that have contributed to increasing the number of followers of these diets.
- For reasons of health.
- For environmental conservation ideas as plant food production is more environmentally friendly animal production.
- Out of respect for animal life.
For whatever reason, the number of people who describe themselves as vegetarian has increased in recent years and up to 5% of people in England, Germany and Australia say they are vegetarians. In the U.S. a 1985 study indicated that there were 6.6 million people rose to 12.4 vegetarian million in 1995. (more…)