A new study has found that four-fifths of the people in the United States who opt to embark on a vegetarian diet eventually return to be meat eaters, with many of them within just months.
The revelation was made in a report prepared by animal advocacy group Humane Research Council (HRC) and Harris International.
According to the HRC data, a whopping 84 percent of vegetarians and vegans return to the non-vegetarian diet and opt for meats or any other animal products.
The study further highlights half of the vegetarians who switch to meat eating do so within a year’s time, while and more than a third in just three months.
For the three year-study, the researchers involved 11,000 Americans and tried to find out the factors that led them to become a vegetarian or a vegan.
Notably, both vegetarians and vegans choose not to eat meat. The only difference is vegetarians continue consuming dairy products and eggs in some cases, but vegans completely avoid all animal products.
During the study, the researchers found that only two percent said that they don’t eat meat at all, but 88 percent said they have never opted for becoming vegetarians or vegans. While of the 12 percent participants who have tried a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, five out of six participants were found returning to eating meat at some point.
HRC Executive Director Che Green said, “It’s obviously a negative for animals.”
Acknowledging the findings of the study, the HRC said that it provided “some potentially disappointing but illuminating conclusions”.
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