Meat and dairy products are not essential for a child’s development. Evgenia Gordeeva/Getty Images
Research indicates that infants born into vegan or vegetarian families may initially have slightly lower birth weights. However, by age two, they typically catch up to their omnivorous peers.
Official dietary guidelines suggest: A well-balanced vegan diet, rich in vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and fortified foods, can satisfy nutritional needs. Nonetheless, ensuring adequate nutrition for children’s growth can be challenging on a vegan diet, due to potential protein and amino acid deficiencies.
Small-scale studies have yielded inconsistent results regarding the advantages and disadvantages of a vegan diet for young children. To address these issues comprehensively, Kerem Avital and researchers from Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, Israel, analyzed data from 1.2 million infants recorded at Israel’s National Family Care Center between 2014 and 2023, monitoring growth parameters such as height, weight, and head circumference during their first two years.
The researchers compared these growth metrics to reported dietary habits of parents when the infants reached around six months old. The majority of families identified as omnivorous, while only 1.2% reported as vegetarian and 0.3% as vegan.
This still reflects approximately 18,000 infants in vegetarian and vegan households. “The size of this study is significant enough that even these small percentages represent a substantial number of children, ensuring statistical reliability,” notes Tomer Avnon, a professor at Tel Aviv University who did not participate in the research.
During the first 60 days after birth, growth measurements such as height, head circumference, and overall development were comparable across all dietary groups. However, infants from vegan households were found to be slightly more likely to be underweight. Conversely, being overweight was rare overall but less common among vegan and vegetarian households.
By the time they reached 2 years of age, developmental benchmarks appeared to converge across all three dietary groups. While growth restriction was more prevalent in vegetarian and vegan families, the differences were minor and not statistically significant. Researchers accounted for various influencing factors, such as income, maternal age, and breastfeeding practices.
“The findings are quite encouraging,” stated Avnon. “It provides robust evidence that children of vegetarian and vegan parents can have healthy developmental trajectories.”
The analysis aligns with medical insights that babies born smaller than average typically “catch up” in their growth later, Avnon added. It should reassure parents that a meat-free diet can support healthy early childhood development, although the researchers point out that dietary habits were self-reported by parents, potentially affecting result accuracy. “This study lacks continuous assessments of children’s actual nutritional intake, an important element in long-term development,” he explains.
Zulfikar Bhutta, a researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, expressed concerns regarding the minor growth discrepancies noted among the groups. “The subtle differences in growth may have long-term implications, particularly since other studies indicate that vegan diets could lead to lower bone density and micronutrient levels,” he warned.
He encourages caution against assuming that a vegan or vegetarian diet is universally suitable during early childhood, especially in regions where malnutrition is a critical issue.
While the study was conducted in Israel, Avital believes the findings are applicable to countries with similar economic conditions and healthcare access, such as the United Kingdom. Bhutta advocates for larger studies to capture more precise data on dietary habits and parental characteristics.
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Source: www.newscientist.com
