Will raising our child on a vegetarian diet put her at a disadvantage?
March 16, 2016 12:47 AM Subscribe
My partner has been involved in a somewhat casual debate on Facebook between herself and another friend who is from a scientific background about whether the fact that a carnivorous diet is best for raising a newborn or not. We'd like to gather some scientific evidence to get to the bottom of this the best we can. Can you help?
Without getting into too much detail, there is a minor disagreement over a certain belief by her friend that children raised on a meat-eating diet gain certain physical and mental developmental advantages to those children who are raised on vegetarian or vegan diets.
What these developmental advantages are, I am not sure. Something something about creatine something something brain size something something.
We asked for more details or scientific papers to back up their claim, but the only thing we've received is a strange article from nature.com which had more anecdotal evidence than anything else.
We have been raising our child (now two years old) as a vegetarian since birth. I am not vegetarian, but my partner is, and there is now some lingering concern that because of our moral decision that we made on behalf of our daughter, we might not have given her the best start possible.
Is there any scientific data or studies (that can be read and/or deciphered by lay people like us) on either side of this debate that could shed some light on this? Whether it's just to confirm that we've done the right thing, or even to change our minds for our next child, we're really interested in knowing what science has to say on this and separate the fact from fiction.
Thank you!
Without getting into too much detail, there is a minor disagreement over a certain belief by her friend that children raised on a meat-eating diet gain certain physical and mental developmental advantages to those children who are raised on vegetarian or vegan diets.
What these developmental advantages are, I am not sure. Something something about creatine something something brain size something something.
We asked for more details or scientific papers to back up their claim, but the only thing we've received is a strange article from nature.com which had more anecdotal evidence than anything else.
We have been raising our child (now two years old) as a vegetarian since birth. I am not vegetarian, but my partner is, and there is now some lingering concern that because of our moral decision that we made on behalf of our daughter, we might not have given her the best start possible.
Is there any scientific data or studies (that can be read and/or deciphered by lay people like us) on either side of this debate that could shed some light on this? Whether it's just to confirm that we've done the right thing, or even to change our minds for our next child, we're really interested in knowing what science has to say on this and separate the fact from fiction.
Thank you!
Mod note: A couple of comments deleted. OP has asked for scientific data or studies, so let's stick to that; thanks.
posted by taz (staff) at 2:42 AM on March 16, 2016
posted by taz (staff) at 2:42 AM on March 16, 2016
Best answer: Nutritional status of vegetarian children
Vegetarian diets and children.
Both of these studies in particular focus on growth and make suggestions for supplements.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:24 AM on March 16, 2016
Vegetarian diets and children.
Both of these studies in particular focus on growth and make suggestions for supplements.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:24 AM on March 16, 2016
There have been a handful of high-profile vegan baby fails involving abuse charges and serious harm to the child via malnutrition in the US in the past few years, which I assume is what your friend is reacting to. Vegetarian babies, especially who drink milk and eat cheese and eggs, are bog-standard normal.
Pediatricians will tell you that with ANY dietary restriction -- whether ethical, religious, allergies, or plain pickiness -- you have to be a little more careful and mindful about nutrition. (For example, pediatricians often recommend iron supplementation for breastfed babies who eat no meat either by preference or for ethical reasons; if they drink formula it's in the formula. And lots of non-vegetarian babies won't eat meat purees when those are introduced, that's pretty normal.) But most of these diets are not incompatible with a child's normal and healthy development.
Here is some AAP guidance, basically "it's fine, be a little careful the more restrictive you are."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:53 AM on March 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
Pediatricians will tell you that with ANY dietary restriction -- whether ethical, religious, allergies, or plain pickiness -- you have to be a little more careful and mindful about nutrition. (For example, pediatricians often recommend iron supplementation for breastfed babies who eat no meat either by preference or for ethical reasons; if they drink formula it's in the formula. And lots of non-vegetarian babies won't eat meat purees when those are introduced, that's pretty normal.) But most of these diets are not incompatible with a child's normal and healthy development.
Here is some AAP guidance, basically "it's fine, be a little careful the more restrictive you are."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:53 AM on March 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
I'm not able to link but the Seventh-day Adventist church has done some studies on this (the church strongly encourages a vegetarian diet). I know I heard a lot of data in support of it, growing up as a vegetarian kid in the 80s.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 4:58 AM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 4:58 AM on March 16, 2016 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you for all the replies so far, including those of you who have memailed :) Just to clarify, we'd also be very interested in reading any information to the contrary - i.e, does being raised eating meat offer *any* advantage whatsoever?
posted by LongDrive at 5:02 AM on March 16, 2016
posted by LongDrive at 5:02 AM on March 16, 2016
My wife and I are vegetarians and we are raising our two children vegetarian. We researched this a bunch when my wife was pregnant with our first child. A lot of the best studies have been done on Asian populations, where the tradition of vegetarianism has been prevalent for longer than it has in the West, and therefore there is better data available.
Here's one (non-free) source.
That study, and the vast majority of other studies we looked at all basically said the same things.
1. It is possible to get every essential nutrient for a healthy infancy, childhood, and adolescence through a vegetarian diet. There are some nutrients (iron is a good example) that are harder to get as a vegetarian, but a well-planned diet can solve that.
2. Also, among parents who are not explicitly designing an ideal nutritional plan for their children and just feeding their kids what they themselves eat, vegetarian children are usually eating closer to the ideal nutritional mix than omnivorous children are.
3. Vegan diets for young children are also possible, but you need to VERY careful in planning them, because if you just feed a child a normal vegan adult diet, they will absolutely not get all the nutrients they need to develop properly.
4. Supplementing with breastmilk for the first year and ideally the second goes a long way towards smoothing over any potential gaps in the diet.
Incidentally, my wife does feed our girls fish about once a week, just to keep her mind at ease that they are getting enough of everything.
posted by 256 at 5:40 AM on March 16, 2016
Here's one (non-free) source.
That study, and the vast majority of other studies we looked at all basically said the same things.
1. It is possible to get every essential nutrient for a healthy infancy, childhood, and adolescence through a vegetarian diet. There are some nutrients (iron is a good example) that are harder to get as a vegetarian, but a well-planned diet can solve that.
2. Also, among parents who are not explicitly designing an ideal nutritional plan for their children and just feeding their kids what they themselves eat, vegetarian children are usually eating closer to the ideal nutritional mix than omnivorous children are.
3. Vegan diets for young children are also possible, but you need to VERY careful in planning them, because if you just feed a child a normal vegan adult diet, they will absolutely not get all the nutrients they need to develop properly.
4. Supplementing with breastmilk for the first year and ideally the second goes a long way towards smoothing over any potential gaps in the diet.
Incidentally, my wife does feed our girls fish about once a week, just to keep her mind at ease that they are getting enough of everything.
posted by 256 at 5:40 AM on March 16, 2016
Scientific data for lay people usually come in the form of a review so that the data are summarized, or, provided as anecdote. Reviews from Nature.com are peer reviewed by experts in the field. Articles on random nutrition-based sites are not and are generally an opinion. Not to say this information would be incorrect but it doesn't undergo scrutiny by other professionals who have been vetted. I wouldn't brush off the Nature article. You could go to Nature.com or other journals to do specific searches. Journal of Nutrition, or, journal of Pediatric Nutrition. I would steer clear of esoteric journals like the Journal of Vegan Nutrition, to avoid a bias. Look in the Nature article references for further reading.
posted by waving at 6:05 AM on March 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by waving at 6:05 AM on March 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
Best answer: One potential issue in finding good sources is that there is no standard Vegetarian diet. A diet can be balanced or unbalanced regardless of whether or not it contains meat. I think a bigger confounder than the variation between a meat or vegetarian diet would be the pickiness of the child. I highly doubt you would be able to find anything that would even come close to accounting for that issue in any study.
posted by koolkat at 6:13 AM on March 16, 2016
posted by koolkat at 6:13 AM on March 16, 2016
Best answer: I'm a mum, vegan-ish vegetarian and have a degree in nutrition (I work as a dietitian). I don't have articles on hand to cite, but the conventional wisdom I was taught during my studies was that lacto-ovo-vegetarianism for kids was generally no problem at all (unless there are specific health issues in play), veganism needs to be carefully planned (and supplemented), and raw foodism is demonstrably unhealthy. I don't know your family, so these are just general thoughts. Of course all kids need to eat a balanced diet and not just cheetos and noodles, but I don't get the impression that that's the case.
My main concern with the average vegetarian kid (and grown up) would be how much theirs is what's sometimes called a "beige diet", consisting mainly of bread and cheese and processed vegetarian food-products. But if the diet is relatively varied, there's fruit and veg and dairy (or enriched vegan alternative), eggs and legumes and healthy fats etc, it would sound fine to me.
You mentioned carnitine. IIRC I've seen it pop up fairly recently in discussions related to autism, I think mainly because there have been claims that supplementation would be beneficial in its treatment (I have no opinion on that, haven't read any scientific studies). I often see laypeople (falsely) extrapolate from illness-specific nutritional advice/hypotheses to what they think everybody should be doing. Maybe that kind of thinking is behind your friend's claims? Let me put it this way: carnitine is not something I would be concerned about when considering a child's lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet. And myself, I would not hesitate to raise toddlers on such a diet (my kids are omnivores, although at home we eat mainly vegetarian).
You also mentioned something about brain size? Whatever that claim is, I'd be really surprised if there was any scientific merit to it. I've heard a theory that eating meat may have contributed to early humans developing the large, complex brains we now all have. I'm not a paleoanthropologist so I can't assess the veracity of that, but anyway, that's all about the evolution of the species, and IMO extrapolating from that to individuals is, well, "not even wrong" as they say. Your kid's a homo sapiens and her brain is as big as it would have been with an omnivorous diet.
But if you continue to have doubts, having a nutritional assessment done by a dietitian might be a way to get some clarity.
posted by sively at 7:27 AM on March 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
My main concern with the average vegetarian kid (and grown up) would be how much theirs is what's sometimes called a "beige diet", consisting mainly of bread and cheese and processed vegetarian food-products. But if the diet is relatively varied, there's fruit and veg and dairy (or enriched vegan alternative), eggs and legumes and healthy fats etc, it would sound fine to me.
You mentioned carnitine. IIRC I've seen it pop up fairly recently in discussions related to autism, I think mainly because there have been claims that supplementation would be beneficial in its treatment (I have no opinion on that, haven't read any scientific studies). I often see laypeople (falsely) extrapolate from illness-specific nutritional advice/hypotheses to what they think everybody should be doing. Maybe that kind of thinking is behind your friend's claims? Let me put it this way: carnitine is not something I would be concerned about when considering a child's lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet. And myself, I would not hesitate to raise toddlers on such a diet (my kids are omnivores, although at home we eat mainly vegetarian).
You also mentioned something about brain size? Whatever that claim is, I'd be really surprised if there was any scientific merit to it. I've heard a theory that eating meat may have contributed to early humans developing the large, complex brains we now all have. I'm not a paleoanthropologist so I can't assess the veracity of that, but anyway, that's all about the evolution of the species, and IMO extrapolating from that to individuals is, well, "not even wrong" as they say. Your kid's a homo sapiens and her brain is as big as it would have been with an omnivorous diet.
But if you continue to have doubts, having a nutritional assessment done by a dietitian might be a way to get some clarity.
posted by sively at 7:27 AM on March 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
This is the American Academy of Pediatrics review, which summarizes any concerns that a pediatrician should address. There aren't many. They point out that most US infants are on lactovegetarian diets, and that toddlers should eat a wide variety of foods including high fat foods and will get enough protein from plant products.
I doubt that any scientific studies will make much impact on your friend, since this is one of those hardcore internet science crank topics, but TL;DR version is that typical infants and toddlers don't eat enough meat for it to make a difference if they are intentionally vegetarian.
posted by sputzie at 8:11 AM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
I doubt that any scientific studies will make much impact on your friend, since this is one of those hardcore internet science crank topics, but TL;DR version is that typical infants and toddlers don't eat enough meat for it to make a difference if they are intentionally vegetarian.
posted by sputzie at 8:11 AM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
Soy milk is no worse for children than cow's milk (and there is preliminary evidence that feeding cow's milk to children is related to the development of type I diabetes. See scientific article here). An infant should either be breast fed or on formula - no kind of milk is a substitute for that. Every container of soy milk states on the packaging it is not to be used as an infant formula. After weaning, there is no nutritional need for any kind of milk whatsoever - not cow's milk, not soy milk, not almond milk (only humans drink milk after weaning). There is a lot of hype about soy being bad, but no evidence.
My daughter became an ethical vegetarian at the age of eight, so I needed to educate myself. If you wish to raise your children as vegetarians, I would look for books rather than articles. There is so much nutritional misinformation online that it's virtually impossible to sort through it. Any basic vegetarian nutrition book will have a chapter on feeding children. I'd recommend Becoming Vegetarian.
posted by FencingGal at 8:26 AM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
My daughter became an ethical vegetarian at the age of eight, so I needed to educate myself. If you wish to raise your children as vegetarians, I would look for books rather than articles. There is so much nutritional misinformation online that it's virtually impossible to sort through it. Any basic vegetarian nutrition book will have a chapter on feeding children. I'd recommend Becoming Vegetarian.
posted by FencingGal at 8:26 AM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
This hopefully should take you to a very recent article in Nature that seems to offer the alternative perspective you mentioned being interested in per your update.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 2:43 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 2:43 PM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
There's a short overview of the evidence in the Australian edition of The Conversation today, here .
posted by yesbut at 5:52 PM on March 16, 2016
posted by yesbut at 5:52 PM on March 16, 2016
does being raised eating meat offer *any* advantage whatsoever?
It makes it much easier to get many nutrients that are found in high levels in meat and very low levels in plants. This advantage can be negated with enough effort designing a diet (though this might be tricky if your kids happen to be picky eaters, or if peer influences become an issue). So it's not insurmountable, but not every vegetarian family is willing or able to put in the extra effort required, so in that situation, eating meat would be an advantage. That said, you're probably still better off than a family who eats mostly meat, refined carbs, etc and little plant material.
Eating an omnivorous (not carnivorous) diet of whole plant and animal foods is the easiest way to get all your nutrients without spending too much time fine-tuning your diet. If you don't mind the extra effort, vegetarian and even vegan diets can be just as nutritious and healthy.
posted by randomnity at 9:27 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
It makes it much easier to get many nutrients that are found in high levels in meat and very low levels in plants. This advantage can be negated with enough effort designing a diet (though this might be tricky if your kids happen to be picky eaters, or if peer influences become an issue). So it's not insurmountable, but not every vegetarian family is willing or able to put in the extra effort required, so in that situation, eating meat would be an advantage. That said, you're probably still better off than a family who eats mostly meat, refined carbs, etc and little plant material.
Eating an omnivorous (not carnivorous) diet of whole plant and animal foods is the easiest way to get all your nutrients without spending too much time fine-tuning your diet. If you don't mind the extra effort, vegetarian and even vegan diets can be just as nutritious and healthy.
posted by randomnity at 9:27 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
Googling "google scholar vegetarian diet infant" brings up scientific articles etc. Some are free some behind a pay wall, abtracts are always free so you can see if it is worth your while. All of them written by scientists. Of course you will still need to separate the chaff from the wheat yourself.
this one here for example seems quite thorough and summarises the most obvious questions.
posted by 15L06 at 1:51 AM on March 16, 2016 [4 favorites]