Vegetarianism and Veganism: What are the Effects on Children?

Interest in plant-based diets has increased in recent years. One of the reasons people switch to a vegetarian or vegan diet is to improve their health. Many nutrition guides recommend eating as many plant-based foods as possible.

The effects of plant-based diets have been studied primarily in adults. Vegetarianism and veganism are known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but increase the likelihood of fractures, since plant foods contain little calcium. However, what side effects eliminating entire food groups from the diet may have on children is not well known.

The new study involved 187 healthy children aged 5 to 10. Sixty of them were vegetarians, 50 were vegans, and 70 ate all types of food (the control group). All of them followed the diets for more than a year. To clarify the nature of the diet, parents recorded in detail what their children ate for two weeks.

The study found that children who ate only plant foods had significantly better cardiovascular health indicators (body weight, blood lipid and glucose levels, and more). In particular, a vegan diet was associated with a 25% reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels in the blood compared to meat eaters.

At the same time, surprisingly for the scientists, the children who ate the vegetarian diet had a cardiovascular health profile similar to the children who ate all kinds of food. Compared with the vegans, they had higher levels of fasting glucose, very low-density lipoproteins, and triglycerides in their blood.

“We were initially surprised by this cardiovascular health profile in vegetarian children, but the data on their diet showed that they were eating processed vegetarian foods, which do not have the same levels of fibre and sugar as vegans. We see that simply eating plant foods is not enough, we still need to make healthy food choices,” said Małgorzata Desmond, a professor at University College London and the Memorial Institute of Child Health in Warsaw, and a co-author of the study.

Vegan children were on average 3 centimeters shorter than children with other diets, they were more likely to be deficient in vitamin B12, and their bone mineral content was 4-6% lower.

Scientists note that the vegan diet has less vitamins B12 and D, as well as calcium. This may explain the discovered features of their development. However, the authors of the study believe that these deficiencies can be compensated for by rational use of food supplements with these substances.

The authors write that it is currently unknown whether the problems described (vitamin deficiencies and more, lower bone mineral density and short stature) persist into adulthood and whether they will have an impact on health in the future. More research is needed to determine whether the vegan diet is indeed the cause.