According to a new study in the pediatric journal, vegetarian-fed children tend to get the same levels of important nutrients as meat eaters. However, researchers have found that vegetable children have a slightly higher risk of underweight, emphasizing the need for careful consideration and planning when it comes to feeding children.
“Plant-based dietary patterns are recognized as healthy dietary patterns due to increased intake of fruits, vegetables, fiber, whole grains, and reduced saturated fat,” said research author Dr. Jonaton Magwire. Stated in a statement. “But few studies have evaluated the effects of vegetarian diets on a child’s growth and nutritional status.”
To investigate, researchers analyzed data from 8,907 Canadian children aged 6 months to 8 years, collected between 2008 and 2019. With meat consumption.
Blood samples revealed that vegetarian children have the same levels of vitamin D, iron, and cholesterol as children eating meat-containing diets. Given that meat is one of the major sources of iron in children’s diets, such findings were surprising to researchers.
At the same time, the data showed that about 6% of vegetarian children were classified as underweight, compared to only 3% of meat eaters. While this two-fold increase in risk of developing a low body mass index (BMI) is clearly a concern, Maguire argued that “vegetarian diet seems appropriate to most children.” Overall, he states, “Children on a vegetarian diet had similar growth and nutritional biochemical measurements compared to children on a non-vegetarian diet.” increase.
Interestingly, previous studies have shown that vegetarian children tend to be taller than meat-eating children, but herbivorous participants in this analysis were omnivorous by age three years. It turned out to be slightly shorter than the participants. However, the height difference between the two groups was too small to be considered clinically significant.
In interpreting these findings, note that it is difficult to draw broad conclusions about the nutritional value of vegetarian dietary patterns, as the authors of the study have not examined the actual content of each child’s diet. Is important. Anyway, Maguire explained that “vegetarian diet is associated with high odds of underweight and emphasizes the need for careful dietary planning for underweight children when considering vegetarian diet.” ..
Based on these observations, researchers encourage parents and caregivers to seek guidance and education from their health care providers before deciding whether to feed their child with meat.
