Vegetarian and Vegan Diets for Children: Are they Adequate?

Annabelle enjoys some vegan soup

The veg-zealots say yes...

There is a great deal of information on raising vegetarian and vegan children through the the Vegetarian Resource Group and PCRM among others, but looking to organizations like these to determine whether or not a veggie diet is safe for children is sort of like asking the Pope if children should be raised in the church. They may be right, and they may not, but you already know what they're going to say. Like many new mothers, I second-guess myself all the time, and a lot of the reading I did during my recent flurry of infant nutrition research made me stop for a second, and question whether or not feeding Annabelle a vegan diet was really a safe and responsible thing to do. I now feel as confident as ever that it is.

But what do the non-zealots say?

Organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Department of Agriculture agree on the safety and adequacy of vegan and vegetarian diets with one important caveat: they must be carefully planned.

The ADA and the AAP: "The American Dietetic Association and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) agree: Well-planned vegetarian and vegan eating patterns are healthy for infants and toddlers.

Time and attention are necessary to make certain young children, vegetarian or not, get all the nutrients they need for normal growth and development." (source)

From Pediatrics in Review (The AAP): "Some people believe that patients following vegan or vegetarian diets suffer from nutritional deficiencies. Although there have been case reports of children failing to thrive or developing cobalamin deficiency on vegan diets, these are rare exceptions. Multiple experts have concluded independently that vegan diets can be followed safely by infants and children without compromise of nutrition or growth and with some notable health benefits." (source)

The USDA "Vegetarian diets can meet all the recommendations for nutrients." (source)

and "The base USDA food patterns can be adapted for use as a guide to healthy eating by those wanting to consume more or only plant-based foods, with limited impacts on nutrient adequacy." (source)

The American Heart Association "Vegetarian diets can be healthful and nutritionally sound if they’re carefully planned to include essential nutrients." (source)

See the sources provided for help in planning, and/or look back at some of my earlier posts on food - and come back throughout the week for more!