Is a vegetarian pregnancy a good idea?
Q. Recently, my wife and I decided to become lacto-vegetarians. We already have a one-year-old daughter, but we want one more baby. Should my wife give up vegetarianism, or at least postpone it for some time? Should she use supplements?
A. Your question is particularly timely in the wake of the recent verdict handed down in Atlanta, in which vegan parents were found guilty of the murder of their six-week-old son, who died of malnutrition. Whether it was the result of ignorance or indifference on the part of the parents, the jury was clearly outraged by the preventable death of a helpless infant.
People choose veganism for a variety of reasons: For many, the choice is dictated by religious, moral, environmental, or ethical convictions. For others, it is a matter of preference or necessity. Of all the arguments for veganism, however, the notion that it is healthier than diets containing animal protein is perhaps the shakiest.
There's no question that the human body is designed to eat animal protein. Then again, as denizens of the 21st century, we do lots of things that run contrary to our biological blueprint. And plenty of studies show that vegetarians are frequently healthier than their meat-eating counterparts. With proper education and some extra effort, healthy adults can thrive on a vegan diet. (For more information on constructing a healthy vegan diet, consult the Vegetarian Resource Group.)
But is veganism healthy for infants? In an editorial for this week's New York Times ("Death by Veganism"), Nina Planck writes:
"I was once a vegan. But well before I became pregnant, I concluded that a vegan pregnancy was irresponsible. You cannot create and nourish a robust baby merely on foods from plants."
A particular concern for pregnant and nursing women and their babies is that they get enough protein, iron, vitamins B-12 and D, calcium and zinc. Essential fatty acids are also critical to proper fetal development and infant growth. These nutrients are all primarily found (in or best absorbed from) foods of animal origin.
It is possible to get all the nutrients needed for human health from plant or synthetic sources, but it requires strict attention to your diet, and usually at least some supplementation or fortified foods. For example, many infants thrive on a fortified soy-based infant formula--but regular soymilk is not an appropriate substitute. Those who feel that supplements or fortified foods aren't "natural," should remember that a vegan diet is also not "natural" for our species.
You mention that you and your wife are lacto-vegetarians, and that's a somewhat different story. Milk contains high-quality protein, vitamin B-12, and is usually fortified with vitamins A and D. Dairy products are not terrific sources of iron or zinc, however. As a nutritionist, I would have far fewer qualms with a pregnant patient or a young child following an lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, containing both eggs and dairy products. Whatever you decide about your own diet, it's very important that you share that information with your obstetrician and pediatrician so that they can counsel you appropriately and monitor your health and the health of your children with that in mind.
Most physicians recommend prenatal vitamins for all pregnant women, in part because of the increased need for certain nutrients during pregnancy. I think a multi-vitamin would be a particularly good idea for pregnant or nursing women who follow vegetarian diets.
The ND community includes a large number of vegetarians, and I'm sure they'll have some thoughts on these issues as well. So let's open up the floor to comments!
Add your thoughts below by clicking on the "Post a Comment" link below.
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Posted by: Jeff Boghosian | May 24, 2007 8:33:38 PM
In regards to making this decision, I'm not sure how much we should use Nina Planck as a reference. She said some really outlandish things in the article, and although on her website she says that she has references, she only quotes a single doctor.
I'm not a dietician, but the leading dietetic orgs in the U.S. and Canada say it's possible to eat a well planned diet during infancy and pregnancy:
"Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence."
from:
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML.htm
And this is another vegan nutrition source:
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/preginfchil
Posted by: Leo Quan | May 24, 2007 10:04:55 PM
More rebuttal in Letter to Editor from whole-food vegan proponent John McDougall:
Posted by: Liv | Mar 14, 2008 7:38:44 PM
I belong to an online vegan community which includes MANY vegan parents who were vegan throughout their pregnancy and feed their children a vegan diet. Their children are all in the 75 percentile and up for height and weight and there are pics to prove it! If anyone has questions about it because they themselves are vegan and want advice, go to www.veganfreaks.net/forum.
Posted by: liv | Mar 14, 2008 7:51:30 PM
Oh and I forgot to mention that these parents weren't even vegans, they were/are(?) raw foodists. They were basically stupid enough to think that ONLY feeding fruits to an infant and growing children would be sufficient. This is not typical of a veggie/vegan diet. OK, I'm done now.
Posted by: arbitary | Apr 10, 2008 10:48:30 AM
Nearly half a billion people in India are lacto-vegetarians. Our babies are healthy and happy. Not just that, we have practically zero incidences of alzheimers, parkinsons and colon/stomach cancer. Meat consumption might give you proteins now but what about 30-40 years of eating meat? Lentils/grains are a great substitute for meat protein.
Posted by: Pregnancy Info | Jul 5, 2008 12:00:39 AM
There's pregnancy info self help visit http://pregnancy.askbowoz.com/
Posted by: Clare | Jul 16, 2008 3:16:12 AM
Really? Eating a vegan diet isn't natural? Because I thought that drinking a bovine's mammary secretions wasn't natural! How stupid I'VE been, thinking that drinking the product of a cow's pregnancy is normal! And wow, not that cooking meat creates carcinogens or anything... Not that milk causes early puberty and obesity! After all, milk is created by a mother to fatten a baby.
Oh, and by the way, I'm sure bunches of other babies from meat eating families die from malnutrition every day. Being vegan is irrelevant to the situation.
Don't trust the woman who wrote this. She is obviously uneducated in veganism, as being vegan is the most natural, beautiful, cruelty-free, and healthy lifestyle available.
Posted by: Clare | Jul 16, 2008 3:17:31 AM
Oh, and by the way, too much calcium (such as the large amounts from milk) actually leeches the protein from bones.
But you didn't know that.
Posted by: Celeste | Aug 3, 2008 11:28:57 PM
The answer to this question shows nothing but ignorance.
Posted by: Emily | Nov 18, 2008 11:44:56 PM
I have to say I disagree with the answer to this question. I am a vegan and I'm 8 months pregnant. I pay very special attention to my diet to maximize my intake of necessary vitamins and minerals and my unborn baby is of normal size & is healthy as far as I know.
Yes a vegan diet can be deficient, but only if the individual is careless, I don't think it is fair to blame the diet because if it is done right it is adequate.
As far as I know the only thing we need that cannot be found within plant sources is B12, so a supplement is needed for that. But everything else, including protein, iron, vitamin D, calcium and zinc are attainable, provided the vegan pays extra special attention to their diet. It is important to focus on what needs to be eaten, not just what's being left out. A responsible vegan knows this & should spend a lot of time researching nutrition, it's just part of being vegan.
I also agree with Clare about the cow's milk. It isn't natural to drink another species breast milk. Nature intended cow's breast milk for calves, not adult humans. And eggs? nature's intention for them is reproduction, not food. I know that prehistoric man did eat meat, we hunted and killed that meat, we did not mass-produce animals for the sole purpose of their death and our convenience. My belief is: why kill something if it is not necessary to do so? Yes it requires more work to be a vegan, but that is a price I for one am willing to pay.
Those parents in Atlanta obviously had no idea about nutrition and it was absolutely disgusting what they did to their baby. A mother's breast milk is best for any infant, but if that is not possible then a baby formula is an absolute must.
I hope nobody assumes that all vegan parents would subject their children to such torture. That couple give all us other vegans a bad name.
Posted by: Ava Odoemena | Jan 9, 2009 2:34:21 PM
After having seen some good advise regarding questions touching the vegan diet, the answer here is something other than competent and shockingly discriminatory, and here are my reasons: 1.) The judge clearly stated that this is not about the vegan diet. 2.) Even if it had been about the vegan diet, it would have been about the vegan diet of _these_ parents with no meaning whatsoever for vegan child nutrition. 3.) The couple wasn't even vegan but these were raw foodists, and every time a "raw baby" get's sick it's subsumed under "veganism". I would assume someone would check this before putting out false defamatory information which discriminates against vegan parents in general. 4.) It's a sad day when a nutritionist cites a known antivegan journalist as a reference to a nutritional question. 5.) The NYT has practically apologized for the statements made in the referenced article and acknowledged them as one-sided and false as well as expressing regret for the known antivegan bias of the past. 6.) Yes, humans are omnivores, and just *because* of that we *can* be vegan. That's an argument *for* veganism, not against it. That we *can* eat everything does not mean we *must* eat everything. 7.) And vegans choose to not eat everything. This is not because someone "dictates" it, but because we are realizing how absurd it is to use animals in any way at all given that we know for sure these days, that the abilities and properties of animals are not much different from. This shouldn't even come as a great surprise to anyone, given that biologically, the homo sapiens *is* an animal. 8.) It's very sad when people abuse their authority to push personal bias, as was clearly the case here. I really think the vegan community deserves an apology from nutritiondata.com or from Monica for the breathtaking misrepresentation and discriminatory statements conducted by Monica in this matter. Obviously there are no plans to do this, given how much time has passed since this blog entry. That neither nutritiondata.com nor Monica have the spine to face to their error puts a bad light to both. I'm very disappointed.
Posted by: Patrick | Apr 11, 2009 11:07:48 PM
What an incredibly ignorant (in the real meaning of the word) response by Nutrition Data. If this is the level of knowledge possessed by those in charge of replies, one can only assume they have absolutely no nutritional knowledge, or more possibly the site is funded by meat/dairy industry adverts etc!
As several replies above have shown, veganism is a perfectly healthy way to live and bring up children. While websites such as this continue to pour forth unqualified lies as fact, many readers will go away believing they must feed their children an unhealthy and damaging diet of dairy/meat. Thankfully, in this case enough educated individuals have presented a more honest view.
