Past adult studies have shown that vegetarian and vegan diets can reduce the risk of heart disease, but the risk of fracture is higher because of low calcium intake. But before a new study was released, there was no evaluation on the impact of vegetarian diet on children.
The researchers found that vegetarian children are shorter and have lower bone mineral content than meat eaters. But they didn't prove that vegan diet caused this difference. Nor can they say that this difference will last into adulthood.
A paper published in Clinical Nutrition investigated the differences between children aged 5 to 10 in Poland. The researchers studied 65,438+087 healthy children from 2065,438+04 to 2065,438+06. Their diet has been maintained for at least one year: 72 children are omnivores (meat eaters), 63 are quasi-vegetarians and 52 are vegans.
The research team observed the nutritional intake, body composition and cardiovascular risk of these children-how likely they are to have a heart attack or stroke in the future.
The study was observational, so the researchers didn't make any changes to the children's diet. They recruited children who had already eaten these foods and checked their diet, growth and cardiovascular risk factors at specific time points.
The research team ensured that children in vegan and semi-vegetarian groups were similar to those in omnivorous groups in influencing growth and cardiovascular risk factors. These factors include gender, age, whether parents smoke, parents' educational level, clinical characteristics of mother's pregnancy, and more importantly, parents' height.
What did the researchers find?
The researchers found that compared with children with omnivorous diet, children with vegan diet had healthier cardiovascular risk, and the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, unhealthy cholesterol) decreased by 25%.
However, vegan children are at increased risk of malnutrition. Their diets are more likely to lack vitamin B 12, calcium, vitamin D and iron.
Children who eat vegan food have a low bone mineral content of 5%, and their average height is 3 cm shorter. This is important because the higher the mineral content of bone, the higher the bone density. This 5% difference is worrying, because people only have limited time to optimize bone density at this age; 95% of bone mass is achieved around the age of 20. Lower bone mineral density is associated with higher fracture incidence in the future.
Compared with meat eaters and vegans, the nutritional deficiency of quasi-vegetarians is not so obvious, but unexpectedly, their cardiovascular risk is not so high. The author of the study attributed this to the low-quality diet, and these children ate more processed food.
Problems in the inference of this study
Observation and research can only tell us whether something is related, but can't tell us whether one thing will lead to another. This study just tells us that there is a connection between these diets and the results they see. But in this study, there is a seemingly reasonable biological connection between bone development and children's growth.
Calcium, vitamin D and protein are necessary for bone development and growth. These nutrients may be low in the diet of vegans because they mainly come from animal products: dairy products contain calcium; Vitamin D, which we usually get through skin exposure to the sun, also exists in animal food, but in small quantities.
Protein in plant food is considered to have lower biological value than protein from animals. A single source of plant protein can't provide all the essential amino acids you need (to build a protein that your body can't make by itself). Vegetarians need to make sure that they eat all kinds of plants so that they can get a good mixture of all essential amino acids.
So why don't researchers intervene to change children's diets?
First of all, it is difficult to find children and family members who are willing to change their eating habits for a long time. Secondly, it is immoral to let children eat a diet that may affect their growth and cardiovascular risk factors. This study in Poland is the only one that focuses on the growth and cardiovascular outcomes of vegan and semi-vegetarian children.
A small study on children aged 5 to 10 is not enough for the scientific community to say that these results are valid, and more investigation actions must be taken. But it does provide clues to potential problems and places we can pay attention to. As the researchers pointed out, different countries need more observation and research.
So, what does this study mean for children who eat vegan and quasi-vegetarian foods?
This does not mean that every child who follows these diets will have the advantages or disadvantages of these nutrition and health. We can't say whether these problems will last into adulthood. But it does highlight the potential risks that health practitioners and parents need to pay attention to. This is also a reminder, either to find a suitable substitute that conforms to the concept of family diet, or to diagnose deficiency through blood test and prescribe supplements. In particular, parents and caregivers need to pay attention to their children's intake of protein from various vegan sources (beans, lentils, nuts) and calcium (plant milk supplemented with calcium).
Whether you are a strict vegetarian, a quasi-vegetarian or a meat eater, you need to ensure a balanced diet. This study also reminds us to minimize our family members' intake of processed foods high in salt, sugar and saturated fat, which are risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
This study emphasizes the importance of optimizing the meal plan. Children who eat food and nutrition are usually vegans or ordinary vegetarians, and need to use fortified food and/or diet regularly to supplement vitamin B 12, vitamin D and potential calcium and iron, especially vegetarians.
A key message is that families who follow a plant-based diet need more advice and support to optimize their food and nutrition intake and their children's diet-related health and well-being.