Do vegan diets make kids shorter and weaker?

By

Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director, Nutrition and Food Science, University of South Australia; and Clare Collins, Award Winner, Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle

Adelaide / Callaghan, Australia, June 12 (The Conversation) Diets that exclude meat and fish (vegetarian) or all animal products including dairy and eggs (vegan) are growing in popularity for health, environmental and ethical reasons.

Previous research in adults has linked vegetarian and vegan diets to a lower risk of heart disease but a higher risk of fractures caused by low calcium intake. However, the effects on children were not assessed until a new study was published this week.

The researchers found a link between smaller body size and lower bone mineral content in vegan children compared to meat-eaters. But they didn’t show that vegan diets made all the difference. Nor can you say that the differences will persist into adulthood.

How was the study conducted?

The paper, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, examined the differences in children aged five to ten years in Poland.

Between 2014 and 2016, they examined 187 healthy children who had been on their respective diets for at least a year: 72 children were omnivores (carnivores), 63 vegetarians and 52 vegans.

The research team looked at the children’s nutrient intake, body composition, and cardiovascular risk – how likely it is to have heart disease or a stroke in the future.

The study was an observational study, so the researchers made no changes to the children’s diets. They recruited children who already ate these diets.

Specifically, it was a kind of observational study called a cross-sectional study. They looked at the children’s diet, growth, and cardiovascular risk factors at a given point in time.

The research team made sure that the children in the vegan and vegetarian groups were similar to children in the omnivorous group in terms of factors affecting growth and cardiovascular risk factors. These include gender, age, parents’ smoking, parenting upbringing, clinical characteristics of the mother’s pregnancy and, most importantly, the height of the parents.

What did the researchers find out?

The researchers found that compared to children on an omnivorous diet, children on a vegan diet had a healthier cardiovascular risk profile with a 25 percent lower level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or unhealthy cholesterol).

However, the vegan children had an increased risk of malnutrition. They were more likely to have lower levels of vitamin B12, calcium, vitamin D, and iron in their diet.

Children on a vegan diet had about 5 percent less bone minerals and were, on average, 3 cm shorter. This is important because the higher the bone mineral content, the higher the bone mineral density.

This 5 percent difference is worrying given that people of this age have limited time to optimize their bone mineral density; 95% of the bone mass is reached by the age of about 20 years. Lower bone densities are associated with higher fracture rates later in life.

Compared to meat eaters and vegans, vegetarians showed less pronounced nutritional deficiencies, but unexpectedly a less favorable cardiovascular risk profile. The authors attributed this to poor diets as these children ate more processed foods.

Are there any problems with your studies?

Observational studies can only tell us whether something is related, not whether one thing caused the other. This study just tells us that there is a link between these diets and the results they looked at.

But in this study there are plausible biological links between bone development and growth in children.

Calcium, vitamin D and protein are crucial for bone development and bone growth. These nutrients can be lower in a vegan diet, as they mainly come from animal products:

-Calcium is found in dairy products

-Vitamin D, which we normally get on our skin from sun exposure, is also found in animal foods, but in smaller amounts

-Protein from plant foods is considered to be of lower biological value than animal sources.

A single plant-based protein source won’t give you all of the essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein your body can’t make itself) you need. Vegans need to make sure that they are eating a variety of plants so that they can get a good mix of all the essential amino acids.

So why didn’t the researchers conduct an intervention study and change the children’s diet?

First, it would be difficult to find children and their families willing to change their diet over a long period of time.

Second, it would be unethical to put children on a diet that may affect their growth and cardiovascular risk factors.

This study, conducted in Poland, is the only one examining growth and cardiovascular outcomes in vegan and vegetarian children.

A small study in children, ages five to ten, is not enough for the scientific community to say these results are valid, and we need to respond.

But it gives us clues about possible problems and what to look out for.

As the researchers suggested, more observational studies are needed, in different countries.

What does it mean for children who follow a vegan and vegetarian diet?

This does not mean that every child who follows these diets will experience these nutritional and health benefits or problems. Nor can we say whether these problems will persist into adulthood.

But it highlights potential risks that doctors and parents need to be aware of. And it’s a reminder to either find a suitable replacement that fits the family’s nutritional philosophy or to prescribe nutritional supplements if a deficiency is diagnosed through a blood test.

Parents and carers in particular need to ensure that their children maintain a good intake of protein from a variety of vegan sources (beans, lentils, nuts) and calcium (from calcium-supplemented plant milk).

Regardless of whether you are vegan, vegetarian or meat-eating, you still need to make sure that the diet is balanced across all food groups.

The study is also a reminder to minimize your family’s intake of processed foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fat, which are risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

If you are concerned about your children’s nutrition, speak to your family doctor or a recognized nutritionist who can assess their growth and diet. – Evangeline Mantzioris.

Blind peer review

The reviewer gave a precise assessment of the research paper.

The study highlights the importance of meal planning in optimizing the food and nutrient intake of children whose normal diet is vegan or vegetarian, and the need for regular use of fortified foods and / or supplements with vitamins B12 and vitamin D and possibly calcium and iron. especially for vegans.

However, the results of the study may represent a “best case scenario” as most of the participating families were highly educated and therefore likely to be more invested in planning family dinners. It is possible that other families may have less healthy eating habits and therefore have greater nutritional deficiencies.

Along with the results highlighted by the reviewer on bone mineral content and size, and iron and cholesterol levels, this study confirms both the potential risks and benefits associated with a vegan and vegetarian diet in children.

A key message is that families following a plant-based diet need more advice and support to optimize their food and nutrient intake and the nutritional health and wellbeing of their children. – Clare Collins. (The conversation)

NSA

Disclaimer: – This story was not edited by Outlook staff and is automatically generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI

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source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/do-vegan-diets-make-kids-shorter-and-weaker/