Are plant based diets healthy for kids?

Some parents and carers are concerned about whether it’s safe and healthy to feed children or babies a vegan diet. This apprehension is often heightened by news headlines that condemn plant-based eating as unhealthy and unethical for kids. Many tabloids have linked plant-based diets to negative health consequences and even the deaths of children. But these result from carers failing to provide essential nutrients – veganism itself is not to blame.

Plant-based diets can be both safe and healthy for kids. Like all parents, vegan or not, research and planning meals appropriately helps children thrive. 

This article summarises what health experts say about vegan diets for children, and the risks of not providing essential nutrients. And, gives tips for planning a healthy, nutritionally complete, plant-based diet from pregnancy through to early childhood. 

Do health organizations approve of vegan diets for children?

It does take effort to raise a child, and no less a vegan child. 

Leading health organizations — such as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (ESPGHAN), and the NHS in the UK — advise that appropriately planned vegan diets are safe, healthy, and support normal growth and development in children.

Is a vegan diet safe for kids? What are the health risks?

The health risks of a vegan diet for children only occur if someone fails to plan it appropriatel or neglect to provide adequate nutrients such as B12, Vit D and Iron. 

Nutritional deficiencies

One Finnish study looked at the nutritional intake of young children with a median age of 3.5 years, six of whom were vegan. Researchers reported that the plant-based kids had lower levels of vitamin A and DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid) than the meat-eating children. They also noted that parents of vegan kids should give “special attention” to vitamin D intake. The omnivore and vegan children’s B12 levels were the same, while vegan kids had higher fiber and folate intake. Further, cholesterol levels (total, LDL, and HDL) were “significantly lower” in vegans than omnivores.

Other studies suggest that vegan kids may become deficient if their diet is nutritionally inadequate.  Generally, concerns lie around ensuring adequate amounts of protein, iron, iodine, zinc, calcium, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids.