Debate of paediatric nutrition specialists about the advantages and disadvantages of vegetarian diets among children.
Dr. Malgorzata Desmond, author of the first medical study on the impact of vegan-vegetarian diets on children’s health, will be present at the conference as Guest Speaker.
Dr. Amalia Arhire, Kilostop Jr clinic, Dr. Elena Tambrea, Dr. Konrad Szallos Farkas are also on the list of nutrition specialists attending the conference.
Vegetarian diets are on the rise, even among children. Although parents think they feed them healthily, recent studies show that such nutrition is not enough to support adequate growth and a harmonious and healthy development of children.
The results of these studies will be debated during a new INOVALIMENT conference, organized by the Scientific Senate of Dan Voiculescu Foundation, in partnership with the Kilostop Junior Clinic.
The event is part of the series of conferences with general public within INOVALIMENT program and will take place on September 23, 2022 starting at 4 PM.
“We are facing nowadays a growing trend of plant-based diets and scientists have been challenged to investigate the nutritional outcomes of children following vegetarian diets and the effects of early vegetarian diets on future adult development. We will start the debate from two recent studies that identify a healthy cardiovascular profile and a risk of nutritional imbalance“, said Lăcrămioara Frăsineanu, Project Manager, the Scientific Senate.
Research studies related to early vegan-vegetarian diets
A study published in 2021 in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition was conducted by UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, UK and Children’s Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland. It will highlight an optimal cardiovascular profile for children with a vegan diet, but also an increased risk of nutritional deficiencies and the development of the bone system of vegan-vegetarian children. The study was conducted on a batch of 187 children for 6 years
Another study published in 2022 in the journal Paediatrics was conducted by researchers at St Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health in Toronto, on a batch of 9,000 children aged 6 months to 8 years. This study did not identify large differences between diets, but only a risk of underweight, underlining the need for expert advice when parents plan the diets of vegetarian children. The cohort study and data were collected between 2008 and 2019.
“The US Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, for example, states that well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets are appropriate for all stages of life, including pregnancy and childhood.
The German Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine also took a generally positive stance in a 2019 paper on vegan-vegetarian diets for children and adolescents, stating that “the nutritional needs of growing children and adolescents can be generally satisfied by a plant-based balance. Plant-based diets are recommended, provided that, throughout their duration, children are monitored by a paediatrician, and the diet also includes food supplements”.