A lot of vegetables and fruits are considered healthy, but a vegan diet can harm children too? Vegans forgo animal products such as meat, fish, milk, eggs and honey. About 1.3 million Germans living vegan. The tendency is rising. The parents are Vegan, they feed mostly their children without animal products. A vegan diet is responsibly towards animals. However, you may harm children. The German nutrition society rejects the vegan diet in children:
“For Pregnant women, lactating women, infants, children and young people a vegan diet, the DGE is not recommended.”
Some vitamins and nutrients are found only in animal products: Vitamin B12 is essential for the development of the brain and nervous system, is one of them. Also zinc, iron and calcium can occur in a purely plant-based diet. The German “VeChi”study, commissioned by the Federal Ministry of food and agriculture, determines data to a vegan and vegetarian diet in children. First results show that Growth retardation and nutrient deficiency effects of a vegan diet can be in children. Been studied 364 children aged one to three years. Ten percent of the vegan are malnourished and six per cent of the vegetarian-fed children were too small for her age. The results are due to the low number of participants is not representative, to underline, however, the opinion of many experts. Extensive results of the study should be available by 2020.
Sources: German society for nutrition e. V., Vegetarian and Vegan Children Study
