杏吧原创

Children raised on a vegetarian diet are nearly twice as likely to be underweight as those who eat meat, a study suggests. Most vegetarian children are a healthy weight, however, with no nutritional deficiencies.

at St. Michael鈥檚 Hospital of Unity Health Toronto and his colleagues looked at nearly 9000 Canadian children aged between 6 months and 8 years old, with an average age of 2. The researchers measured the children鈥檚 height and weight, and analysed blood samples for levels of various nutrients, as part of a .

About 6 per cent of the vegetarian children were classed as underweight, compared with around 3 per cent of the meat eaters. This was defined as having a body mass index 鈥� a measure of weight relative to height 鈥� that was more than two standard deviations below the group鈥檚 average for their age.

The meat-eating children were slightly more likely to be classed as overweight. However, this wasn鈥檛 statistically significant and therefore the difference may have arisen by chance.

The vegetarian children were also no more likely to be deficient in iron or vitamin D, nutrients found in meat and dairy products, respectively, than their meat-eating counterparts.

As a relatively small proportion of the children were underweight, and the study found no other health issues linked with being vegetarian, the findings should reassure parents that this is generally a safe diet, says Maguire.

For a few children, however, not eating meat may make it harder to take in sufficient calories.

鈥淐hildren are picky,鈥� says Maguire. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e already struggling with gaining weight and we put something on top that makes it a little bit more difficult to get calories, it may tip the balance in a way that鈥檚 not favourable.鈥�

If parents are worried about their child鈥檚 weight, they should discuss it with their family doctor, says , a dietitian in Exeter in the UK, who is a spokesperson for the .

The study would have been more informative if it had assessed the quality of the children鈥檚 diets, says Phillips. 鈥淎 vegetarian diet, like a meat-eating diet, can vary massively, from a balanced diet to one that isn鈥檛 so healthy,鈥� she says.

The researchers also didn鈥檛 analyse whether the children鈥檚 parents ate meat or if they were vegetarian for religious reasons.