Mothers with vegan diets also have higher rates of preeclampsia<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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WEDNESDAY, Jan. 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Women adhering to vegan diets during pregnancy have offspring with lower mean birth weight than omnivorous mothers, according to a study published online Jan. 24 in\u00a0Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica<\/em>.<\/p>\n Signe Hedegaard, M.D., from the\u00a0Juliane Marie Centre at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues examined associations of different forms of plant-based diets during pregnancy with birth outcomes and pregnancy complications. The analysis included 100,413 pregnancies to 91,381 women in Denmark from 1996 to 2002.<\/p>\n The researchers found that 1.0 percent identified as fish\/poultry vegetarians, 0.3 percent as lacto\/ovo-vegetarians, and 0.03 percent as vegans. Compared with omnivorous participants, protein intake was lower among lacto\/ovo-vegetarians (13.3 percent) and vegans (10.4 percent). Vegans had lower intake of micronutrients, although when dietary supplements were taken into consideration, no major differences persisted. Vegan mothers had a higher prevalence of preeclampsia, and their offspring had on average \u00e2\u0088\u0092240-g lower birth weight.<\/p>\n “Women adhering to vegan diets during pregnancy had offspring with lower mean birth weight compared to omnivorous mothers,” the authors write. “Further research is needed regarding possible causality between plant-based diets and pregnancy and birth outcomes to strengthen the basis for dietary recommendations.”<\/p>\n