this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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Plant-Based Diets Can Be Healthy for Children, Major Review Finds (vegnews.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by Sunshine@piefed.ca to c/publichealth@mander.xyz
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[โ€“] protist@mander.xyz 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Regarding physical growth and body composition, lacto-ovo-vegetarian children had significantly lower height and weight than omnivores, while vegan children were on average slightly shorter.

Well that's certainly something. Reading the actual study, it seems like it takes significantly more work to ensure a child on a vegan diet receives enough vitamins B12 & D, calcium, and bioavailable iron.

Evidence on bone health in children adhering to plant-based diets remains limited. Among the few studies available on lacto-ovo-vegetarian children, lower bone mineral content has been observed, while findings on bone turnover markers, such as CTX-I, have been inconsistent. For vegan children, pooled analyses could not be conducted due to a lack of data.

This is the only outright advantage of a plant-based diet cited by the researchers:

Finally, a relevant advantage of plant-based diets in children is a more favorable cardiovascular risk profile. Our meta-analysis found significantly lower total and LDL cholesterol levels in lacto-ovo-vegetarian and vegan children compared to omnivores, likely reflecting higher fiber intake and lower consumption of SFA and cholesterol (Desmond, Fewtrell, and Wells Citation2024). However, HDL cholesterol was also lower. This pattern, commonly observed in adults on low-fat diets, may result from reduced SFA intake and possibly lower endogenous cholesterol synthesis