Many people turn to a vegetarian diet for health, environmental, or economic reasons. Statistics indicate that more than 1.5 billion people around the world do not eat meat, and scientific studies confirm that vegetarians are actually 32% less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases. However, this diet It may pose health risks and complications for women of childbearing age, if not under the supervision of a doctor and careful follow-up, especially since pregnant women need more nutrients such as protein, iron, folic acid, iodine, and choline, as well as calcium, potassium, and vitamin D.
Potential concerns
According to a recent international study examining maternal health before and after pregnancy, more than 90% of those planning to become pregnant suffer from a deficiency in essential nutrients available in meat, fish, and dairy products. The study suggests that this percentage will continue to rise with the increasing popularity of vegetarian diets, especially among women. Which affects the health of pregnant women and their children.
In the study, which was published in the journal “Plus Medicine” in December 2023, researchers from the British University of Southampton and the National University of Singapore followed more than 1,700 women planning pregnancy, and living in high-income countries, including Britain, New Zealand, and Singapore, and the average age of the participants was 28 years old, and blood tests revealed a noticeable decrease in essential vitamins in their bodies, and the study indicated that 9 out of 10 women lack these elements, which include folic acid, riboflavin, vitamin B6, B12, and vitamin D.
Vegetarian diet and nutritional challenges
Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Southampton, and the lead researcher of the study, Dr. Keith Godfrey, says that almost every woman planning to become pregnant has insufficient levels of one or more vitamins, which confirms that the problem of undernutrition is no longer limited to poor countries alone, but also includes countries with low income. The high one.
According to Godfrey, this is due to policies that promote plant-based food options to achieve the goal of net zero carbon emissions, and Godfrey advises any woman planning to become pregnant to eat a healthy, balanced, high-quality diet and supplement it with nutritional supplements.
Professor Xiao Ying Chan from the University of Singapore, one of the study participants, pointed out that the continued movement towards modern diets and pressure to reduce dependence on meat and dairy products would affect future generations and the well-being of unborn children, because the health of the mother is linked to the health of the mother. The child and his physical development throughout life.
Catherine Souder, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado, agrees, stressing that following a healthy, balanced diet and choosing reliable nutritional supplements are essential for the health of the mother and child and avoiding many health risks.
Souder refuses to rely entirely on nutritional supplements, because according to a study conducted and published by the American Journal of Nutrition 2023, one vitamin out of 20,000 vitamins available on the market provides pregnant women with the ideal doses of nutrients.
Elements lacking in a vegetarian diet
Despite these results, a vegetarian diet can be healthy during pregnancy, as confirmed by official data issued by the American Dietetic Association, but it stipulated good follow-up with a nutritionist and careful monitoring to ensure compensation for possible deficiencies in nutrients such as:
Vitamin B12: Vegetarian diets are largely devoid of it, and its deficiency increases problems of miscarriage, premature birth, gestational diabetes, and congenital malformations of the fetus.
Vitamin D: Inadequate levels lead to an increased risk of preeclampsia and low birth weight.
Iron: Non-heme iron found in plant foods is not easily absorbed by the body, unlike heme iron found in animal feed.
iodine: Iodine deficiency affects brain development and predicts low verbal intelligence and poor reading ability in children as young as 8 years old. The main dietary sources of iodine are dairy products and seafood.
Omega 3: A vegetarian diet promotes low levels of omega-3 acids in the blood, which are essential for the development of the fetus’s eyes, brain, and nervous system.
Zinc: Zinc levels decrease in vegetarians due to the difficulty of absorbing plant zinc in the body, and its deficiency is one of the causes of premature birth and prolonged labor.
CholinePlant foods contain very small amounts of it, which is an essential element for the growth of the fetus’s nervous system and preventing spinal deformities.
Protein: Protein is available in a vegetarian diet but is difficult to digest, which increases a pregnant woman’s need for animal protein.
Nutrition and pregnancy
Besides phytonutrients, vegetables, whole grains and fresh fruits, a pregnant woman needs:
Dairy products: It is a reliable food source of calcium necessary for fetal bone growth, and is available in milk, yogurt and cheese.
sea food: It provides the pregnant woman with the omega-3 she needs. It is recommended to eat fresh fish such as salmon, anchovies, and sardines, and avoid smoked fish. As it may cause listeria (a foodborne bacterial infection), fish high in mercury, such as shark, king mackerel, marlin, swordfish, and tilefish, should also be avoided.
eggs: One egg contains about 71 calories and 3.6 of protein and fat. It is also an important source of choline, as the egg contains 147 milligrams (pregnant women need 450 milligrams daily).
Meat: Chicken and beef are rich sources of protein and iron that pregnant women need.
Healthy fats and oils: It is at the forefront of dietary warnings during pregnancy, but nutrition experts do not recommend abandoning it completely because it helps in the development of the fetus’s brain (6 teaspoons per day are recommended), and only vegetable oils such as olive, canola or safflower oil should be relied upon.