Author(s): Pawlak Roman, Ding Qin, and Sovyanhadi Marta
Vegetarian diets are associated with lower risk of several chronic health conditions including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and some cancers, compared to western diets. However, vegetarians, especially vegans, are at a high risk for developing some nutrient deficiencies, especially vitamin B12 and iron. These nutrients play critical role in pregnancy and thus may impact fetal development and neonatal birth weight. To date, very few studies assessed birth weight among children born to mothers adhering to vegetarian diets.