ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2009)
"Experts agree that pregnant women can thrive on vegan diets. The American Dietetic Association, the nation's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, states that "well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence." Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat and cholesterol and higher levels of fiber, folate, and cancer-fighting antioxidants and phytochemicals.
'Women who follow vegan diets not only have healthy pregnancies, they are often healthier than moms who consume meat," says Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., staff dietitian with PCRM. "By eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other healthful vegetarian foods and including breakfast cereals or other foods fortified with vitamin B12, mothers and their children can obtain all the nutrients they need to thrive.'
"Experts agree that pregnant women can thrive on vegan diets. The American Dietetic Association, the nation's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, states that "well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence." Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat and cholesterol and higher levels of fiber, folate, and cancer-fighting antioxidants and phytochemicals.
'Women who follow vegan diets not only have healthy pregnancies, they are often healthier than moms who consume meat," says Susan Levin, M.S., R.D., staff dietitian with PCRM. "By eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other healthful vegetarian foods and including breakfast cereals or other foods fortified with vitamin B12, mothers and their children can obtain all the nutrients they need to thrive.'
Choosing a vegetarian or vegan diet can also help women avoid the unhealthy hormones and environmental toxins found in dairy products, meat, and fish. Analyses of vegetarians' breast milk show that the levels of environmental contaminants in milk are much lower than in non-vegetarians.
Vitamin B12 needs can be met easily with fortified breakfast cereals and soymilk, which are low in fat and calories. The most convenient and reliable B12 source is a daily multivitamin."
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An interesting article, sometimes even I myself think that vegetarian/vegan diet is not good enough for a pregnant mother.
There are two major kinds of diets for people who don't consume meat:
1. Ovo-lacto vegetarian don't take meat and seafood, but they still take eggs, milk and dairy products.
2. Vegans go further. They don't take eggs, milk, dairy products and anything that comes from animals.
Vitamin B12:
- Mainly found in: animal products like eggs, meat, poultry, shellfish, milk, and milk products. Yeast and microbes may also produce vitamin B12.
- One of the main concerns of not taking meat, is the lack of vitamin B12.
- Danger! Lack of vitamin B12 in pregnant mothers can cause neural defects to their babies and tiredness or memory loss in normal individuals.
- 1 cup of yoghurt serves 25% of our daily requirements, 1 cup of milk 15%, 1 hard-boiled egg 10%. Of course some meat may contain a higher amounts of vitamin B12.
(U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2003. USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 16. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page, http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl.)
- More details can be found in Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin B12 by National Institutes of Health.
My conclusion is, if not taking egg/dairy products, one has to make careful plannings to substitute the loss of vitamin B12, especially so for pregnant and lactating mothers.
There are two major kinds of diets for people who don't consume meat:
1. Ovo-lacto vegetarian don't take meat and seafood, but they still take eggs, milk and dairy products.
2. Vegans go further. They don't take eggs, milk, dairy products and anything that comes from animals.
Vitamin B12:
- Mainly found in: animal products like eggs, meat, poultry, shellfish, milk, and milk products. Yeast and microbes may also produce vitamin B12.
- One of the main concerns of not taking meat, is the lack of vitamin B12.
- Danger! Lack of vitamin B12 in pregnant mothers can cause neural defects to their babies and tiredness or memory loss in normal individuals.
- 1 cup of yoghurt serves 25% of our daily requirements, 1 cup of milk 15%, 1 hard-boiled egg 10%. Of course some meat may contain a higher amounts of vitamin B12.
(U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. 2003. USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 16. Nutrient Data Laboratory Home Page, http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl.)
- More details can be found in Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin B12 by National Institutes of Health.
My conclusion is, if not taking egg/dairy products, one has to make careful plannings to substitute the loss of vitamin B12, especially so for pregnant and lactating mothers.
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