Vegetarian Diets in Children—Some Thoughts on Restricted Diets and Allergy

Abstract

Vegetarianism is a common diet worldwide. For a large proportion of people, meat or fish is not available at all or not regularly as a meal. But also in the industrialised countries, vegetarian nutrition is becoming more and more popular for various reasons. Many vegetarian parents also want a suitable diet for their children. But are restrictive diets beneficial or potentially harmful in certain situations, such as a predisposition to severe atopy? Are vegetarian diets equally suitable for pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants, children, and adolescents? What critical nutrients should parents, children, pediatricians, and nutritionists pay particular attention to? This article is focused on questions like these and discusses scientifically based concepts of nutrition. Main findings are that exposure to a variety of food antigens during early life may play a role in the development of healthy eating habits and that restrictive diets have not been found in studies to prevent allergic disease.