When I was born I had Jaundice, and after numerous attempts to cure my Jaundice, it still persisted. Eventually, it was revealed that one of the supplements my mother was taking was the cause of my condition, and after she stopped taking it, my Jaundice cleared up. This story reminds me of the important effects a mother’s diet has on her child, both during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. One population of women that should especially monitor this is vegans. With veganism being increasingly popular today, I think it is worth examining how eliminating animal products from a mother’s diet can affect her child.
Contrary to my own experience, vegan mothers should likely supplement their diet during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. Specifically, vegans should optimize their diet and supplementation for vitamin D, choline, calcium, iron, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids. These nutrients are often found in animal-derived foods, and a lack of them can result in numerous complications during pregnancy. Some of the most severe complications include permanent organ malfunction due to the fetus having iron-deficient tissues, or neural abnormalities due to a lack of choline, which is linked to stem cell proliferation during development. These negative effects are the extremes, but they illustrate that vegan women must take extra nutritional precautions.
These complications aren’t to say that veganism is necessarily bad for fetal development; with proper supplementation, it may have some benefits. Vegan diets have been shown to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes, hypertension, and prevent mothers from gaining an unhealthy amount of weight during pregnancy. Some studies even suggest that children of vegan mothers have higher IQ scores, however, the evidence is not clear on this and it could be a correlation rather than a causation.
With so many new diet trends and social media gurus, medical providers and scientists must help the public cut through the nonsense and showcase the evidence. This is especially evident when pregnant women are taken into account, as poor advice could affect not only their health but also their children’s development. Veganism mothers should be advised that with careful supplementation and diet structure, they can maintain their non-animal product lifestyles and have a healthy baby.
Source
Palma, O., Jallah, J. K., Mahakalkar, M. G., & Mendhe, D. M. (2023). The Effects of Vegan Diet on Fetus and Maternal Health: A Review. Cureus, 15(10), e47971. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.47971
I always wondered about the supplementation of diet ever since the concept of instant food pills came around in comic books. I wonder if we can add these vitamin supplements in spices and or find ways to add them into very common foods that are vegan friendly such as salads. I wonder what supplement your mother was taking that caused jaundice or if it was an issue of the supplement being too much in general while pregnant. Either ways, although it may have been a scary experience for your mother, it was an exciting story to read and could be a funny thing to look at in retrospective as long as no underlying symptoms remain.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story! Its interesting to see the debate between which diets are more beneficial for us. I found it interesting to see how supplements can vary significantly based on the mothers current diet or lifestyle. Do you think it would be efficient or appropriate to incorporate these necessary supplements through our whole ingredients or supplements? This article states great alternatives to supplements within athletes. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12970-017-0192-9). Could the same be said for expecting mothers?
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