Should children be vegetarian?

Ms. Dao Thi Huong Nam's child grows healthily with a vegetarian diet with a variety of foods (photo provided by the character)

A varied diet of vegetables

For the past two years, Dao Thi Huong Nam (born in 1996) and her husband in Thanh Giang commune (Thanh Mien) have been vegetarians. Previously working in the medical field, she aimed for a natural lifestyle, eating vegetarian, using natural products to help protect her health. In 2021, she and her husband switched to vegetarianism. During her pregnancy, she supplemented with many healthy vegetarian foods. When she was born, the baby weighed 3.2 kg. Now, her child is almost 1 year old, and her husband and wife feed her a completely vegan diet according to the whole family's diet, with a daily menu including cereals, nut milk, vegetable juice, fruits, beans of organic origin... She said that her child currently sleeps through the night from around 7:30 pm the night before to 8-9 am the next morning, and takes a 3-hour nap at noon. From about 9 months old, the child has learned to speak. Recently, my child had otitis media. When I took him for a health check-up, the blood test showed that his indicators were relatively good, consistent with normal development in young children.

"Having worked in the medical field before, I know what the body needs to develop healthily. I apply a vegetarian diet for my child with a variety of foods. My child eats and sleeps on time, communicates and moves well," Ms. Nam shared.

Like Ms. Nam, Ms. Bui Thi Huong (born in 1994, in Thanh An commune, Thanh Ha) has been a vegetarian for more than ten years and has also fed her child a vegetarian diet since childhood. When the child was 2.5 years old, the family sent the child to school, ate with friends in class, and at home the child mainly ate vegetarian. Ms. Huong regularly supplements her child with nuts such as cashews, pumpkin seeds, almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts, nut milk, smoothies, and fruit juices. Ms. Huong's child learned to speak early and walked at 11 months old. The child knows many songs, actively communicates and chats with grandparents, parents, and friends, likes to run, ride bicycles, and exercise...

"After many years of being a vegetarian, I have found the right way to eat vegetarian to have good health and apply it to my child. I see that my child develops at the right age, with good mental and physical health," Ms. Huong shared.

How to eat properly?

For many years, Ms. LTT's family (born in 1986, in Viet Hoa ward, Hai Duong city) has been following a diet low in meat and fish, and high in vegetables, tubers, and fruits. At noon, her husband and children eat lunch at school and the company, and in the evening she mainly cooks vegetarian dishes. Ms. T. said: "I find this way of eating suitable for my family, my husband and I feel much lighter than before when we ate too much meat and fish, and our children develop well and are healthy."

According to Dr. Le Thi Xue, Head of the Department of Nutrition - Dietetics, Hai Duong General Hospital, in principle, the diet needs to be diverse and balanced in terms of foods and ingredients. This includes both animal protein and vegetable protein to supplement the missing amino acids in the body, enhance the role of protein, and limit the production of factors that are harmful to health. The nutritional role of protein is very important for the growing body of children. If children's diets do not contain enough protein, they will gain weight slowly, lose weight, and in the long run, lead to malnutrition, reduced resistance, and susceptibility to infectious diseases.

According to the doctor, there are many forms of vegetarianism, but the important thing is how to feed children vegetarianism, and whether they eat a variety of foods. If children are vegetarian in a reasonable way, it still provides enough nutrients for their development. Many people think that vegetarianism means completely eliminating foods of animal origin such as meat, fish, eggs, milk, etc. These are foods rich in protein. If you completely eliminate foods of animal origin, there will not be enough nutrients for children to develop healthily. However, in fact, protein is also found in nuts, fruits, vegetables, etc.

At the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, there have been no children hospitalized due to improper vegetarianism, but there have been many adult patients hospitalized due to this problem. They mainly suffer from digestive and bone and joint diseases, and many cases have gradual muscle atrophy due to long-term vegetarianism and improper exercise regimen.

“In my opinion, whether or not to let children eat vegetarian food is up to parents to decide and choose. If parents want to let their children eat vegetarian food, they need to create a reasonable diet, diversifying foods to ensure enough protein and necessary nutrients, and at the same time encourage children to increase physical activity to develop healthily,” concluded Dr. Le Thi Xue.

PEACEFUL