Plant-based infant growth study
A large Israeli cohort of over a million infants found vegan and plant-based diets did not stunt infant growth, offering reassurance for families choosing alternative infant diets reported. The study suggests acute nutritional concerns should be driven by clinical signs rather than diet labels alone.
The retrospective cohort analysed 1,198,818 singleton infants born between Jan 1, 2014, and Dec 31, 2023 with follow-up to 24 months reported). Household diet distribution in the dataset was 98.5% omnivorous, 1.2% vegetarian, and 0.3% vegan documented). The study set infant length as the primary outcome and also tracked weight, head circumference, stunting (length‑for‑age z < −2), underweight (weight‑for‑length z < −2), and overweight (weight‑for‑length z > 2), with family diet recorded at least six months after delivery specified). Infants from vegan households showed a modestly higher adjusted odds of early underweight (adjusted odds ratio 1.37; 95% CI, 1.15–1.63), a difference that the authors reported diminished by 24 months of age reported). Lead investigators from Ben‑Gurion University and the Israeli Ministry of Health noted the findings were “reassuring in the context of developed countries” but called explicitly for studies on vegan diet quality and the role of antenatal and infancy nutritional counselling stated). The authors flagged key limitations including the study’s retrospective observational design, potential exposure misclassification because family diet was recorded postnatally at ~6 months, and the small absolute number of vegan households (0.3%) which constrains power for rare adverse outcomes acknowledged).
