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ARE VEGAN DIETS SAFE FOR BABIES?

Around 3.5million people living in the UK are vegan – the equivalent of around seven per cent of the population, according to estimates.

And, as the diet has surged in popularity, more mothers are choosing to make their baby a vegan.

The NHS says babies and young children on a vegetarian or vegan diet can get the energy and most of the nutrients they need to grow and develop.

However, the plant-based diet is known to be low in key nutrients for babies, such as vitamin B12 - found milk and eggs, iron, calcium and zinc.

A vitamin B12 deficiency is a rare and treatable cause of failure to thrive and delayed development in infants, researchers wrote in the journal Pediatrics.

It can also lead to malnutrition and ‘irreversible damage’ to their nervous systems, experts at University College London once concluded.

An iron deficiency can hinder a child from gaining weight, affect their appetite and energy and can lead to anaemia, which can be life-threatening in severe cases.

Consuming too little protein can lead to stunted growth, nutritionists have warned over the years. But beans, lentils and chickpeas are high in the nutrient.

And eating too much fibre can cause children to feel full quicker and stop them from getting enough food, paediatric dietitian Lucy Upton told the Mail in March.

Two senior lecturers in nutrition at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Shirley Hinde and Ruth Fairchild, said the diet was ‘less than ideal’ for babies.

However, writing in The Conversation they added it is ‘not out of the question’ that the diet could be healthy for a baby.

And they claimed there is ‘no reason’ why a baby couldn’t survive on a vegan diet that was varied in many nutrients, if their parents were sensible.

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