What Are the Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet?
Lack of a balanced diet in a pregnancy or lactation phase leads to the issue of lower birth weight or preterm birth results.
This commonly happens in vegetarian diets when most pregnant mothers are picky about the foods they consume and are restricted in calories and nutrients. This is in opposition to those individuals during pregnancy and lactation who have a chat or consultation with their healthcare provider or nutritionist who can give them a well-planned vegan diet, accommodating their nutrition schedule per the individual's requirements. Nutrition research shows several health benefits that the woman and the developing fetus can gain during this sensitive period of pregnancy and lactation. Keeping in mind the nutritional needs of both the mother and the child, maternal and child nutrition experts advise the correct patterns of following plant-rich vegan diets, which would have the following benefits:
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It can be protective against the development of preeclampsia.
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It can prevent pregravid obesity.
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There would be a significantly minimized risk to the exposure of genotoxic agents.
The onset of several pediatric diseases would be prevented during pregnancy by preventing pediatric wheezing, gestational diabetes, neural tube defects, orofacial clefts, and pediatric tumors.
What Foods are Included in Vegan Diet?
Vegan diets that are nutrient-dense and rich sources of vitamins and minerals that would play an important role during this phase usually comprise these foods:
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Grains.
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Legumes (including soy and soy derivatives).
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Fresh fruits and vegetables.
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Green leafy vegetables.
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Nuts and seeds.
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Legumes.
How to Plan a Vegan Diet?
Concerns about vegan diets have always been a debate amongst many individuals who do not know about the benefits of well-planned diets by their healthcare providers. Be it meeting the requirements during pregnancy, breastfeeding, infancy, or early childhood. The healthcare provider or nutritionist has a major role in interacting with and helping to have a suitable diet pattern of vegan food that can provide apt nutrition, prevent congenital disabilities, and promote maternal and child health.
These are the common recommendations taken into account while deciding on a diet pattern during pregnancy and lactation:
Vegetable Fats: First, the amount of vegetable fats in the diet should be limited as suggested by the dietary reference intake suggested by various health experts. It is important to know what kind of vegetable fats one can consume that should include foods that are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, including monounsaturated oils. Trans fats should be avoided during this period.
Calcium and Vitamin D: The focus should be on obtaining adequate amounts of calcium and adequate amounts of vitamin D. These are important status indicators in pregnant and lactating women that can significantly boost their immunity. Doctors usually encourage the inclusion of dietary calcium sources from plant-based diets or dairy products. Conversely, because any diet would yield only limited amounts of vitamin D, the recommendations for vitamin D are minimal to moderate. Exposure to sunlight and supplementation is only needed if suggested by the healthcare provider.
Vitamin B12: There should be an adequate amount of vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 status is often compromised in a purely vegetarian diet, so one can ask their healthcare provider or nutritionist regarding potential supplementation if needed.
Protein: Protein intake should ideally be recommended by all nutritionists during pregnancy, especially in vegetarian diets. There should be a 10 % increase in vegan proteins that need to be consumed by pregnant and lactating women. In addition, adequate servings of grains or incorporating protein-rich plant foods like legumes, soy milk, soy yogurt, tofu, tempeh, vegetarian meat analogs derived from wheat or soy protein, nuts, and seeds should be included in the daily diet. This is more important during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. This also gives the mother an immunity boost to meet the body's increased nutritional demands for breastfeeding the infant.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: There are numerous sources of vegan omega-3 fatty acids ranging from grounded flax seeds to cold-pressed flaxseed oils. Similarly, ground chia seeds and walnuts can also provide a good amount of omega-3 fatty acids. One serving of omega-3-rich foods in a day can yield upto 2.5 g (gram) of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which is important during pregnancy and lactation. Health experts also discourage the use of certain seed oils higher in omega-6 fatty acids or trans fats. For example, like margarine, tropical oils like coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil are very rich in saturated fat. So these should be avoided or strongly limited in this phase.
Micronutrients: Green leafy vegetables should be consumed, in fact, almost daily, along with fruit portions that can yield vitamin C, vitamin K, folic acid, and beta carotene, which are good for the pregnant and lactating. If there is an inadequacy in the intake of essential micronutrients in restrictive vegan diets, then there would be a possibility of malnutrition in both the mother and the infant.
Iron: Regular consumption of iron or supplementation with iron, as advised by the healthcare provider,obstetrician or gynecologist, is essential for a woman during this phase and should be encouraged. Even the cooking practices and food preparation techniques should be such that iron absorption is more. Some nutrition experts encourage the consumption of Wheat germ and herbs like dried thyme that have good iron content in small volumes.
Conclusion
Vegan diets can meet nutrient requirements during these dynamic phases of pregnancy and lactation. During this period, it is important to derive critical nutrients like protein, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, vitamin D, and calcium through a healthy diet. It would be ideal to consult or plan the diet with an obstetrician, gynecologist, physician, or nutritionist so that well-planned vegan diets can assure maternal and child health.
