Pregnant vegans at higher risk of developing preeclampsia: study

By Jim Leffman via SWNS

Vegan women run a higher risk of developing life-threatening preeclampsia and having underweight babies.

A new study showed that pregnant vegans were more likely to develop pre-eclampsia, a complication characterized by high blood pressure and their babies were on average 240 grams lighter.

For their study, published in the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, researchers from the University of Copenhagen and others looked at 66,739 pregnant women.

Of these, 65,872 women identified themselves as omnivorous, 666 as fish/poultry vegetarians, 183 as vegetarians, and 18 as vegans.

Based on a questionnaire completed mid-pregnancy, investigators found that protein intake was lower among vegetarians (13.3 percent) and vegans (10.4 percent) compared with omnivorous participants (15.4 percent).

Micronutrient intake was also much lower among vegans, but when dietary supplements were considered, no major differences were observed.

As the study was observational they couldn't say that being vegan was the reason for their findings but there was a strong correlation.

Lead author Signe Hedegaard said: "The number of people adhering to plant-based diets has been increasing dramatically in recent years, fueled by both environmental and animal welfare concerns.

"Beneficial or possible adverse consequences of such diets, particularly the
most restrictive forms during pregnancy, have been minimally explored.

"The aim of this prospective observational study was to examine associations between different forms of plant-based diets during pregnancy with birth outcomes and pregnancy complications."

She added: "Those who reported to adhere to vegan diets had offspring with a significantly lower mean birth weight, a higher prevalence of being small for gestational age compared with omnivorous women.

"The prevalence of preeclampsia was also higher.

"Low protein intake might be one plausible explanation for the observed association with birth weight

“Further research is needed regarding possible causality between plant-based diets and pregnancy and birth outcomes, to strengthen the basis for dietary recommendations."