Abstract

PIMENTEL, Daniela; TOMADA, Inês  and  REGO, Carla. Vegetarian diets in the first years of life: considerations and orientations. Acta Port Nutr [online]. 2018, n.14, pp.10-17. ISSN 2183-5985.  https://doi.org/10.21011/apn.2018.1403.

Vegetarian diets, and particularly their stricter version, are associated with increased risks of energy and nutritional deficits at any stage of life. If not well planned, they are inadequate diets for infants, since they can compromise their growth, development, and ripeness. It is determinant to know the suitable recommendations in order to adequate these diets in the first years of life, particularly the proper age to introduce certain types of foods in the diet of infant and child, the taste training, textures, and the family diet. Taking into account the recommendations on food diversification issued by pediatric societies as well as existing knowledge on foods that are part of vegetarian diets, the authors warn to the particularities of these last when practiced by nursing mothers and the infants, and propose a scheme of food diversification, in a context of vegetarianism.

Keywords : Vegetarian diet; Child nutrition; Infant nutrition.

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