Vegan for Life (18 page)

 

 

Indian dinner combination including:

 

 

 

 

 

Psychologist and author of
Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows

 

F
amily members, friends, and even your health-care provider might express surprise and concern at the idea of a vegan pregnancy. But vegan diets can easily meet the nutritional needs of you and your growing baby. The proof comes from a 1987 study of 775 women living on the Farm, a vegan community in Tennessee.
¹
The researchers looked at weight gain in pregnant women and birth weights of their babies—two important measures of a healthy pregnancy. They found that the women’s vegan diets had no effect on the birth weights of their babies and that their own weight gain during pregnancy was adequate. In fact, these women actually gained a little bit more than women in the general meat-eating population. And the longer they had been vegan, the better their weight gain.

One other finding was surprising: Preeclampsia, a potential complication of pregnancy that occurs in 5 to 10 percent of pregnant women, was nearly nonexistent among vegan pregnant women living on the Farm. Along with another smaller study, these findings give reassurance that vegan diets are safe and healthy for pregnancy.

In some studies of women following very restrictive diets, particularly macrobiotic diets, infants sometimes had lower birth weights. In these cases, it wasn’t a vegan diet that was to blame. Rather, the diets at issue were too low in fat and calories. It’s important to note that the
findings about poor pregnancy outcomes are from older studies when vegans had less access to nutrition information and a variety of vegan foods. That’s all changed dramatically in the past several decades, and today it’s easier than ever to plan a healthy vegan pregnancy.

Although adequate weight gain is important for a healthy vegan pregnancy, eating for two doesn’t mean eating twice as many calories. On average, pregnant women need an extra 340 calories per day during the second trimester and 450 extra calories during the last three months of pregnancy. But needs for certain nutrients increase by as much as 50 percent, so packing a lot of good nutrition into that little bit of extra food is important.

Pregnant women can follow the vegan food guide in Chapter 7 with just a few adjustments that we’ve shown in the Modified Food Guide for Pregnancy and Breast-feeding on page 140. An added serving each of whole grains and leafy green vegetables and two additional servings of protein-rich foods (legumes, nuts, and soyfoods) will give you needed calories and help meet nutrient needs during the second trimester. During the last trimester, when your baby is growing fastest, add one more serving of either whole grains or legumes/soyfoods.

Calorie-counting during pregnancy isn’t an exact science, but your health-care provider will help you stay on track by monitoring your weight gain. Poor weight gain during pregnancy is associated with low-birth-weight babies, who are at risk for health problems.

The table on page 139 shows changes in nutrient needs for pregnant and nursing women.

Protein needs increase by almost 50 percent in pregnancy. Most non-pregnant omnivore women consume enough protein to meet the
needs of pregnancy, but that may not be true of all vegan women. It isn’t difficult to get enough, but it’s important to make sure you are including at least five to six servings of protein-rich foods from the food guide in your daily menus.

Iron absorption—especially of the nonheme iron found in plant foods—increases significantly during pregnancy while the lack of menstruation reduces iron losses. Even so, iron requirements nearly double during pregnancy. Some of the increased iron requirement is due to the manufacture of red blood cells in the growing fetus, but most of it is needed to support the expansion of the mother’s blood volume during pregnancy. Theoretically, vegans could be at higher risk for iron deficiency in pregnancy, but the truth is that all women are at risk. It’s difficult to plan diets for either vegans or omnivores that meet iron needs of pregnancy. For that reason, iron supplements are almost always recommended for pregnant women.

Pregnant women typically have zinc intakes that are lower than recommendations, unless they are taking supplements. The benefits of zinc supplements in pregnancy aren’t known, but they may be beneficial for pregnant vegans since zinc absorption from plant foods is lower than from meat.

Vitamin D requirements don’t change with pregnancy, but getting enough is important for both the mother’s and baby’s health. With the exception of vitamin B
₁₂
and iron and—depending on your diet—possibly vitamin D and iodine, it is possible to meet all of the nutrient needs of pregnancy on a vegan diet without the use of supplements. But most health professionals recommend a prenatal multivitamin and mineral supplement, particularly one that includes iron and folate, as sensible insurance for both vegan and omnivore women.

Pregnant vegetarians have lower blood levels of DHA (the long-chain omega-3 fatty acid) than pregnant nonvegetarians.
²
We don’t know whether that’s a problem, but there is some evidence that DHA intake during pregnancy and breast-feeding improves visual acuity and brain function in the infant. Experts recommend that pregnant women
consume 300 milligrams of DHA per day, so we recommend DHA algae-derived supplements for vegans.

Here are some tips for a healthy vegan pregnancy:

The rate of breast-feeding is higher among vegan mothers than in the general population. And that’s nice for their babies since breast milk is the ideal food for infants. Ideally, babies should be fed human milk for at least the first year of their lives and preferably throughout the second year as well.

Nursing mothers need extra calories for the process of synthesizing milk and to provide the calories that babies need for growth. Energy needs, therefore, are higher during lactation than in pregnancy. If you have post-pregnancy pounds to drop, a small reduction in calories can usually produce a gradual weight loss while still maintaining adequate milk volume. Don’t decrease calories too much, though, as it can cause the milk supply to decrease as well. Drinking plenty of fluids is also important for producing adequate milk.

Needs for some nutrients go up slightly, so keeping the emphasis on nutrient-rich foods is as important as ever. (One exception is iron: Since breast-feeding women don’t menstruate, iron needs drop to very low levels during lactation.) Diet affects the levels of all of the vitamins in breast milk as well as the type of fat.

The two nutrients that require the most attention in vegan diets are ones that nutrition-savvy vegans are already focusing on—vitamin D and vitamin B
₁₂
. Deficiencies of these nutrients have been seen in babies whose mothers didn’t follow recommended guidelines and they can cause serious problems. Nursing women should consume a daily vitamin B
₁₂
supplement. We also recommend continuing with a DHA supplement since one study showed that the milk of vegan women is lower in this nutrient than that of omnivores.
³

Many women continue with a prenatal supplement for the first few months of breast-feeding (but without the extra iron). And the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends vitamin D supplements for all breast-fed infants (not just those in vegan families).