SynthesisJournal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition2025
Vegan diet and nutritional status in infants, children and adolescents: A position paper based on a systematic search by the ESPGHAN Nutrition Committee.
Synthesis in Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Health Effects of Plant-Based Diets in People with Overweight or Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
- Vegan diet and nutritional status in infants, children and adolescents: A position paper based on a systematic search by the ESPGHAN Nutrition Committee.Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Vitamin B12 in early childhood: a phenotype-guided approach to deficiency and unexpectedly elevated concentrations.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Review
- Plant-Based Diets in Adolescence: Cardiometabolic Benefits, Developmental Risks, and the Role of Fortification.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Sustainable Plant-Based Diets in Children and Adolescents: Current Evidence on Metabolic Syndrome and Cardiometabolic Health.Current nutrition reports · 2026Review
- Laboratory Monitoring of Nutritional Deficiencies in Children Following Restrictive Diets: A Narrative Review and Risk-Based Considerations.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Inferred vegans in studies not designed to assess vegan status may be largely artifacts.NPJ science of food · 2026Review
- Conditions for Knowledge and Application of Vegetarian/Vegan Diets Among Secondary School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Growth Trajectories in Infants From Families With Plant-Based or Omnivorous Dietary Patterns.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- The First 1000 Days: Maternal Nutrient Intake-A Window of Opportunity for Pulmonary Hypertension-A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Vitamin-B12 status among the mother-infant dyad: an explorative overview in a single centre in Lombardy.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Safety, accuracy, empathy, reliability, and readability of large language model chatbot responses to public-facing vegetarian and vegan nutrition advice questions: a cross-sectional comparative study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Vegan and other plant-based diets are becoming increasingly popular in the paediatric age group. There is limited evidence in the current medical literature to determine whether a vegan diet is adequate for children, since the currently available society position papers are based on narrative reviews and expert opinion. Updated evidence-based recommendations are needed to guide clinical practice. This position paper presents findings from a literature review performed using a systematic search strategy, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. We analyzed the current evidence on the effect of vegan diet compared to omnivorous diet on body growth, nutritional adequacy and laboratory biomarkers in infants, children and adolescents. Observational studies, cohort studies and clinical trials published over the last 15 years in MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library were retrieved. Our position paper aims to update the evidence for or against the adequacy of a vegan diet in infants, children and adolescents and to provide evidence-based recommendations. A total of 10 articles were accepted and included in the final review, providing information on approximately 1500 children following a vegan diet. Several articles assessed more than one outcome: seven addressed body growth, five evaluated nutritional adequacy and five examined laboratory biomarkers. To complement the primary data, three systematic reviews and meta-analyses were also included. Current evidence is inconclusive to determine whether a strictly vegan diet supports normal childhood growth, although no significant differences in height or body mass index z-scores were observed compared to omnivorous peers. We recommend that dietary intake, growth and nutritional status should be regularly monitored in vegan children. Focusing on dietary intakes (e.g., protein, omega-3, calcium and iron) and ensuring supplementation with specific micronutrients, including vitamin B12, is essential during paediatric age when following a strict vegan diet. Clinical research, well-designed prospective studies and high-quality trials are required to address current research gaps.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.