Cheryl Martin (Host): This is Children's Health Checkup, where we answer parents most common questions about raising healthy and happy kids. Today, we're diving into a topic that's been gaining a lot of attention in recent years; plant based diets for kids. Many parents are considering plant based diets for their families due to the numerous health benefits, associated with eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

But when it comes to growing children, parents often wonder if these diets can provide all the necessary nutrients for proper development. The American Dietetic Association states that appropriately planned vegetarian and vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.

Today, we're discussing how to ensure a plant based diet meets all the nutritional needs of growing kids, the potential benefits and challenges, and tips for making the transition smoothly with our expert, Brittany Smith. She's a Clinical Dietitian for the Weight Management Program at Children's Health. Brittany, delighted to have you on to discuss this important topic.

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: Yes, thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here.

Host: Brittany, first, tell us what a balanced plant based diet consists of.

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: Yeah. So plant based diets, focus on foods that come from plants. Usually the first thing that comes to mind are fruits and vegetables, but plant based diets also include foods such as nuts, seeds, oils, whole grains, legumes, and beans. There's also a spectrum of plant based diets, which gives families many options to be able to follow a plant based diet that will work out for them.

 So, for example, there are vegetarian diets, that may also include eggs or even dairy. There's pescatarian, which includes fish and seafood. Flexitarian includes occasional meat, poultry, fish, or seafood, and then lastly, vegan, includes no animal foods at all. So, like I said, there's lots of options, so families can kind of figure out what works best for them, and be able to follow the plant based diet and get the benefits from it.

Host: So, in your opinion, are plant based diets safe for kids?

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: Yes! I think when plant based diets are appropriately planned, they are suitable for kids, but also for all stages of life. So that includes pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, all the way to adulthood.

Host: So, for infants, starting as early as possible then?

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: Yes, so, whenever infants can start to have, like, solid foods, just focusing on whole grains and fruits and veggies,

Host: So, why might families want to adopt a plant based diet? Talk about the benefits.

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: There are several health benefits to following a plant based diet. They reduce the risk of developing certain health conditions, such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, which is high blood pressure, and it also reduces the risk for certain types of cancer and obesity. Plant based diets can also lower cholesterol levels and can help with blood sugar control, so some other additional benefits.

Host: Brittany, you've talked about the benefits. Are there any downsides or challenges of plant based diets for kids that parents should be mindful of?

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: In my opinion, the biggest downside is that it can take some time to learn how to follow a plant based diet, as well as it could be a challenge to find like restaurants that might accommodate your new diet. It may also mean giving up some of your favorite foods or even some family eating habits and traditions.

 And then I know I mentioned earlier, planning. That could be another downside is it could be time consuming, the time you take to plan to make sure that your diet is nutritionally adequate. Because without proper planning, following a plant based diet could potentially lead to some nutrition deficiencies, that may include vitamin B12, iron, calcium, vitamin D, and omega 3 fatty acids may also be common nutrition deficiencies.

Host: So talk about what that planning would look like when you say they need to plan for this.

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: Sure, that planning is really important. The biggest thing is making sure that they're offering and providing a variety of foods to their kids, just getting various whole grains, different fruits and vegetables, different kinds of like legumes such as beans, peas, lentils, even nuts and seeds.

So just making sure they're getting like a well rounded diet, just to make sure there's no nutritional gaps, in the child's diet. Just to kind of further clarify, foods such as like breakfast cereals and breads are often fortified with those nutrients that can often be missing in plant based diets.

 So making sure they're getting a good variety of those foods. Also your whole grains, nuts and seeds, legumes, those are all great sources of vitamin B12 and iron. Another thing with iron is that if they pair those foods with fruits and vegetables that are high in vitamin C, that will help with the absorption of the iron.

 So it just goes back to making sure they're planning to offer a wide variety of these foods.

Host: Now, what tips can you offer families who are wanting to transition to a plant based diet so it can go as smoothly as possible? And what came to my mind is, what if you have children who really love fast food, for example, and you know, you're not starting off with a plant based diet and so there's some resistance. How do you handle that?

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: This is something that could definitely take some time, to kind of do a gradual transition especially for those kiddos who might prefer their MacDonald's drive thru. And I know I mentioned it could be hard to find foods at, like, a lot of the restaurants that families typically go to.

 One of the biggest tips that I like to start with is by incorporating more vegetables and fruits in their diet. Because a lot of people are not getting enough to begin with, so that's a really good starting point. So, how they do this is they can aim to fill half of their plate with vegetables at lunch and dinner.

 One thing I like to say is eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, so try to enjoy all the colors when choosing fruits and vegetables. They can also have vegetables as a snack, pairing it with hummus, salsa, or even guacamole. And then for fruits, I always say fruit is nature's candy, so make, they make a great snack and also great dessert.

So that's one tip. Another is to, instead of like fully eliminating meat from our diet, they can have smaller amounts of it or even cook one meatless meal a week just to kind of start off with and get more familiar with eating those types of foods.

Host: So, a slow progression. That's a great idea. Now, you mentioned at the very beginning different kind of plant based diets. Do you want to get more into that about when we talk about alternative diets that can offer similar benefits as plant based diets?

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: Yeah, so a lot of the diets that I mentioned early on, such as the various vegetarian diets, like the ovo vegetarian, that's including eggs, and then lacto is, lacto vegetarian includes like dairy products. The pescatarian includes fish and seafood. So all those different options, they kind of give you more flexibility so you can have more foods.

More of these foods might have other nutrients in them too, so that can reduce the risk of some of the nutrition deficiencies that come along with plant based diets, and also give families just more flexibility to work with. In addition to these types of plant based diets, I also, want to bring up the Mediterranean diet, which is very similar, because it does have a plant based foundation.

But also includes fish and seafood as well as low to moderate amounts of poultry, eggs, and dairy. One of the things I do like about the Mediterranean diet is that they limit the consumption of foods like red meats, sugar sweetened beverages, refined grains, and processed foods. So again, just that flexibility, while still offering similar benefits as plant based diets.

Host: So how can parents make sure their kids' nutritional needs are being met on a plant based diet?

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: So one way is to supplement. So supplements definitely play a role here, in ensuring that nutritional needs are being met. Specifically, vitamin B12 supplements, other supplements to kind of be aware of would be iron, calcium, vitamin D, and omega 3 fatty acids. It's a little more challenging to get those nutrients when following a plant based diet.

The other thing is to make sure that parents are offering a wide variety of foods. So there are some plant based foods that have those nutrients in them, it's just a little more challenging. So the biggest thing is to get a wide variety of foods such as whole grains, nuts and seeds, legumes, such as beans, peas, and lentils, and different soy products.

Host: Brittany Smith, thank you for sharing your expertise on plant based diets for kids. Very, very informative. Thanks so much.

Brittany Smith, RD, CDCES: Yes, thanks again for having me.

Host: You can learn more about how to build healthy habits and make lifestyle changes as a family at childrens.com/getupandgo. Thank you for listening to Children's Health Checkup. If you found this podcast helpful, please rate and review or share the episode and please follow Children's Health on your social channels.