Vegetarian diet in pediatrics, an analysis from pediatrics and nutrition
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Abstract
The number of people who decide to start a vegetarian diet has been increasing in recent years due to cultural, family, religious, and individual factors. In most cases, in pediatrics, the parents decide to change their children's usual diet. It is essential to know the benefits and risks of dietary restriction and receive adequate guidance on a meal plan. A complete, sufficient, balanced, and varied meal to avoid the complications that a diet of these characteristics could generate in the health, nutritional status, and comprehensive development of the child when it is not appropriately implemented. Vegetarian diets can be carried out in the pediatric population as long as specialists plan them in pediatrics and pediatric nutrition to include a wide variety of vegetables, fortified foods, and the appropriate micronutrient supplementation according to age. The following review aims to update the scientific literature on the implementation of vegetarian diets in the pediatric population, considering benefits, risks, monitoring, and supplementation.
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