Massive Israeli Study Finds Vegan Babies Grow Just Fine by Age 2
As plant-based eating moves from lifestyle choice to mainstream habit, one worry keeps resurfacing in pediatric offices: Will infants raised in vegan or vegetarian homes grow as well as kids who eat everything? A sweeping Israeli study tracking nearly 1.2 million infants suggests they will—so long as diets are planned carefully and families get sound guidance.
Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Israeli Health Ministry’s Nutrition Division examined 10 years of child health records from 2014 to 2023. The ministry’s monitoring system covers about 70% of children in Israel, giving the team an unusually large window into weight, length, and head circumference from birth through age 2. The findings were published last week in JAMA Network Open.
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Across the board, children from vegan and vegetarian households followed growth patterns that closely matched omnivorous peers by toddlerhood. Differences in average measures were small enough to be considered clinically minor, and they narrowed further when researchers accounted for birth weight.
One early flag did appear: infants in vegan households were more likely to be underweight in the first 60 days of life. Yet that gap faded over time and was no longer statistically meaningful by 24 months. By age 2, stunting rates were low in every group—3.1% for omnivores, 3.4% for vegetarians, and 3.9% for vegans—with no meaningful differences in odds.
“In the context of developed countries, these findings are highly reassuring,” said Kerem Avital, lead researcher and PhD candidate at Ben-Gurion University. “The data suggests that with the proper environment, plant-based diets do not compromise the fundamental physical development of infants.”
The researchers stressed a familiar bottom line: planning and nutritional counseling matter, especially during pregnancy and infancy.
