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[...] Researchers found children who had a vegetarian diet had similar mean body mass index (BMI), height, iron, vitamin D, and cholesterol levels compared to those who consumed meat. The findings showed evidence that children with a vegetarian diet had almost two-fold higher odds of having underweight, which is defined as below the third percentile for BMI. There was no evidence of an association with overweight or obesity.
Underweight is an indicator of undernutrition, and may be a sign that the quality of the child's diet is not meeting the child's nutritional needs to support normal growth. For children who eat a vegetarian diet, the researchers emphasized access to healthcare providers who can provide growth monitoring, education and guidance to support their growth and nutrition.
[...] A limitation of the study is that researchers did not assess the quality of the vegetarian diets. The researchers note that vegetarian diets come in many forms and the quality of the individual diet may be quite important to growth and nutritional outcomes. The authors say further research is needed to examine the quality of vegetarian diets in childhood, as well as growth and nutrition outcomes among children following a vegan diet, which excludes meat and animal derived products such as dairy, egg, and honey.
Journal Reference:
Laura J. Elliott et al. Vegetarian Diet, Growth, and Nutrition in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Cohort Study [open] Pediatrics 2022
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2021-052598
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Thursday May 05 2022, @07:55AM (6 children)
The enzyme [wikipedia.org] required, to digest milk, is produced by the human body on a "use it or lose it" basis. As long as you keep drinking milk, your body keeps producing the enzyme. If you stop drinking milk for some time, your body stops producing the enzyme. Anecdotally, I never stopped drinking milk, and I have no problem digesting it.
Looking at the above Wikipedia article, it appears that lactose-free milk is milk with said enzyme added, which breaks down the lactose in the milk, before you consume it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 05 2022, @10:34AM (5 children)
People who are descended from herding cultures usually have the enzyme. That's mostly Europeans, Middle Easterners, some Central Asians and some North and East Africans. East and South Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and Sub-Saharan Africans usually don't.
So you are probably descended from those people. Even so, it's not a guarantee: I know a guy who is mainly of Irish descent and he is lactose-intolerant. (And no, he didn't quit drinking milk first, he quit drinking milk afterward).
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Thursday May 05 2022, @11:24AM (3 children)
I would assume that most humans have the enzyme during infancy, as (human) milk is the only thing that they can consume at that age. People from non-herding cultures may stop drinking milk at a very young age, losing the enzyme then, while people from cultures where cattle milk is readily available, may only stop drinking milk when they want to prove that they have grown up, switching to "grown-up" beverages, such as coffee, losing the enzyme at that time.
The wikipedia article on lactase seems to confirm this: "Humans are born with high levels of lactase expression. In most of the world's population, lactase transcription is down-regulated after weaning". This implies that if one is never weaned, they maintain those high levels of lactase expression. There is however, the mutation of "lactase persistence", coinciding with the rise of cattle domestication, which allows "almost half of the world's population to metabolize lactose without symptoms", presumably even after weaning.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 05 2022, @12:26PM (1 child)
weaning doesn't influence it.
people who do not have the mutation stop producing lactase around age 4-5, independently of milk intake. most recently I read this in a chapter on the evolution of humans, in a recent book (which I trust over wikipedia).
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Friday May 06 2022, @08:36AM
I heard the "use it or lose it" bit from a doctor, when he explained to me why he could no longer tolerate milk. The Wikipedia reference was for the benefit of those who don't have access to said doctor.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday May 05 2022, @03:46PM
Newborns are regularly given infant formula, if their mother can't produce enough milk. That's what happened with ours. Couldn't figure out why baby was crying and wouldn't stop. Mom who had been a pediatric nurse that worked with newborns for years. Had a hunch that she pretty much knew what the issue was from the time I called her. Had us check to see, if baby's mouth was dry and it sort of was. She brought us our first thing of formula around midnight, the first day we were home from the hospital. Kiddo was much happier after that. We used it as a supplement, because the baby needs mothers' milk.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 05 2022, @02:39PM
Crap anthropology.
Sub-saharan Africa is full of herding cultures, to which cattle are not merely central, but a means of measuring wealth. Traditionally, they're used for the bride price.