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Are Macrobiotic Toddlers at Risk?

At least one effect of early childhood feeding may persist for years, according to a new study on the long-term effects of childhood macrobiotic diets and vitamin B12 deficiencies. Macrobiotic diets are based on whole grains, vegetables, legumes and unprocessed foods. Because they include no animal protein, save for only small amounts of fish, such diets are usually lacking in vitamin B12, which is found only in meat and dairy products.

Marijkevan Dusseldorp from Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands studied children fed macrobiotic diets as toddlers for evidence of B12 deficiency and subsequent risk of permanent neurological damage. She compared 50 boys and 43 girls ages 9 to 15 previously fed macrobiotic diets with 42 boys and 60 girls who were raised on omnivorous diets.

Children raised on macrobiotic diets as toddlers ate an average of two to three weekly servings of fish, meat or chicken and four weekly servings of dairy products at the time of the follow-up study, yet they still had a lower intake of animal proteins and vitamin B12 than the controls. Biochemical indices clearly showed that many of the previously macrobiotic children had vitamin B12 deficiencies—37 percent had low levels of B12, and 21 percent had elevated levels of serum methylmalonic acid, which builds up in the absence of B12. Overall, their average serum vitamin B12 levels were only half that of the omnivorous children, 95 percent of whom had adequate amounts.

The researchers conclude that a vitamin B12-deficient diet early in life may lead to long-term impairment of vitamin B12 function that cannot be repaired with later diet changes. This study provides further evidence that children fed any variation of a vegetarian diet should receive vitamin B12 supplements.

—American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
1999 Apr;69:664-71