Hello, my name is Jennifer Currier.  I am a junior nursing student at the University of ND, Grand Forks.  I have seen all the interest that was sparked through the conversation of vegan diets in breastfeeding mothers and so I decided to look into the problems of it a bit more thoroughly.

In my research, I found that the main problem with vegan diets is a cobalamin (Vitamin B12) deficiency.  According to Avci, Turui, and Unal (2003), this deficiency is found in malnourished infants or in offspring of strict vegan mothers.  It may also be accompanied by hematologic and neurologic findings.  This study further described atrophy and delayed myelination of the infantile brain, as shown on an MRI.

Monson, Markestad, Refsum, and Ueland (2003), continue on to say that a Vitamin B12 deficiency may also present as failure to thrive, developmental delay and regression.  Also discussed in this article were ways that cobalamin can be measured using biochemical markers methylmalonic acid and homocysteine.  These markers are strongly correlated to cobalamin status in infants six weeks to six months old.  This impairment may result in long-term effects on psychomotor development.

The article by Carley (2003) presented different types of anemia.  It concludes in assessment steps such as nutritional counseling and supplementation.
I am interested to know if anyone is seeing many problems with vegan diets.  If so, is there a trend in geography?  What are the most common problems that you are seeing in infants that are being breastfed from vegan mothers (if anyone is seeing any!)?

Thank you,

Jennifer Currier, SN

Avci, Z., Turui, T., & Unal, I. (2003).  Involuntary movements and magnetic resonance imaging findings in infantile cobalamine (Vitamin B12) deficiency.  [Electronic version].  Pediatrics, 112(3), 684-686.

Carley, A. (2003).  Anemia:  When is it not iron deficiency?  [Electronic version].  Pediatric Nursing, 29(3), 205-211.

Monsen, A.B, Markestad, T., Refsum, H., & Ueland, P.M. (2003).  Cobalamin status and its biochemical markers methylmalonic acid and homocysteine in different age groups from 4 days to 19 years. [Electronic version].  Clinical Chemistry, 49(12), 2067-2075.


Jennifer Currier
3725 University Ave #305
Grand Forks, ND 58203
(701) 777-9101
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html