A landmark study of nearly 1.2 million infants led by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers and the Health Ministry Nutrition Department found that infants from vegetarian and vegan households grew in trajectories that were nearly identical to those of their omnivorous peers by age 2.

The peer-reviewed research, led by Kerem Avital, a clinical dietitian and doctoral student, and Prof. Danit R. Shahar, both at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, was recently published in JAMA Network Open.

“In the context of developed countries, these findings are highly reassuring,” Avital told The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site Zman Yisrael.

“The data suggest that with the proper environment, plant-based diets do not compromise the fundamental physical development of infants,” she said.

The Health Ministry provided data from 2014 to 2023, which tracked the development of approximately 70% of the children in the country.

“This is a huge mass of data that we had access to thanks to the fact that in Israel, nearly 95% of babies are brought to a Tipat Halav [baby wellness center],” Avital said. “It’s an amazing statistic.”

Vital stats on infants

The researchers collected babies’ developmental data: weight, height, and head circumference over the first two years of life.

They then compared three groups: babies from omnivorous families, from vegetarian families,........

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