American Vegans Placing Babies at Risk

Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.

Surely, this kind of tragic neglect couldn’t happen here in the United States. Journal of Pediatrics last year, based on a CDC survey across a dozen states, vegan mother-induced B12 deficiency occurs in about one in every half-million live births in the United States. About four million babies are born annually, so American vegans put the health of eight infants at risk every year.

A follow-up study this year, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, testing 364,000 babies, suggests the number of infants placed at risk by vegan moms in the United States may instead be as high as 20 every year.

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• Hinton CF, Ojodu JA, Fernhoff PM, Rasmussen SA, Scanlon KS, Hannon WH. Maternal and neonatal vitamin B12 deficiency detected through expanded newborn screening--United States, 2003-2007. J Pediatr. 2010 Jul;157(1):162-3.
• Sarafoglou K, Rodgers J, Hietala A, Matern D, Bentler K. Expanded newborn screening for detection of vitamin B12 deficiency. JAMA. 2011 Mar 23;305(12):1198-200.
• National Center for Health Statistics. U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2011. Table 78. Live Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Divorces: 1960 to 2007.

• breast milk
• breastfeeding
• infants
• nutrition myths
• Plant-Based Diets
• pregnancy
• prenatal vitamins
• supplements
• vitamin B12
• women's health