Pregnant vegetarians are three times more likely to have kids who abuse drugs and alcohol

[Anti Federalist]

Pregnant vegetarians are three times more likely to have kids who abuse drugs and alcohol, study finds

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...#ixzz4uZl2J5AV

A new study has found that the children of pregnant women who are vegetarian have a higher risk of struggling with addiction

The report's researchers observed 15-year-old children whose mothers did not eat meat during their pregnancies

These children were twice as likely to engage in underage drinking and smoking

By Maggie O'Neill For Dailymail.com

Published: 00:01 EDT, 4 October 2017 | Updated: 00:44 EDT, 4 October 2017

Women who avoid meat during pregnancy dramatically raise the risk of their children becoming hooked on drugs and alcohol, according to new research.

A study from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that adolescents aged 15 whose mothers refrained from eating meat while they were pregnant were more prone to substance abuse.

Specifically, they were almost twice as likely to indulge in underage drinking and smoking, and nearly three times as likely to use cannabis.

While recent health trends reflect larger numbers of people converting to vegetarianism, researchers are warning of the adverse affects of the lifestyle that could harm children.

[acptulsa]

Is that because they deprive their fetus of essential nutrients, or because many of them probably remain sanctimonious for years afterward?

[Origanalist]

Is that because they deprive their fetus of essential nutrients, or because many of them probably remain sanctimonious for years afterward?

It could be a combination, plus a lot of them are stoners anyway.

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-an...use-offspring/

Where did the story come from?
The researchers were from the University of Bristol in the UK, and the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Rockville, University of Illinois at Chicago and University of California, San Diego, all in the US. The research was published in the peer-reviewed journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

The Mail Online's headline is unnecessarily scaremongering. It quotes only the most extreme link found, and does not explain any of the limitations to the study in its article. It states that "most vegetarians have a B12 deficiency while pregnant", and reports on the risks associated with vitamin B12 deficiency in pregnancy, but the study did not actually assess whether any of the women had a B12 deficiency.

This study alone cannot prove a definite link and other factors could be contributing to the findings.

What kind of research was this?

This was an analysis of data taken from a large, ongoing prospective cohort study called the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).

Cohort studies can identify patterns that may suggest risk factors for diseases or conditions such as substance abuse, but they can't prove that one factor (in this case maternal diet) directly causes another (in this case substance abuse). This is because it is difficult to remove the impact of all other factors.

Of the 9,979 teenagers invited to take part, 5,246 attended. About 10% of teenagers reported one of the following:

behavioural problems due to drinking alcohol (such as getting into fights because of drinking)

moderate use of cannabis (defined as using cannabis "at least occasionally")

using tobacco on a weekly basis

Conclusion

While having too little vitamin B12 in your diet during pregnancy can affect a baby's development, it remains to be proven whether a vegetarian diet in pregnancy can cause substance abuse problems in teenage offspring.

The findings do not mean that vegetarian pregnant women need to start eating meat. It is already recommended that vegetarian and vegan mums-to-be take special care to ensure they get enough of certain nutrients that are found in meat and fish, such as vitamin B12, vitamin D and iron. The study identifies a possible link between having little or no meat consumption in pregnancy (which may have led to vitamin B12 deficiency) and substance abuse in the offspring, 15 years later.

Substance abuse is a complicated problem, it is unlikely that one factor such as maternal diet in pregnancy could have caused it. However much the researchers tried to account for other potential confounding factors, it's very difficult to untangle the mother's diet in pregnancy from everything that happened between conception and the child's 15th birthday.

More research is needed before we can come to more definitive conclusions.

The study has some limitations that may affect the reliability of the results:

Only half of the children invited to participate in the research at age 15 did so. We don't know what happened to the other half, or why they dropped out of the study. We don't know if their results would have supported or undermined the study findings.

We don't know whether the pregnant women were deficient in vitamin B12, because they weren't tested for it. We have to rely on the questionnaires they filled in about their diet back in 1991 or 1992. We don't know whether their diet changed during pregnancy, or whether they were deficient in other important nutrients.

We don’t know how accurate the teenagers' reports of substance abuse were, or whether they reflect long-term use of alcohol, cannabis or tobacco – the research gives us a "snapshot" view of one point in time.

While the researchers tried to take into account a number of socioeconomic factors, and also some aspects of the parent-child relationship, the effects of these complex factors are unlikely to have been fully removed.

[heavenlyboy34]

Is that because they deprive their fetus of essential nutrients, or because many of them probably remain sanctimonious for years afterward?

LOLOLOLOL Beat me to it. Well played, sir. *thumbswayup*

[Anti Federalist]

https://www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-an...use-offspring/

Damn you Zip, will you just let me have my fun...what did you expect from the Daily Fail?

[Zippyjuan]

Sorry. Yeah, they like click bait.

[William Tell]

I am thankful so many mommies try to eat healthy high protein food to make their babies strong.

[Lamp]

This



equals this

[tod evans]

How does one actually "abuse" drugs?

Do you beat them?

Neglect them?

Or as modern day people would have you believe, fail to support them in the manner they believe they're entitled to?

Is it "drug-abuse" to put your coke vial in the washing machine? Leave your buds sitting in a hot car? Chop up your Dilaudid with a razor blade?

[RJB]

It could be a combination, plus a lot of them are stoners anyway.

Yeah. My wife tried marijuana once back in college. A year later she became a vegetarian.

[Dr.3D]

How does one actually "abuse" drugs?

Do you beat them?

Neglect them?

Or as modern day people would have you believe, fail to support them in the manner they believe they're entitled to?

Is it "drug-abuse" to put your coke vial in the washing machine? Leave your buds sitting in a hot car? Chop up your Dilaudid with a razor blade?

Yep, and if you spill your drink, that's alcohol abuse.

[shakey1]

Pregnant vegetarians are three times more likely to have kids who abuse drugs and alcohol

Chewing the fat woulda saved their bacon.

[The Northbreather]

This



equals this

And that is not a cannabis leaf

[oyarde]

Yeah. My wife tried marijuana once back in college. A year later she became a vegetarian.

Gateway drug . figures .

[oyarde]

And that is not a cannabis leaf

That must be what Mrs O calls salad . That $#@! is OK if you dump enough blue cheese dressing on it and have a draft beer .