Fertility expert claims vegan women need ‘small amounts’ of meat and fish if trying to get pregnant

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Mohsina Dodhiya12th May 202212th May 2022Health, News

According to the expert, vegans might lack vital nutrients such as zinc, iron, vitamin B12 and Omega-3 as they do not eat meat.

A fertility expert has claimed that women trying to get pregnant should avoid a vegan diet and eat more meat

Grace Dugdale, who co-authored The Fertility Book, is a reproductive biologist and nutrition scientist at Balance Fertility.

She said vegans might lack vital nutrients such as zinc, iron, vitamin B12 and Omega-3 as they do not eat meat. These vitamins and mineral are important to help a baby grow and vegans may need to play “catch-up” if they have not been taking the proper supplements.

According to Dugdale, who addressed a Fertility Show, in London at the weekend said: “I completely understand the ethical and environmental reasons why people are vegan and people must do what they feel is right for them

“Testing levels of vitamins and minerals tells us if an individual’s dietary pattern is meeting the nutritional demands of their body, and vegan patients often have low levels of key nutrients needed for development of the baby.

“I sometimes tell women trying to conceive who have depleted levels of these nutrients that they would benefit from starting to eat a small amount of meat and fish.

“Eggs and dairy contain important nutrients needed for fertility and pregnancy.”

Vegan diet and fertility

While Dugdale isn’t the first expert to deem a vegan diet insufficient in terms of micronutrients, major health bodies have clarified that a healthy vegan diet can provide all the nutrients you need while lowering the risk of all major lifestyle diseases including heart disease, Type II diabetes, and certain cancers.

Several studies – including a 2021 UK research – have shown that healthy vegan diets may actually improve your fertility. One of the reasons being that plant-based diets naturally have less fat than meat-heavy diets, and weight can affect fertility.

A Harvard study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology also showed ovulatory infertility was 39% more likely in women who ate more animal proteins, compared to women eating plant-based protein foods like beans, nuts, and soy.