Research
Macro partitioning
Children following vegetarian or vegan diets do not have specific concerns regarding protein adequacy due to their high energy requirements relative to protein needs.
If you are raising a child on a vegetarian or vegan diet, you generally do not need to worry about protein deficiency. As long as the child is eating enough calories from a variety of plant foods, they will likely get enough protein.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
This contrasts with the situation in children where there are no specific concerns regarding protein adequacy because of their very high energy requirements compared to those of protein.
Why this rating
The paper states there are 'no specific concerns', but provides less detailed data than for adults.
Source
Dietary Protein and Amino Acids in Vegetarian Diets—A Review
François Mariotti et al. · Nutrients · 2019
DOI 10.3390/nu11112661
narrative_reviewCited 393×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Vegetarian and vegan diets provide sufficient protein and amino acids for adults when they include a variety of plant-based protein sources such as legumes, nuts, and seeds.Good
- Older adults transitioning to vegetarian or vegan diets may face greater challenges in maintaining protein adequacy compared to younger adults.Moderate
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
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