Is it safe to eat a vegetarian diet in pregnancy?
Yes. As long as you eat a variety of healthy vegetarian foods and plan your diet to include key nutrients, you can get all the nourishment you and your baby need, whether you're vegetarian or vegan. (Vegans do not eat any animal products including meat, fish, fowl, eggs, dairy, and honey.)
If you're vegan, see our article on whether it's safe to eat a vegan diet during pregnancy.
In some cases, you'll need to rely on fortified foods or supplements to make sure you're getting enough of what you need. Let your healthcare provider know about your diet at your preconception visit or your first prenatal visit. And always consult your doctor, midwife, or a dietitian before taking any supplements while you're pregnant.
Along with a variety of fruit and vegetables (fresh, frozen, or canned) and whole grain products, you'll want to make sure you eat foods or take supplements that provide the following nutrients important for a healthy pregnancy.
Here are some ideas on how to work these foods into your diet:
- Add beans (such as kidney, black, or white), chickpeas, lentils, or tofu cubes to a salad
- Have a bean burrito
- Snack on a handful of almonds, walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, or roasted chickpeas
- Spread peanut or almond butter on whole grain bread or sliced apples
- Snack on yogurt or cottage cheese
- Slice up a hard-boiled egg
- Iron-fortified breakfast cereal
- Whole grain or enriched foods, such as bread and pasta
- Beans and other legumes
- Tofu, tempeh, and other soy-based foods
- Leafy greens, such as spinach, kale, and chard
Avoid having tea or coffee with your meals because these drinks contain tannins and polyphenols, which make it harder for your body to absorb iron from vegetables. Instead, have something that's rich in vitamin C, such as orange juice, tomato sauce, or broccoli, to help your body absorb the iron.
You'll have a blood test early in your pregnancy to check your iron level. If yours is low, your healthcare provider may recommend that you take an iron supplement.
Try to get several servings of zinc-rich foods every day. Many foods that provide iron – such as fortified breakfast cereals, beans, soy foods, and whole grains – also provide zinc. Other good sources of zinc for vegetarians include nuts, seeds, wheat germ, and cheese.
Have several servings of a variety of calcium-rich foods every day. Good sources include:
- Milk, cheese, and yogurt
- Calcium-fortified almond or soy milk, fruit juice, and breakfast cereals
- White beans, blackstrap molasses, tahini, and calcium-set tofu. (To see if the tofu is calcium-set, check the list of ingredients for a calcium salt, such as calcium chloride or calcium sulfate.)
- Almonds or sesame seeds
- Certain green vegetables, including kale, collards, turnip greens, napa cabbage, broccoli, and bok choy. (Others, such as spinach, beet greens, and chard, contain calcium, but your body doesn't absorb the calcium from these vegetables as well.)
This vitamin helps your body absorb calcium. Cow's milk and some types of orange juice, cereal, and plant milk are fortified with vitamin D. Many prenatal supplements include vitamin D. If yours doesn't, you may want to consider taking a supplement.
Vitamin B12 plays an important role in your baby's brain development. Eating several servings of dairy foods every day should provide you with enough, but if you are a vegetarian who limits or avoids dairy, you'll need to eat foods fortified with vitamin B12. These may include soy and other plant milks, breakfast cereals, and nutritional yeast. (Check for fortification on the product label.)
If you don't eat dairy or fortified foods every day, and your prenatal supplement doesn't contain B12, you'll need to take a separate vitamin B12 supplement.
Iodine is also important for your baby's brain development. Iodized salt, dried seaweed, cow's milk, and yogurt are good vegetarian sources of iodine. If you don't get a lot of these, check to make sure your prenatal vitamin contains iodine.
DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid that promotes the development of your unborn baby's eyes and brain. It's found in fish, fish oil, and algae. Because it can be very difficult to obtain DHA from non-fish sources, you may want to take an omega-3 supplement derived from algae and suitable for vegetarians.
NOTE: This article was reviewed by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, LDN, adjunct associate professor in the nutrition department of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.