Is It Healthy for Teenagers to Become Vegetarians?

For a long time I couldn't wrap my head around skipping meat. Yes, a few kinds of meat come with their own health baggage, but what stumped me was the day-to-day logistics: how do people who cut it out keep getting enough good protein? I actually thought hard about going vegetarian myself after a conversation with my doctor about managing my diabetes. The plan was to pair a new way of eating with the exercise I was already doing, all in service of keeping my blood sugar steady.

I talked myself out of it fairly fast. I like meat, and I couldn't picture giving it up entirely, especially if it meant spending more at the register to overhaul my habits. Controlling how much I put on my plate felt more realistic than cutting whole food groups. None of that is advice against going vegetarian, though. Some people turn out dishes that are genuinely delicious, and Indian cooking is a standout there.

Opinions split on whether the diet is good for you, yet the number of teenagers choosing it on their own keeps climbing. It reads as something newer among this generation, tied to young people growing more aware of social and environmental questions than they used to be.

So what counts as vegetarian? The core rule is no meat at all. Some vegetarians still eat animal-derived protein like eggs, fish, and other seafood. Vegans draw the line further out: no meat and no animal products of any kind.

Cost is part of the pull for some adults, who notice smaller grocery bills once the meat is gone. That saving isn't what drives teenagers, though. Katie Ransohoff, in her piece Vegetarianism in Teens (2015), reports that most teens make the switch over animal welfare, religious or cultural reasons, or concerns about diet and health. Whatever the motive, a teen should understand where the risks lie before committing to it.

A teenager who wants to go this route ought to bring it up with their parents first. From there, the sensible next step is a visit to a doctor, where the family can hear out the upsides and downsides of a vegetarian diet together.

There are real benefits. Eating this way can cut the odds of problems later on, such as obesity and high blood pressure. Even so, it falls to the parent to decide whether it genuinely fits their child or whether it sets up trouble. Some medical conditions make a vegetarian diet a poor match, and skipping the vitamins and minerals that meat ordinarily supplies can make matters worse. Teens and children are more exposed to deficiencies than adults because every major system in their bodies is still growing fast.

Without replacements, a vegetarian diet tends to come up short on protein, iron, calcium, vitamin B12, and vitamin D. Protein keeps muscle strong; iron supports the making of red blood cells; calcium goes to bones and teeth. B12 lowers the risk of anemia, the condition where the body lacks enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen to its tissues (2015). Since B12 shows up in foods like fish and beef, a vegetarian has to source it elsewhere. Vitamin D, for its part, helps the body take in calcium (2015), and one way to produce it is simply standing out in the sun.

My answer is that yes, it is fine for teenagers to become vegetarians. Parents should see a nutritionist, though, to pin down reliable sources for the vitamins that get harder to come by. Being different and being vegetarian are both perfectly okay. Just don't let it starve your body of what it needs, and keep exercising regularly. The Mayo Clinic has a solid fact sheet on how vegetarians can cover their nutritional bases. -Heather Browning, MBA, BA

References: Krichheimer, Sid (18 June 2003). Vegetarian Diet and B12 Deficiency. Retrieved March 2, 2015. MedlinePlus. Anemia of Chronic Disease. Retrieved March 2, 2015. Sutter Health Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Vegetarianism in Teens. Retrieved March 2, 2015.