ALTERNATIVE NUTRITION DURING THE PERIOD OF GROWTH

More and more people try alternative ways of living with unconventional food. While alternative ways of nutrition may be beneficial for adults, they may be unfavourable or even harmful for children. The sisks for babies and infants fed a strict vegetarian or macrobiotic diet are considerable. Deficiencies of protein, calcium, vitamins and trace elements may lead to retardation of growth and even psychomotoric retardation. It has been a new experience also for pediatricians that in such families the exclusive feeding of babies with breast milk may lead to severe deficiency symptoms in the children.