Preschoolers on alternate life-style diets. Associations between size and dietary indexes with diets limited in types of animal foods.

One hundred nineteen vegetarian preschool children whose parents volunteered were studied in their homes. Length, weight, triceps and subscapular skinfolds, and head circumference were measured. Information on extensiveness of avoidances of animal food groups, parental dietary group, birth weight, parental heights, and the child's status with respect to breast feeding at the time of measurement was obtained by parental report. All infants under six months old were breast fed. More of the children's measurements were below the Harvard 50th percentiles for length and weight than would have been expected after six months of age, but not until then. Vegetarian children were also leaner (triceps and subscapular skinfolds) after six months of age than would be expected from Tanner-Whitehouse standards. Head circumferences were similar to standards and within normal limits at all ages. An association between smallness, lightness, and leanness was found among the vegetarians, with these characteristics being more pronounced among the older, non-breast fed, macrobiotic children on diets with limited variety in terms of animal food. While smallness and low weight-for-length were associated with leanness, largeness and high weight-for-length did not imply obesity in these subjects.