A study published in April 2026 in the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics found that pregnant people following vegan diets and those eating unrestricted diets experienced similar birth outcomes, debunking once again the claims that pregnant women should not follow a plant-based diet.
The study, titled “A 2-year retrospective study of vegan patients and their pregnancy outcomes in a tertiary level Irish hospital”, was authored by Mona Abdelrahman, Siofra Maher, Stephen W. Lindow, and Michael P. O’Connellfrom the Coombe Hospital in Dublin, Ireland.
The research, carried out between 2022 and 2024, analysed 10,270 patients consuming an unrestricted diet alongside 68 vegan patients. The study examined maternal characteristics, clinical factors, and pregnancy outcomes to assess whether previously reported risks associated with vegan diets, such as low birth weight or pre-eclampsia, were evident in this cohort. The authors did not find evidence of this.
Rates of anaemia were similar, with 17.6% reported among vegan patients compared to 16.1% in the unrestricted diet group. Likewise, the need for blood transfusions remained comparable, at 2.9% for vegans and 3.4% for non-vegans. Birth outcomes also showed no statistically significant variation, with median birth weights recorded at 3,390 grams for vegans and 3,410 grams for those on unrestricted diets.
According to the study, it is the overall nutritional profile of a diet, together with access to high-quality, personalised care, that appears to matter most for pregnancy outcomes. Those following a vegan diet during pregnancy, or at any other time, typically need to ensure they are getting sufficient protein, iron, vitamin B12, folate, iodine, calcium, and other key nutrients, and as most pregnant vegans are already conscious of this, this explains the lack of evidence that a plant-based diet may not be adequate during pregnancy.
Institutions and clinicians tend to focus on nutrient adequacy, prenatal care, and health monitoring rather than judging a diet by name alone, although plant-based eating has at times faced social prejudice, even from health care professionals.
