Background: Vegetarian diets are currently experiencing increasing popularity
and are also becoming more common in pregnant women. Calcium plays a crucial
role for skeletal health and for physiologic processes during pregnancy for the
mother and foetus.
Aims: Our study aimed to evaluate calcium intake of vegetarian versus
nonvegetarian expectant mothers.
Materials and Methods: We searched PubMed and retrieved seven studies (six
prospective cohort and one cross‐sectional) for inclusion in our random‐effects
meta‐analysis. We calculated standardised mean differences (SMD).
Results: Results showed a significantly higher calcium intake in vegetarian than
nonvegetarian pregnant women [SMD: 0.25; 95% confidence interval (CI):
0.14, 0.36].
Discussion: Most studies showed that the recommendations for calcium intake
during pregnancy (ranging from 700 to 1200 mg/d) were met. Both vegetarian and
nonvegetarian pregnant women showed higher calcium intakes in Europe and
North America than in Asia. Serum calcium levels did not differ between
vegetarian and nonvegetarian pregnant women (SMD: − 0.15; 95% CI: −0.42,
0.11), confirming that the tight regulation of calcium metabolism is not affected by
dietary calcium intake.
Conclusion: To prevent inadequate calcium intake potentially associated with
adverse gestational outcomes, we recommend adherence to existing recommendations
by means of calcium supplementation (1.5–2 g/d), food fortification
strategies, or behavioural interventions.