By Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, The Naughty Nutritionist
A 12 year old girl raised on a strict vegan diet was admitted to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow, Scotland, suffering from a severe form of rickets. The girl had already experienced multiple fractures and been diagnosed with a degenerated spine comparable to that of an unhealthy 80-year-old woman.
Fox News reports the hospital doctors are under pressure to report the couple to police and social workers. Dr. Faisal Ahmed, a pediatrician treating the child, declined to discuss specifics, but allowed the dangers of forcing children to follow a strict vegan diet need to be publicized.
If raised strictly vegan, the child would almost certainly have severe deficiencies of Vitamins A and D, both of which are essential bone nutrients that can only be obtained from animal products. In all likelihood, she would also be lacking needed calcium, zinc, B-12 as well as other B vitamins, Vitamin K, the EPA and DHA fatty acids and the sulfur containing amino acids methionine and cysteine.
Although the human body is theoretically capable of converting beta carotene into true Vitamin A, children are not able to do so efficiently if at all. Sunlight could have provided Vitamin D but only if the family lived outdoors in the tropics and not in a northern clime like Scotland.
Other Cases of Child Vegans Suffering Severe Nutritional Deficiencies
Sadly, this is not the first time vegans have been accused of child abuse though it may be the first case involving crippling bone damage. More typically, vegan babies end up in hospital from malnutrition caused by the use of soy milk instead of infant formula. Given soy milk alone, babies end up with severe vitamin, mineral, fatty acid and amino acid deficiencies, which is why soy formula manufacturers are required by law to add methionine and other nutrients that are critical for a baby’s growth.
In 1990, the FDA investigated after a two month old girl in California was hospitalized with severe malnutrition. Her parents had fed her EdenSoy brand soy milk instead of infant formula. Because of this and a similar incident in Arkansas involving the SoyMoo brand of soy milk, the FDA issued a warning on June 13, 1990. Since then, most brands of soy milk – but not EdenSoy – include warning labels in tiny print on their packages.
Clearly, voluntary warning labels have not been enough, and there have been deaths as well as hospitalizations of vegan babies fed soy milk. In May 2007, vegan parents in Atlanta were found guilty of the death of their six month old baby. To supplement the mother’s inadequate supply of breast milk the parents had fed their son soy milk and apple juice. The baby was only 3 1/2 pounds when he died of starvation in April 2004.
Other vegan parents have also been charged and found guilty, including a New York couple convicted of murder and a Florida couple of manslaughter. In London, two vegans received a sentence of three years’ community rehabilitation after they admitted starving their baby to death.
In 2011 in France, a vegan couple received a life sentence for the death of their 11 month old daughter. The baby, who was only 12.5 pounds at the time of her death, had been exclusively breast fed. An autopsy showed her to be not only severely underweight and malnourished but severely deficient in Vitamins A and B12. The mother had cared enough to breastfeed, but had an inadequate supply of poor quality milk because of the limitations of her diet and the depletion of her own nutritional stores because of pregnancy.
And now we have the tragic case of this 12 year old girl in Scotland. Although finally getting medical treatment, her prognosis remains grim.
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/
About The Author
Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food
She is Vice President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, on the Board of Directors of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, and received the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Integrity in Science Award in 2005. Kaayla has been a guest on The Dr.Oz Show, PBS Healing Quest, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy, and many other shows.
Kaayla is known as The Naughty Nutritionist™ because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. You can read her blog at www.drkaayladaniel.com.
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{ 312 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree; we need meat and dairy.
It is about understanding nutrition.. balance and diet… simple THE END. You can be a healthy vegan or vegetarian. Its nonsense to suggest otherwise however you can also be an extremely unhealthy vegan and vegetarian!!
so very true. you said it all Lynn. it’s not about being vegan or not. it’s about nutrition of the foods they are getting. doesnt have to do with the meat/soy. you can eat meat/dairy and also eat sugar and refined diet and soda and totally screw up your electrolyte balance, depleting your calcium and d supply in your bones. vegan or no vegan.
It’s true. I’m a vegetarian, and while I was pregnant I had my Iron and B12 tested throughout just to make sure because of all the scares. Never have tested deficient in either one.
All it takes is common sense. Whether you are vegetarian or eat meat, you need to have a knowledge of nutrition. I bet percentage-wise, there are more unhealthy meat-eaters than vegetarians.
Furthermore, that business about feeding infants soymilk, rather than formula is ridiculous. Infants won’t get proper nutrition from just cows milk either. Whether they are given soy or milk based formula, there are added nutrients.
Thank you Lynn! You said it. It’s about being SMART about what you feed yourself and your children. We do not need meat and dairy, as the FDA and the diary industry, etc would have us all believe to fill their pockets, and I am offended that this article is trying to pin this little girl’s ailment strictly on veganism. Perhaps she is “strictly vegan”, but she probably either A) has an underlying condition or B) does not get enough of the proper foods. There is a such thing as vegan junk food, and it’s no different than meat and dairy junk food in the end.
There’s a world of plant-strong/vegan/vegetarians out there who are strong, healthy, and happy, beating off diseases like cancer and diabetes and lowering their cholesterol and blood pressures, all without the “help” of pills. Just sayin’.
I am vegan, and I teach myself and my family about being HEALTHY. That is the bottom line.
But paleo also goes too far. Whatever happened to balance?
How sad
I was miserable as a vegan.
I know a dental hygienist who can tell a veg just by LOOKING at their teeth.
I was vegan for a year and felt amazing! Got pregnant ate meat for a year after that didn’t like how my body felt overall and am a vegetarian this time around. Again I feel amazing. My son is super healthy has been sick but once. We go to a naturopath who is very well educated in nutrition. I love our lifestyle! We all feel great. Now I know it’s not for everyone but in any way one chooses to live you must have a proper balance and make sure you get all your nutrients. We eat wholesome food. Just because some people are negligent does not mean all people who eat this way are doing wrong!
so agree with you. Im with you!
Jennifer, where do you live? Vegetarian diet might be good for some people in warm climate. Still it is very dangerous diet to follow especially for growing kids and especially vegan diet. You took your time to educate yourself and to prepare balanced meals, but most vegetarians just don’t eat animal food and eat grains and junk. Most people think that if you just eat, no mater what, you’ll be fine. That is not true. Even if you eat meat, but bad food in overall, you will get sick over time. Though, meat will give you longer run. Also, there were no vegan diet anytime, but modern times. Those traditional vegetarians ate ghee and/or insects too. A cow is not vegetarian, as many argue, they eat grass with insects and ton of insects. The same goes for other animals.
I know acupuncturist who was vegan for few years, who knows everything about this diet and he educates people. He strongly recommend against it if someone is not ready spend lots of time preparing food properly. He himself start eating eggs and ghee because he could not make food and work at the same time. He also take supplements like B12 since he knows he can not not get it enough out of his diet. But he is someone who really knows what he is doing. How about lots and lots of clueless vegans out there who became vegan just because they heard about it from someone in a store, on TV or read it in a magazine?
@Mmom-
“Still it is very dangerous diet to follow especially for growing kids…”
Bull-you-know-what. My child is now 23 and has been vegan all his life. Has always been healthy (just ask his doctor) and in fact, always LESS sick than classmates. NEVER had an ear infection. Was out only 4 days during high school (he managed to get hit in the ribs w/a basketball during the state championships which had nothing to do with his vegan diet).
I made sure that once he was weaned, that I followed COMPETENT nutritional advice on what to feed him. And don’t start with that “any diet that needs supplementing is not healthy” nonsense. What would you call all those ads for Flintstones etc. vitamins? Sure looks like “supplements” to me.
But, don’t listen to me. Listen to these people:
American Dietician Assn-
“Well-planned vegan, lacto-vegetarian, and lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy and lactation. Appropriately planned vegan, lacto-vegetarian, and lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets satisfy nutrient needs of infants, children, and adolescents and promote normal growth.”
American Academy of Pediatrics-
“Children exhibit good growth and thrive on most lacto-ovo vegetarian and vegan diets when they are well planned and supplemented appropriately”
TWO associations full of PROFESSIONAL dieticians and pediatricians say it’s healthy for children to eat a vegan diet. What are your credientials?
In order for me to believe veganism is a valid dietary choice for growing children I’d have to also believe that the American Academy of Pediatrics has my children’s best interests in mind. I don’t. Any organization who advocates excluding children from medical care because the parents chose not to vaccinate doesn’t have children’s best interests at heart. Any organization who discourages open discussion with pediatricians and ENCOURAGES forcing parents to do what they’re told are a bunch of bullies who want to line their pockets. That doesn’t speak well for them.
Besides, they change their standards every few years. Just wait a year or two and they’ll flip over to the next fad diet and back that.
Mrs. Yoder\’s last post: Giveaway: Wondermill Jr. Contest
Your logic makes absolutely no sense. Whether veganism is healthy or not (and it;s proven over and over to be optimal), has not one thing to do with whether or not any particular trade organization is beneficial or not.
Lisa is Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!)\’s last post: Raw Food Menu: March 10, 2013
You did not read my comment and actually attack me for nothing, dear. You are very rude also. I did not attack you personally and just said that clueless vegan diet followers playing it dangerous and you disagree!? I really don’t care what you eat and good work on raising your kid healthy. Do what you want, but I care about those kids are in real danger with plant based diet by vegan parents who don’t do any research. Do you still disagree!?
I am not sure what you say about supplements in your comment. What is “Flintstones etc”? If you need to take B vitamins like B12 then it surely points out at lack of nutrients in your diet.
Also, your “credentials” come from unreliable, constant mind changing, ongoing research makers; means they don’t know for sure what they are saying. My credentials come from traditional societies which were tested by time. And I am not talking about Midlevel times when people were sick and die in their 30th. I am sure you did not read Dr. Price’s book. He did great job researching different traditional diet and effect on health and body.
A meat heavy diet is laking in fiber, carbohydrates, also too heavy in cholesteral which is the leading cause of many of the common illnesses in north america. Every body should technically take a multi-vitamin no matter what kind of diet you follow. These parents screwed up pretty bad. There are books and research that they could have found to prevent this. Google your vegetarian pregnancy.
thank you for your comment vegas vegan. i am not totally vegan myself but prefer not to eat much meat or dairy. it makes me sick. i do however, get lots of nutrition and know nutrition well. important we all educate ourselves and pay attention to how our body feels after we detox it from all the crap that causes deficiencies usually in the first place. in this article we have no idea if this 12 yr old was getting processed packaged food which i hear about so many vegatarians do these days. i dont call that true vegetarianism anyway. true vegaterianism is where you eat lots of fruits, veggies, nuts,seeds and beans, and include eating a good amount of it raw. also to eliminate the genetically modified foods which are known to cause cancer and lord knows what else. soy being a main crop, so if the child grew up on this soy milk, i wouldnt be suprised. i dont understand why she didnt have breast milk until she could have regular drink, the way it should be in a natural sense. then she most likely would not have degenerative bone disease.
i do my best to stay away from soy for many health reason. that is the real culprit and possibly the processed foods/sugar/soda if she had any of these.
otherwise being vegan, if you eat properly or being a meat eater, if you eat properly, you be healthier.
Where do you live? Did you know that eating meat is a very dangerous practice in many parts of the world these days! Maybe time you educated yourself on a thing called reality!
I am shocked by this. They claim it to b a healthy alternative. Forks over knifes is a big proponent of this. I still believe tho dairy is no good.
I eat meat.
I think genetics has a lot to do with it. Someone with a more vegetarian ancestral background may do well with vegetarianism long term. On the flip side, there are whole groups of people who live near the Arctic circle who consume nothing but meat and are perfectly healthy.
it is about quality and understanding nutrition
Those that live near artic circle the air is more sulphuric so higher meat content is required. I am vegan mainly veggie but if I lived there I would require I imagine meat.
Just do what is right for you and you alone and no judgment to others and their choices…simple really!!
Its not simple – that is the problem. I’m sure those parents were doing what they though was right for them and their child. But now their child is suffering greatly for it. What is right and good for our bodies is not whatever we want it to be; what we want is often not good for us. We need to be more aware of what we need. If our bodies don’t thrive on veggies alone, it makes sense that we need to eat meat. Sometimes we have to throw our ideology out the window when it does not help us.
It is not judgmental when you are talking about saving lives. Its correction with safety in mind, which is ultimately love. Such judgments could have prevented this child from getting rickets in the first place.
Indeed, their child is suffering greatly–but not because the diet was vegan. The child is suffering because the diet was poor and lacking in proper nutrition. It’s absolutely possible to eat a health, balanced vegan diet. The parents failed here.
I don’t need meat. If I hold down an internship, full load of classes, and run eight miles a day without meat….I’d say I’m doing fine.
I was born in the early 70′s was deathly allergic to dairy. I was raised on soy-based formula. I was perfectly healthy. My parents were meat-eaters, but I am a pescatarian. I do take a B12 and B6 supplement. I do believe it’s unhealthy to eat meat and no one is going to convince me otherwise. Eating meat causes obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer, and a host of other problems. Factory farming has caused even more problems, due to antibiotics and steroids. I don’t eat meat for health and for moral/ethical reasons. Learning about nutrition and what our bodies REALLY need is key.
You are absolutely right in your understanding of love! A point so many fail to see. It is a travesty how often we throw out the truly ironic accusation of “judgemental” rather than learning to discuss and debate in a serious fashion. It is the definition of love to put the needs of others ahead of your own needs or even comfort. I would far rather never argue or debate, but I put that aside to try to help others learn from my experience and research. Good discussion is so beneficial … and to me to even when I would have rather avoided it!
I use to like the things that you post but this is the 2nd time in a week you are dogging out vegans. You post these outrageous stories based on 1 or a few people. These post above is about child abuse not living a healthy fully balanced life if a plant based individual. There are many alternatives that give calcium and not one equals that of cows milk and the dangers of any animal milk. I know this your blog but at least be fair and do a post on the dangers of what eating meat does to the body, the earth and the animal itself. Milk from an animal does more harm than good. Maybe take your blinders off and truly educate yourself to the dangers of anything form an animal. I’m out
Amy, I can appreciate that lots of families are searching to find the best diet, but I do believe moderation in all things. I drink raw milk and have no health issues. Your statement that milk from an animal is harmful is somewhat contentious as there are more than enough examples from nature alone that says that it is highly nutritious. You are free to disagree, but it is very important to not throw statements out there about “blinders” and then appear to wear them yourself. Be open. If it is untrue, it will fall to the wayside, if it is true, then you and I and everyone else will learn. I take this blog as a learning experience; some things I believe, some I don’t, but I believe in a Creator God and His Word tells me to TEST EVERYTHING. No better advice anywhere.
You believe in God but you steal the breast milk from baby cows? Do you really think that God put you on this earth to breast feed into adulthood from another species? We are the only species that does this.
How would you like it if you were repeatedly raped/impregnated, your babies stolen and killed and then your breast milk pumped out of you only to give to another adult species? My God surely doesn’t approve of such bizarre atrocities.
I weaned at the age of 3 from my mother. Maybe its time for you to grow up, get weaned start eating solids and grow a conscience.
Seriously? I don’t say this to many people, or anyone EVER, but you need drugs or something because you’re going to have a heart attack if you don’t chill. All that aside, I won’t say animals don’t feel pain because they do. But I will say that animals don’t think in human terms. I know death and things upset them, but it’s part of the natural law and order of things. Please get a grip on reality.
May, sometimes, even when we think we are right, it takes time to know and understand things. There is scripture in the Bible supporting eating meat, drinking milk and how are you getting past God asking for animal sacrifice? He made them; He can decide how they are to be used. If that offends you, then I won’t eat meat, drink milk, etc. in front of you. (Also in the scripture.) No one should force their views on anyone; even God allows free will. I just don’t understand why people get so mad and act ugly over an opinion. I don’t know who your God is, but apparently my Bible is talking about a different God than yours. I know many old timers from working at the hospital who are alive because of the milk of an animal. People are given a higher priority by God. Please don’t argue with me on that, about what your God says; mine says man is different than any animal.
I couldn’t have said this better myself..
Amy has stated something that’s been proven by scientific research -consuming dairy milk (or any animal milk) is dangerous to human health. Our bodies adapt to what we give them – I drank dairy milk my whole life, felt “normal” and had no idea that I didn’t feel 100% of what my body could actually feel, until I gave it all up over the last year. Huge eye opener for me, and I’m pretty sure that God is okay with me eating plant-strong.
Amy – I agree with most of what you said. I’m not a vegan or vegetarian, but it’s a bit short-sighted to post an article about how bad vegan diets are based on a few incidents. There are surely a ton of examples of people who are meat eaters and have serious nutritional deficiencies. It’s all dependent on how carefully you research and plan, and how diligent you are in getting what you need.
In terms of milk doing more harm than good, I completely disagree. Unprocessed milk has tremendous benefits for routine consumers.
Isn’t the case of the 12-year-old Scottish girl from 2008? A follow up on how she recovered would be interesting.
Yes, that story is from 2008. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,364746,00.html
Rebecca Kummerer Redding, how does Paleo go to far? Paleo has an emphasis on quality, not quantity of meat products. I eat more vegetables than anything else eating Paleo, then healthy fat, then meat that is grass fed or pastured.
Paleo goes too far in the same way veganism goes too far. They both stray too far from what is “typical” and are therefore demonized because people “OMGZ CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT MAHH CARBS” or “BUT I NEED MAHH BACON”.
Also do feel its important to add we consume little to no soy. We’re also dairy free for 3 years now
better to have no soy
I’m vegan and I’ve never been healthier! She was NOT eating a balanced diet and children should take supplements, as B vitamins are difficult to assimilate on a vegan diet. I have 3 children in their 20′s all healthy vegetarians!
Exactly, you need supplements on a vegan diet as B vitamins are difficult to assimilate on a vegan diet. I don’t understand why people think veganism is so great when they need a synthetic vitamin to survive – how did vegans survive prior to chemistry? I’m not trying to be smart or rude, I really want to know. I’m a WAPF follower and have no intention of changing, but I’d like to understand what ‘the other side’ think of this. Thanks
Assimilate is a poor choice of words here. Vegans absorbtion of B vitamins is higher than others, resulting in a slightly lower intake requirement. The issue is abundancy, which is why vegan’s eat fortified foods. And there’s nothing wrong with fortified foods. Paleo’s cant on one hand claim fortified foods as the devil, but ignore correlations between meat and various cancers of the digestive tract, or meat and eggs with heart disease.
As to your other question, it’s highly likely a vegan diet has existed historically, since Jainism has been practiced in India for thousands of years (many Jains consume milk, but not all).
My current diet seems to fit with paleo, although paleo was not my aim. Speaking for myself and for what I have seen from this blog and other WAPF adherents, I’d say none of them ignore the correlations you mentioned. They look into the research models, the data and the conclusions. Then they explain their own understanding of what they have been looking at. They work hard to educate people to get as many as possible to give up factory foods and factory farming. They always have a defense when confronted with poor “scientific” models or conclusions. And they are tireless in their efforts to help people. After many years of declining health I am now reclaiming my health and am more grateful than I can express for their work.
My children don’t need any supplements and they eat lots of animal food as their body call for. They thrive and grow very well. My son was a picky eater and I started him of vegetables, fruits, and grains at 6 m.o. Boy, that was a big mistake. He was not growing well and needed supplements. I started GAPS which is close to paleo diet and he grew like crazy. He did not like it at first, but got a taste very fast. I just thought he was a small boy and it had nothing to do with his diet, but now I know he was not doing good. My baby girl started on egg yoke, liver, fish, and meat. She is very healthy, grew well on this food. She eats all soups very well and exited to try anything. She just looks very healthy and our doctor is very pleased to see my kids doing so well. I repeat it again, we don’t need supplement vitamins at all. Eat your vitamins! Eat it form food! If you can’t get it out of food then you doing it all wrong.
Great point, Amy. The story and well as the author of the link are slanted against vegetarians and vegans. Cow eat grass, Are the nutrient deficient???
Humans have a digestive system that is nothing like a cow’s. We are not designed to eat grass.
THANK YOU!
Humans do not have the type of teeth or the type of digestive tracts meat eating animals have — sharp incisors and short intestines with very strong acid allow meat to move along befor putrefying.
Humans are not herbivores or carnivores. Humans are omnivores. Omnivores eat both meat and veg, and historically probably based on environmental (seasonal) availability. We have several kinds of teeth to accommodate the various foods we eat.
Humans are the only species that forcibly removes a baby from its mother so that we can consume the baby’s food. IDK, that seems a little off to me.
Also, when it comes to our canine teeth, they are far duller than any carnivorous animal. Heck, they are even much smaller than gorillas, who are plant-based. Most of our teeth are in fact, molars, made for grinding nutrition from plant foods.
Cows eat plants mainly grass, any bugs they consume are incidental to their diet, not the primary portion of it. Of course commercial meat cattle eat corn, something they were never meant to consume. Mmom, I’m pretty sure your child is “growing” because he’s becoming obese on all that meat and fat, not because he’s really healthy.
No – No – No! You are all wrong here. Cows are not vegans at all. Pull out grass and take a look. It is full of bugs! They eat ton of bugs! Eat bugs then as cows.
I am not suggesting that people eat grass or bugs. But the plant-based diet has plenty of good proof that it’s a healing way to eat.
You are exactly right here. It is healing if it’s done right way and for short period of time for specific health issuer. Some people do well on it for a long time, as I know, and I don’t want to change their minds. everybody has a choice to make when they are adults. I do worry about vegan kids though. I never sean a single healthy strictly vegan child. Only those that look okay do eat eggs and dairy.
Mmom,
You obviously haven’t met my 100% vegan child, er young adult. He’s been vegan since conception (over 20 years ago). I can count on both hands the number of times in his entire life that he’s been sick. Mostly due to athletic injuries rather than “sickness”
He’s the tall one, slender, full of muscle – not an ounce of fat on him, very athletic. In the spring/summer, you’ll find him most days on the university’s baseball field, playing all 9 innings on the team. In the fall/winter, you’ll find him on the university’s football field, tackling other guys left and right. He gave up playing soccer and basketball only because he got scholarships for baseball and football.
Hmm… he sure sounds sickly to me… NOT!
It would seem to me that there would be more to the story than just feeding their baby vegan. Soy is a known toxin. Couldn’t the soy sugar formula have been the culprit for the ill health, failure to thrive?
Understanding nutrition is vital to any diet. Veganism can work but you must know how to get all the protein, calcium, etc. other ways or your health will suffer.
Sorry folks … this is an older story. I thought it was from yesterday. Still pertinent information however.
fixed:
“Still misleading information however.”
Katie-
Thanks for making my day.
I think it is so not fair from parents to push some type of diet on their child who is clearly not thriving on that type of diet. I would go as far as they must be out of their mind. They must have seen some health issues before – were they just simply ignoring them?
I’m not a proponent of veganism but most of the 12 year Olds I know aren’t mature enough to eat a healthy regular diet, much less a vegan diet. I’m guessing it was a lot of a few things that were liked and not balanced in the least.
Anyway, people should listen to their bodies, learn what their bodies need to thrive and appreciate anything nature provides us as food, including meat…
Makes you wonder how a diet that requires supplements, such as veganism, could ever be considered good and healthy for a human. Cows are made to eat grass, as evidenced by their teeth and digestive system. Humans? Not made to eat grass solely for nutrition.
Veganism requires a single supplement: B12. Even then, many foods that even you eat are fortified with vitamins and minerals, from cereals to orange juice to milk…
Also, vegans don’t “eat grass solely”. I’m desperately hoping that’s a joke. Vegans eat EVERYTHING that is not from an animal.
Katie, you’ve clearly never been on this site before. Take a look around and I’m sure you’ll learn a lot. Not for one minute does Sarah advocate store cereals, store orange juice or milk. This is a wholefoods blog and about what was traditionally eaten by our ancestors, back in the day when they were healthy and didn’t suffer from degenerative disease. You sound very firm on your vegan ideals, and each to their own, however you may find information that is useful in your day-to-day life, despite it’s source being a meat eating blog
“when they were healthy and didn’t suffer from degenerative disease.”
Sorry, but that is absolutely hilarious. Until the past century, Human life expectancy has hardly ever been above 30 years. It’s hard to die of a degenerative disease when the state of your teeth, or an infectious disease kills you so early in life. Degenerative disease has always been there, we just didn’t understand them at the time, making most impossible to diagnose.
I’m not against whole foods at all, but using historical eating habits as your argument is ridiculous.
A well planned vegan diet is an excellent diet. A well planned paleo diet is great too from a health perspective. But this article simply tries to discredit veganism by dressing an awfully poorly planned diet as a perfect example of the diet in question. It’s cheap, trashy, slanderous journalism. If the couple fed their child a paleo diet that failed to include numerous vitamins (the claims that a strict vegan diet results in almost certain vit A and D deficiency is absolutely pathetic), the child would have met exactly the same demise.
The idea that all the people of the past had an average lifespan of 30 years (or even 40) is just patently false. Even among some of the well documented moments in history of abnormally short life expectancy the case can only be made by ignoring specific causes of death and pretending that people just did not live long full lives ever. It is every bit as bad as all the colorful insulting tactics you just used. Oh the irony. This blog is the furthest thing from trashy, but I agree that it sometimes deserves to be classified as journalism in spite of its far less lofty aspirations.
I get so tired of people making the claim ” Until the past century, Human life expectancy has hardly ever been above 30 years”. That is just NOT TRUE. Have you ever read the “Little House on the Prairie” books? Laura Ingalls Wilder and her husband both lived into their 90′s and that was not unusual. Please open your mind a little and don’t just parrot something because it fits what you want others to believe. I would love to know of any person who lived their lives as a vegan who lived into their 90′s or beyond. There are tons of cases of meat and milk consumers who have.
That is untrue about “life expectancy”. There is life span and life expectancy. The AVERAGE life expectancy was lower prior to modern medicine and other modern conveniences like refrigeration because of infectious diseases etc, and there was also lower infant mortality. People could and often did live long lives then, i.e. have the potential for a life span similar to today. Just look at the age of death of US presidents. All the founding fathers had long lives. Adams 90; Jefferson 83; Madison 85, etc… Longer than the average male life expectancy today. And not so many of the chronic diseases then as we have today.
Quote from http://longevity.about.com/od/longevitystatsandnumbers/a/Longevity-Throughout-History.htm
…”by this data, the main cause of death for centuries would most certainly have been infections, whether from infectious diseases or infected wounds from accidents or fighting. Unhygienic living conditions, with little access to effective medical care, meant life expectancy was likely limited to about 35 years of age. That’s life expectancy at birth, a figure dramatically influenced by infant mortality – pegged as high as 30%. It does not mean that the average person living in say, 1200 AD, died at the age of 35. Rather, for every child that died in infancy, another person might have lived to be 70….”
Nope, I’ve never been on this site, I was merely directed here from someone who saw the awfully misleading article. I love me some whole foods as well, trust me. I don’t personally rely on fortified foods (actually, I must rely on a college meal plan, which luckily features a full salad bar and stir-fry area) but I know that other vegans and non-vegans make use of them. And I already have tons of information that’s useful in my day-to-day life with a balanced diet that’s been working very well to help me thrive. I don’t know who Sarah is, but I am concerned about Kaayla, the author of this particular article. Thanks! Keep up the whole food love. That’s where it’s at.
It takes 4.stomachs to break down the grass to the point where the cow gets the full nutrient value. Humans have one.
Yes, it takes 4 stomachs, specialized friendly flora to break down tough plant fibers, and bringing the cud back up for more chewing. None of which we have.
Yeaaahhh….sorry to be the one to break this to you…but….vegans dont eat grass.
Dumbasses.
This was in reference to a comment made that even cows eat just grass and get along just fine. It was an explanation as to why cows can eat just grass and be totally fine, whereas we cannot. And yeaaahhh, just about everyone eat grasses…wheat, barley, rye, to name a VERY few of the MANY edible grasses in existence today. Be careful of that name-calling there, buddy. Like I said before, unless you’ve done a ton of research to back yourself up there, you make yourself out to look like a real idiot.
Actually, cows don’t have 4 stomachs. They have one stomach with 4 chambers.
Ignoring basic biology is reason enough for my case against veganism, but to each your own…unless it’s a child. Malnutrition is malnutrition is malnutrition no matter what SAD or fad diet you have adopted.
Yeah go compare your “canines” to a tiger or another meat eating animal. Then try and open your jaw enough to take a bite off the side of an animal after taking it down with your “claws”.
Wait… your fingers arent sharp enough? Your jaw is too small? Well at least that raw meat that we are biologically set up to consume won’t sit in your small intestine for too long. Oops, sorry my mistake, your intestine is way too long to digest meat properly.
Well i guess you are the professional on “biology”.
You should tell this to other omnivorous primates.
I was vegan for 5 years. I ate a very healthy and balanced diet and felt wonderful. I was vegan through my first pregnancy and through breastfeeding. Despite my great diet and being very careful to get all the nutrients I and my baby needed, we both ended up very depleted. By the time she was almost 15 months old and still just 16 lbs, I had had enough. She hadn’t gained weight in months. We started on raw milk, grassed beef, pastured chicken and eggs from local farmers. I learned about Weston A Price’s research and never went back to veganism. That was 9 years ago.
You are very blessed to have been open enough to know that something wasn’t right. That is a good quality in a mom. (:
Thanks for sharing your experience. I had somewhat similar experience too. I was not vegan 100% though, but ate very healthy, as I thought. Now I know how wrong I was. The bad thing is that you really believe that what you do is best thing in the world without realizing that you can heart your child and yourself.
The cow has 4 stomachs to make sure they get all the nutrients they need from grass.
Good for you Jennifer since it looks like you have researched in order to get everything you need. I would guess most vegans don’t do that. It’s so much easier to just eat what our ancestors ate! If yours are vegetarians, this is the way to go for you. For others to go through pregnancy and breast feeding as a vegan would seem like an experiment I would not want to chance. No vegan cultures out there as far as I know.
There wasn’t the social media presence at the time .. glad this can make the rounds now.
Four stomachs and MICROBES to digest all that plant matter.
Thanks to Dr. Daniel for digging this story up. It will be heartbreaking in years to come with all these vegan girls who won’t be able to have children. Absolutely heartbreaking.
I’ll let ya know.
for now, though, no unprotected sex for this vegan.
Yeah, cos one case of a badly planned diet = all vegan babies die. Way to oversensationalise.
This is like finding a case where a person consuming a paleo diet has been charged and found guilty of rape and writing an article “Strict Paleo Diet Favoured By Rapists” or “Paleo Diet Fuels Rape”.
Paleo at a theoretical level plays no part in the rapist’s bad decision making, in the same way that veganism is not to blame for this couple not correctly planning their childs diet. This article is fearmongering trash.
In response to your first paragraph: It’s not that all their babies will die, Mark. Most likely they will all be infertile, and unable to either conceive, or carry a baby to term if they do manage to conceive. Do some research on traditional fertility foods. Hint: they’re not plants. They’re grassfed liver, grassfed raw milk and cheeses, pastured eggs, grassfed bone broth, wild caught fish and roe, etc.
I have no response to the rest of your comment, as it is completely incomprehensible and untelligible.
It is real shame when conclusions like these are drawn that trace the effect to one cause Just as some like to suggest that eating a vegan or vegetarian diet causes the consumption of too many carbs, and thus weight gain. That is, of course, not true. Consuming the wrong kind of vegetables (refined flours, especially wheat), or the wrong kind of anything, will result in unforeseen (because the eater is nutritionally unconscious and is buying what is sold) consequences.
Cows thrive on grass because their digestive systems were especially created to thrive on grass. Ours were not.
Milk from an animal does more harm than good when it’s pasteurized and homogenized. Do YOUR research. Eating meat doesn’t pose any dangers to your health (unless you eat CAFO meat), the earth (except CAFO farms), or the animal (except in CAFO farms). Pasture-raised animals live WONDERFUL lives, and people who eat meat from pasture-raised animals enjoy amazing health.
To start a sentence with, “I know this is your blog, but…” is dangerous territory, and you should probably take a breath and reevaluate. Research, time and time again, has proven the benefits of meat and raw milk from healthy, happy animals. Sarah’s only passing the info from that research along. Everyone is welcome to investigate for him/herself to verify this research, but be careful about blasting someone on their own blog if you haven’t. If nothing else, it makes you look petty and ridiculous.
I would like to add that if I noticed my child was lacking nutritionally, I would definitely pay attention to it. Evaluate everything. Not push a lifestyle. I try to be as in tune with my 2 year old as I can. I hope I can continue to do that as he grows and as we grow as individuals. After all, I want to push health overall not a specific lifestyle. Good day everyone!
Did any news media follow up on this child and report on her recovery? That would be interesting to read.
It’s not so black and white. I have friends that are raw vegan and their dentists say their teeth are the healthiest they have ever seen. A lot if could be due to GLUTEN and other things. Not just eating vegan. Some people don’t know how to balance their diets.
Hmm, human physiology is fairly black and white. Just sayin’.
As an adult eat what you like – follow whatever diet you like. As for our children, however, they need to eat EVERYTHING to grow and thrive. I personally don’t believe proscriptive diets are healthy for anyone (unless there is a real medical or allergy issue going on). We are omnivores. That’s how we were built.
I interviewed to nanny for a vegan family stating that I used to be vegan (and was familiar with/comfortable preparing foods on that manner) and she was appalled that I was no longer a vegan…said shed never heard of someone going back to eating animal products and thought I was some kind of traitor. She made me feel horrible for a minute until I remembered how much healthier I am
Your body knows what it wants if you pay attention. Pay attention to your cravings.
These stories you post attacking veganism make you look both foolish and slanted. I mean, how about i find a story about a meat eating child who just eats processed meats and foods with malnutrition and then blame your diet? whatever… maybe you’ll understand when you get heart disease.
We don’t eat processed meat. How about you learn what this site is about so you don’t look foolish!
Meat-eating doesn’t cause heart disease. Quite the opposite. And look! I even did the research for you!
http://www.sott.net/article/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
This is such a tragedy. So many people trying or sort of trying to do a good thing but not doing a good job of learning good information. So much is dependent on training wisdom. And so many people are floundering in agendas and misinformation and the poor influences from every side. Unfortunately, most of us tend to think those who agree with our own thoughts in various areas are smart and we sabotage our ability to properly investigate and evaluate ideas. And with the current state of society being so full of absolutely false nutritional ideas and widespread acceptance of such very poor habits, etc… It’s not surprising that this things are happening, just ever so sad. I do what I can to discourage veganism while learning what I can from those few who appear to remain healthy and happy.
In case no body mention, being a vegan is very different, and more challenging, than being vegetarian
What about Gorillas? They eat a raw plant base diet. We share some of the same dna. Are they malnourished? Humans need to supplement because the quality of food is so poor and our habits are terrible.
Gorillas are related to humans, but the genetic differences are significant. We branched off from each other a very long time ago, and comparing their diet to ours does not work. They have a quite different digestive system. Look at a picture of a gorilla and you will notice the large, round belly which they have to have to house a digestive system designed for eating plant matter. Ours is not the same. Of course a plant diet can support very large animals such as elephants, but that doesn’t mean we are evolved to eat a vegan diet.
Gorillas will eat bugs and small animals also, and have been observed doing that. It is a myth that gorillas are pure vegans. The same goes for chimpanzees, bears and some other animals who are considered vegans.
Beats are classified as carnivores, although they are really omnivores who will eat meat whenever they can. Chimps will eat meat when they can, too–they kill and eat monkeys. But it really doesn’t work well to compare us to the great apes and other animals when it comes to diet. We have evolved away from the apes, diet-wise. Many experts feel that the only way we could grow and maintain our large brains was when we started eating meat as a staple food.
Agh. That should be “Bears” are classified . . .
That is so. Sad. I’ve been vegan for a long time and I’ve had to learn and make great efforts to be safe and strong still- supplements, reading about nutrition and sharing and working with my MD bc she knows more than I do. Above all, I’ve made sure to give my body what it needs , no matter if its meat Or an apple. These parents not seeking out help,when babies are too skinny is the problem- lack of humility?
This says the parents were well known in the vegan community so I would think they knew what they were doing. Apparently not. Do the kids in vegan households have a choice would be my first question.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/shock-as-vegan-diet-girl-12-979912
Do the kids in omnivorous households have a choice?
I do eat meat from time to time. My daughter does a few times a week now also. We always ate fish. Again, most important in our home was to have whatever we needed no matter what a book says. Using soy milk or cow milk as baby formula is never recommend by any dr. Or vegans or grannies that I knew.
Sounds like you have it under control. I wouldn’t label yourself as a vegan because it sounds like you’re more just eating right for you and your body type, which is what ideal health should be all about.
I believe in most of the WAP principals, but I need more raw vegetables and less meat and dairy than recommended by WAP so I do my own thing. My husband, son, and one of my daughters is more what is called a ‘protein’ type if you look at it in a metabolic typing sense. They crave meat and fat and thrive on very little veg at all. That’s the way it should be. Try looking up Paul Chek’s work because he wrote extensively on blending WAP principles with individualized nutrition and needs.
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Kids don’t need to make that choice. Parents need to be the responsible, educated , decision maker protectingtheir children and getting help. I would give my kid a freshly killed tiger if her body needed it. This is an example of extremists vegans. Not all are this rigid. This is about parents making very bad choices. Much greater than just not eating meat. Thank you for sharing this.
This is very sad and parents really need to be educated. Hopefully our thousands of blogs about real food at least do something to educate parents. What’s alarming though is that those parents thought they were doing a good thing. If government will punish for something like this instead of helping the family and the recovery of the child, it sets an alarming precedent – they could essentially decide that a lot of things that parents do for the child aren’t actually ‘good’ in the eyes of the government.
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I was thinking the same thing. I was also thinking that these stories may be getting more press time because someone wants to make a move to take parental rights away for good and/or support the decision already made in countries where they have.
Most countries in the world already signed onto the UN Rights of the Child except here in the US and one country in Africa. Unfortunately that bill isn’t about the child at all, but about putting a government wedge between children and parents. Look up some of the stuff Mike Farris has done with this and you’ll see it goes into every part of the parent child relationship. What they eat. Who they talk to. Where they’re educated. If the child goes to church or not. Whether they have vaccinations or not. And it’s not what YOU as the parent think is right for the child, it depends on what the child and then ultimately a bureaucrat thinks is best for your child. Absolutely sick making!
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Gorillas are able to turn that plant matter into something like 70% fat. Humans cannot.
LOL, When humans were created they did not eat meat. The Heavenly Father made our bodies to flourish on plants, veggies, and fruits. People did not begin to eat any meat until after the flood. I do eat meat but I also know that the vegetarian diet is by far the healthiest. How do cattle’s meat become a good protein source? By eating plants. Good try though.
Soooo you were there at the time of Creation? Seriously? “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” Yes, I know what the next line is. But if you read THIS line and look at the original Hebrew it clearly indicates that animals were a resource to be used for our benefit. So that means at the very least harvesting wool and collecting milk. More than likely, though, that means domesticating the animals and eating them eventually.
But even all of this aside, it comes down to a simple truth: don’t make broad statements about things you weren’t there to personally witness. I believe in the Bible and I believe it is truth. I also believe that some passages are not complete or sometimes hard to decipher and that some interpretation is needed. Either way, you weren’t there so don’t try to use the Bible to back up your brand of madness.
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Thanks Mrs. Yoder! I believe the Word too! I also took note that God told King David to eat the roasted meat of the sacrifice to satisfy their hunger; then, in the New Testament we are told that all is clean if we pray over it, even tho I honor anyone’s aversion to certain foods. (That is mentioned too in Romans) We are to make sure that we are not in bondage to ANYTHING and even health/wellness/exercise, etc. can become a god. I appreciate your comment.
Wow awesome follow up to my follow up!
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Thank-you, ladies, for such good biblical discussion! Great points to ponder! I’ve often thought about points in the biblical historical record that seem to indicate that God made some changed or that open the possibility that he may have. I try not to allow myself to be guilty of too much speculation, of course. Then that leaves me with going back to the more concrete. God gave people all the plants to eat. He later specifically told people to eat meat in at least two places that I’ve found. And then he summed it all up for me under the new covenant that I have the liberty to eat but not to bind my choices on my brethren. It is all fascinating to think on and explore further, but I can have confidence in that basic outline!
Many vegans and others fanatically obsessed with health suffer from disordered eating, which our thin-obsessed society encourages. Here’s a great article on the signs of orthorexia:
http://www.youreatopia.com/blog/2012/1/27/women-laughing-alone-with-salad-orthorexia-nervosa.html
I have always been a proponent of eating healthy meats. Our bodies also needs the fat to help transport nutrients. I mean come on. The disciples, and even Messiah ate lamb, and drank a little wine.
Jesus!
The case of less than 10 kids and veganism is now wrong?
How about the case of thousands upon thousands of kids dieing due to diabetes,heart disease,cancer,etc because of meat eating?
I always knew this page was no good. I gave it a try though. But this helped me understand, you’re a fool.
1. It’s a lot more than just 10 cases of veganism making children sick. Doctors see issues every year. Either veganism or SAD diet, one way or another and children are severely malnourished despite more food being produced now than in any other time in our planet’s history.
2. I think the thousands of children dying from diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc. are more because of lack of activity and an overall poor diet consisting of packaged foods. Those packaged foods almost always contain SUGAR and STARCH (essentially the same thing) in high quantities. You add to that the huge amounts of trans fats and manmade ingredients and I think you’ll find that any child would start developing issues when fed that typical Western food for every meal. Most people think that’s normal and many don’t even know how to properly cook anymore. If society collapsed tomorrow they’d be right screwed.
So even if you think that meat is a terrible thing to eat, wouldn’t it be better to eat a traditional based diet that included a more balanced approach between grains, vegetables, fermented foods, dairy, and meat or do you REALLY think that what those kids are eating now is better? I really want to know what you think. I’m sure you’re convinced that vegetarianism/veganism is the ‘ideal’ (as many of us did when we started on our food journeys). But if you could only chose between processed foods in boxes (what most people eat) and a traditional whole foods diet which do you think would be healthier? Then take vegan versus traditional whole foods diet and see who’s healthier at the end. I think you’d be surprised!
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Don’t be so foolish to assume that children are dying from diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc, because they eat meat. I know a two year old whose parents eat what is considered to be an extremely healthy diet (low fat) and don’t eat processed foods. He is now in hospital getting cancer treatment. Do you know what the parents have been told to do with his diet now that he’s sick? Eat meat and animals fats. Go figure, he’s now eating the very foods you claim caused his illness…
Do some research, including checking out the work of Weston Price, especially his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. You will become so much more enlightened as to the reasons the people who regularly follow this blog choose health through real foods, meat included. At the very least you’ll have an appreciation for why we do what we do and hopefully you’ll see we’re not all ‘fools’ after all.
Also, don’t mistake grassfed meat for confinement animals. I agree that eating meat from confinement animals is terrible. Grassfed organic all the way for our household.
*sigh*
http://www.sott.net/article/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease
Eating meat does not cause diabetes, heart disease, cancer, nor any diseases of modern civilization. You need some bacon. Relax.
LOL. Well said.
I wonder how that girl is doing since the story is from 2008. I don’t know whether the parents in these stories just didn’t know that what they were doing was going to cause these things to happen, or if they did know but were just pushing their own lifestyle choices onto their children.
It’s all well and good if an adult chooses to eat a vegan diet (well it’s not good but it’s their choice) but to put your child in that situation to me is horrible.
Obviously they did not know what they were doing. It does not matter that it was a vegan diet. A proper vegan diet is perfectly healthy. It would be helpful to examine the specific foods fed to the child, but the author apparently doesn’t see this information necessary. Why use our brains when we can resort to the mindless “vegan=bad, bacon=good” mantra?
Feeding a child a proper vegan diet is not a “situation” and it’s not “horrible”. Feeding a child the diet these specific parents chose was, however, a horrible situation.
Yahshua!
I would like to ask how many kids are suffering from rickets and other such concerns that eat meat & drink dairy? I’ve read article specifically in this issue where vegan was never mentioned rather a lack of vit. D. This article blames bring vegan when the truer culprit is lack of vit. D from lack of sun. I would say most people in the northern hemisphere are deficient & many children are suffering from lack of this vital vit.
I would encourage everyone to get their levels checked & supplement this deficiency.
As research states, Milk & meat pull calcium from the bones due to its acidity. I supplement with calcium & vit. D, k, b12, etc. my vegan kids. They are growing and functioning well in the Seattle area:)
Gosh! I feel sad for your kids. Just as sad as I feel for the “fast food” kids.
We are in the Seattle area and enjoy salmon all season long, a great natural source of D. This is probably how native peoples thrived in this area before supplements.
Meats also has healthy fats for the brain!
I was raised on a vegan, sometimes only vegetarian, diet. I have the health problems to prove it! Kiara, children are not dying of meat eating. Meat Eating in no causes diabetes – never heard that one before! Children on a WAPF or Paleo diet, or any other old fashioned, balanced diet, will not be overweight and most will not encounter the above mentioned problems. Children eating a SAD diet will. Also, great variation in quality of meat. Factory style meat, yes, the above might be attributed to that but I would never feed my child meat grown in a factory. He has never had meat with antibiotics, preservatives, etc. He has only had meat from animals pastured on farms, not feed lots, and we eat meat from animals that are grain free or supplemented grain that is GMO free, organic and completely soy free (whether non gmo or not). Healthy meat is healthy and veganism is not! Science backs this up!
I was raised vegan by a well meaning, loving mother. She saw the SAD diet and its results and attributed the results to the choices of foods not the quality of those foods. She was partly right. To choose fast food, factory made foods, corn syrup, etc., is unhealthy. But other foods, such as meat, butter, eggs, etc., are healthy if one choose quality when one buys them.
As a child I looked healthy but my lack of nutrients was like a slow leak. At 35 I began to eat meat and regain my health. A child may seem fine but are they actually optimally healthy? Why go against science and experiment with you own child? My child eats plenty of farm fresh butter from pastured, grain free cows, milk, eggs daily, lots of meat but also lots of fruit & veggies, some grains and even some sugar and honey. No diabetes or overweight child here! These things are healthy!
Good on you!
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I am someone who does not believe EVERYONE sould be vegan or vegetatian or even pescitarian, yet this is the way I choose to eat. I really believe is depends so much on you genetics and family ancestry. And no, human physiology is not black & white and to say veganism causes infertility is rediculous. Talk about health propaganda.
I agree with you that everyone should eat a little differently. And I also agree with you that this blog tends to go toward extremes and I don’t always agree with what she says because it’s said in a very ‘my way or the highway’ style.
However… veganism isn’t remotely natural for humans. It just isn’t. Vegetarianism, lacto-ovo vegetarianism, etc. is fairly normal and has been seen in many places around the world. Veganism is dangerous simply because the body has no way of getting nutrients that can not be easily assimilated in ways other than through animal products.
- Heme iron is absorbed by the body more efficiently. That’s just a fact.
- B12 that is able to be absorbed and used by the body is almost impossible to find outside of animal products.
- Many vegans don’t get enough EFA’s and other healthy fats in their diets and so wind up with damage to their myelin sheaths and have issues similar to Parkinson’s after several years of a vegan diet.
- If you HAVE to take supplements to remain functional while eating your ‘healthy’ diet then there is a problem. Obviously that wasn’t meant to be.
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These statements you made may be true for some, but not all. For the past three years, I have been eating a very meat heavy diet. I have always been a meat eater, except for my senior year of highschool into my first year of college, but have always consumed a lot of vegetables. Off and on, I have had problems with anemia (since college years). Last year, I found that, even with eating a large amount of meat, I am B12, vitamin D, and iron deficient. I had to take supplements. Now I am vegan, I incorporate a lot of mushrooms and nutritional yeast in my diet which increased my vitamin B and D levels and my iron levels are normal again. This works for me. I feel great. I look better. I am losing weight. I continue to take B12 shots just like I did as a meat eater.
Sounds to me like your body was both craving more vegetables and also has gut issues to the point you aren’t absorbing nutrients properly. And can you honestly tell me you meat wasn’t raised in factories? That grains comprised less than 15% of your diet? That you’ve been tested for food intolerances?
I think the important thing being whatever you consume, vegan or not, had better be produced as God intended it to be. Organic produce, grass fed, pastured meats, wild caught fish, non GMO varieties of everything…. That’s a battle in and of itself in the US.
Amen to that!
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I also am of the assumption that non organic produce is so depleted of nutrition in the US, once it’s cooked, you may as well be eating cardboard.
The obvious facts are, meat and milk that come from factory farmed animals should not be consumed. If you are unable to buy raw milk don’t drink it. The nutrition I’m our meat and milk has gone down hill fast. Some people are better off on a vegan diet. Food is not a one size fits all. I know people who went vegan due to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. It has and is working for them. If it works for you and you are able to stay on top of your nutrition, who cares. Factory farming needs to end. There is far more harm than good in meat milk and egg that comes from tortured animals.
Yes Danielle, I agree. I am so grateful for my 2 little mini alpine goats! They are the sweetest and most fun animals! They hop up there for me to milk and they are so proud of the good work they do; I just praise them and scratch them and that wonderful milk nourishes my whole family! These goats actually race me to the stand! If I don’t come out on time, they begin to “call” me! When I think of the way most dairies are run, I feel sick for those poor animals… Anyway, for any goat lovers…great blog.. adventuresinnoodleville.com Her name is Crystal and she is my guru for goats!
The way the human system operates in general is pretty black and white, except when there are diseases and illness, but even still the way the human body reacts to that is pretty standard. People do have allergies to different things, but what the human body needs nutrition-wise for optimal health, without any disease, it’s the same for most everyone.
I went looking for more info on the story of the girl with rickets. Sadly,what I found was pro-veganism reaction trying to deny the significance of the story. Right off the bat, I saw misinformation on just how far south you need to be from Scotland’s lattitude to rely on the sun for your vitamin D as well as encouragement that people should rely on “fortified” foods for their children’s vitamin D needs. This breaks my heart, but it is definitely a area where people can see the problem if we share what we have learned with them. There is no high level logic or data evaluation skills needed to point out the good sense involved in choosing to eat natural whole foods rather than relying on laboratory produced synthetic “vitamins” to nourish our bodies! And there is solid evidence from the world of science to show us more about vitamin D from sunlight!
I think the perfect diet for most people is a balance between WAPF diet & raw vegan. I don’t think WAPF principles emphasizes enough the benefits of raw plant foods, and vice versa- raw veganism doesn’t emphasize the benefits of certain animal foods and fats.
A Balance Diet is the Healthiest.
tragic!
Whenever I read on this page that vegetarianism or veganism will cause our young girls to be infertile, it cracks me up. As I have cut back my meat & dairy consumption over the years, my fertility has only increased! It took a lot of trying for my first child & during that time I feared I may never have kids. My seventh baby is due next month. Thanks for the laugh.
… not to mention the fact that you were probably cutting back on hormone laden factory farmed milk and meat, which does have a negative affect on health and fertility. And I can generally assume that as you cut back on meat and dairy you were in the midst of a health conversion, so you were probably cutting back on processed foods too? An assumption, yes, but a safe one. That doesn’t mean that “good” meat and dairy would have the same effect.
I find your 12 year old girl reaction funny, so thanks for that.
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Cutting back is not the same as completely excluding.
Kaayla-what type of credibility do you hope to master when you talk about something as if it is present tense-yet it happened 5 years ago? This is a parenting issue and nothing more. What about all of the parents with severely obese children. Why not address the atrocities in that?
BECAUSE BACON
(p.s. this is a joke, I am on your side)
Monica . Very interesting It is funny Because my wife More milk eggs and butter and redmeat she eats during the pregnancy. She said her labor it’s much easier
I think this article really highlights the dangers of diet extremes. A well rounded diet is best, no matter which nutritional philosophy you adhere to.
Dear VEGANS,
Please see articles such as this as quality information such as is also available at the Weston Price Foundation. I appreciate this type of information, and I love dairy ( raw milk dairy especially ) . There are also many articles praising the virtues of fruits and vegetables, and I certainly do not take offense to this as ANTI- OMNIVORE !!! I also love fruits and vegetables.
Thank you, Sarah, for another excellent article praising the nutrition of real dairy products.
I am also enjoying your current articles on the raw milk fast. THANKS TO SARAH HHE !!!
The only source listed for this article is Fox News. They lie. They are predisposed to be anti anything that doesn’t pump money into bigAg, bigPharma, bigOil. While I hold no hope for fair and balanced from your source, I have much higher expectations from you.
I’d like to know if there have been any truly traditional cultures that were vegan. I think I’ve read that there were none, but would like that confirmed. By traditional, I mean for many thousands of years eating the same type of diet in the same home territory, not people who have been displaced or colonized, etc. The test of time usually shows people what works and what doesn’t for health and longevity; that is why Weston A. Price studied people living in their traditional way and eating their traditional diet. I don’t believe any societies have found that a vegan diet stands the test of time. Are there any lacto-vegetarian traditional cultures that don’t eat any meat or eggs, ever? I don’t know.
So far as I have been able to find there are none. Of course “proof” that something never existed is exactly the opposite of easy to find. Essentially you can prove those you can document and you can assume that anything you can’t find is either rare in the extreme or doesn’t exist.
Interestingly, Weston Price, had expected to find that vegetarians were the healthiest when he set out to study non-industrial diets. But he was wise to not argue with the reality once he found it.
I have a similar spinal condition as this little girl, and mine came about in my 20s, after being vegan for years. (yes, I was a “healthy” vegan…) Lierre Keith, the author of The Vegetarian Myth, also has Degenerative Disc Disease, she blames it on her veganism too. I know and know of many other young folks with serious health issues after being vegan, so we’re not just isolated incidents. I’d love to see more solid research on it.
It makes me so sad that myself, and so many other people, go on that diet thinking it’s perfectly healthy, and then end-up with terrible, sometimes irreversible health problems.
Thank-you for sharing your experience!
Please let me clarify – these babies were given soy milk, NOT soy infant formula. That’s like giving your 3 month old cow’s milk, instead of infant formula. No wonder the babies were malnourished!
Do you mean infant formula instead of cow’s milk? (Healthy cow’s milk?) I can’t imagine any formula being much more than powdered SAD.
Agreed. There are no truly good infant formulas on the market. No matter how much they keep improving them, they are not whole foods as our bodies are designed to need. Breast milk from a well nourished mother is what is far and away the best, nay, the optimal food for baby! Now that I am reclaiming my own health, I’m also working to nourish my kids and educate them on how to prepare to be healthy for life and have healthy kids!
I love your website and most of what you preach, but I have to say that this article is complete propaganda and incredibly irresponsible.
For one thing, there are different types of vegans. There are those who eat a bunch of soy-based and processed “food,” and there are those who eat a balanced whole foods, plant-based diet. And then there who eat both processed and whole foods.
We don’t know what kind of diet this girl and her family were on. It’s dangerous to make assumptions, and even further to create absolute truths out of thin air.
There are many people who do fine on a vegan diet. However, it isn’t for everyone — just as eating animal-based food isn’t for everyone either. I went vegan for a short period of time and found that I didn’t do well on it. It’s all about listening to your body.
What this girl’s parents did was clearly wrong, but so is pushing your beliefs as absolute truths for everyone.
Nutrition is not always about “beliefs”. I realize that beliefs often come into play for vegans or vegetarians or even for some others, but this site and many others are about information that is evaluated aside from a belief that any particular food must be abstained from for moral or ethical reasons. This site has, in fact, pushed the idea that not everyone needs to eat the same way. The blogger here has often refrained from sharing all the details of her own diet in order to discourage the idea of people thinking it must be optimal or must be what they need to try. If you want to better understand what is “pushed” here, you can read through the archives and you should also read the book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, which I believe was influential with the blogger.
I think any diet that requires supplements for health is obviously not optimal, but for me my problems with vegans have more to do with their lifestyle. They seem to have lost sight of the fact that even vegetables NEED animals to grow. There is no form of sustainable gardening that doesn’t involve animal manure. Not to mention that there are reasons we don’t see flocks of wild chickens and sheep… because they are DOMESTICATED animals and cannot survive in the wild (with rare exceptions) without human intervention.
And vegans don’t believe in wool products, which I can’t quite put my head around. You HAVE to shear sheep, even if you aren’t raising them for wool. Their health requires it. So why can’t we use it?
Monica – if you have only “cut back” then you aren’t vegan or vegetarian! Not a focused or logical comment. The point was veganism and vegetarianism are often related to infertility. No one said to eat enormous amounts of meat to increase fertility. Two different things. Cut back and eat more veggies is often a good thing if you were eating them out of proportion. And, especially, if you were eating dairy, eggs and meat from animals fed soy -whether GMO or organic. Soy reduces fertility, whether you are eating it directly or second hand from animals who have eaten soy. Also, many animal products contain hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, etc. If you were not eating quality meat, dairy & eggs then you were eating unhealthy food and cutting back on an unhealthy food would indeed increase your health. But the unhealthy food was low quality meat, eggs & dairy not the meat, eggs and diary themselves.
Vegans don’t eat any meat, dairy or eggs and that is unhealthy. Do the research…Glad you are eating proportionately of healthy things and are now healthier. Blessings with birth No. 7!
someone commented that this article made the blog seem slanted. Hmmm, I think it plainly states that she is a WAPF, Nourishing Traditions, whole food, balanced diet food writer….
Another example why forcing veganism on growing children is child abuse and should be a crime.
Allow me to fix your comment:
“Another example why forcing a poor, nutritionally-lacking diet on growing children is child abuse and should be a crime.”
It wasn’t the veganism itself, it was the specific foods the parents were feeding the child. Unfortunately, the author of this article did not supply that information.
In order for the vegan life style to be healthy you have to be very diligent. It is possible but I would guess only 1-2% of vegans eat right!!!
exactly.you would GUESS. don’t guess, give us FACTS.
did you know that 69.7% of statistics are made up on the spot?
it seems like a lot of vegans and vegetarians don’t eat more veggies and fruits, they just eat meat and/or animal products… it’s all ‘replacement’ or alternative meats and cheeses. which seems to be a lot of processed non food. I’m wondering if there is any study showing the difference between the two types. there are examples like Mimi Kirk that are extremely healthy and vibrant… just thinking out loud… but I do wonder!
There are not only two types, but vast variations between vegan diets. Just as diets including meat and dairy come in all different shades, so do vegan diets. I don’t think we need a study to know that people who eat whole foods are healthier than those who rely on processed foods. You didn’t explicitly say it, but I’m guessing you agree.
Who said a blog has to be non-biased. If I blogged about a topic I felt was just I wouldn’t try to find articles to contradict my beliefs.
It’s easy to be vegan and listen to your body and do what’s best for YOU. But when you have a kid you can’t feel what their body is feeling. You can’t KNOW if they are deprived and since they are so young they don’t know either. I work with animals all day. Cats are strictly carnivores and humans and dogs are known to be omnivores. We can eat both and we should! I was also taught that lactating, pregnant and growing bodies (aka infants and kids and teens)and geriatric actually need different caloric intakes as well as nutrients then a a regular adult. Some need less some need more.
These cases sound like bad parenting, but not exclusively because they choose a vegan diet for their children. Clearly, they didn’t seek medical advice, and did not use common sense. I think it’s possible to raise healthy children on a vegan diet if mothers are aware of what they eat during their pregnancy, and use precaution. It’s important that they do the proper research.
“More typically, vegan babies end up in hospital from malnutrition caused by the use of soy milk instead of infant formula”
ummm… why would the baby be given formula? babies are meant to be breastfed. my friends and i are discussing this on our mommy group fb page, and are in agreement that someone who would do so much research as to be vegan, would know how important human milk is. are we just ASSUMING that a baby id receiving soy milk instead of breastmilk, or soy formula? are we just ASSUMING that if the babies are being given soy milk and not breastmilk for some reason, that the parents aren’t giving vitamins? we also discussed the ridiculous claim of child abuse… so choosing a vegan diet is abusive, yet feeding your child crap and causing them to be obese and suffer from life long health ailments is not? PLEASE.
im a meat eater…but have many vegetarian and vegan friends… all are incredibly healthy, and knowlegable on their lifestyle.
this article seems incredibly one sided.
Can you call a breast fed baby vegan?
uh. yeah.
if mom is vegan, her breastmilk is vegan.
ok..good article..
one thing though your comparison of soy formula vs infant formula is nonsense…both are making kids malnourished…only breast fed babies can receive proper nutrition…no formula,soy or cows..can even begin to compare…it’s all about balance..eating processed meat will do more harm that good too…for me ,it is always about wholesome,balanced diet,local & seasonal..not fashionable latest trends.
This “story” is full of lies and only tends to scare people off. If you eat a variety of foods you will not have a problem with getting RDA of vitamins and minerals. The ONLY one missing is B-12 and that can be obtained very easily with a supplement. Calcium is found in most leafy green vegetables. Most commercial dairyless milks are fortified with Vitamins A & D. EHA/ALA is found in flax seeds or walnuts. I could go on but claiming that you can ONLY get nutrients from animal sources is an outright lie. BigAg wants you to believe that you need meat and dairy to get enough proteins and vitamins, but that is simply not the case.
If you take a look at http://jacknorrisrd.com/ , http://veggiedietitian.blogspot.com/ and http://www.veganhealth.org/ you will see scientific-based vegan nutrition information that is very helpful.
Proper vegan diets are fine if nutritionally balanced. Unbalanced ones are the problem.
While I don’t think being a vegan is the best option for great health, I think it’s going a bit too far to paint all vegans as child abusers, which although was not outright stated was definitely implied by your article. I have friends that are vegans and make sure their kids get the supplements they need to stay healthy. While eating a diet that absolutely depends on supplements to keep you from getting ill seems illogical to me, so does a little here and there of what you eat and feed your children. But I would never argue that you are not a great mother because of that. I think it’s very important not to fall into the pattern of discrediting others with absurd generalizations based on a small percentage of ill informed people. It would be wise to remember that that tactic is often used against us and our choices and does not bear out the truth at all.
It may seem illogical to you, but most vegans only rely on one supplement, B12. Even then, you can find it in fortified foods that omnivores eat too! Otherwise your post was great.
such nonsense!!
uhhh…dont folks who eat a non vegan/vegetarian diet take vitamins?
yes, yes they do….
Were you paid off by the beef industry or something??
I’m not a vegan, I’m a nutritionist who eats animal foods, but this REALLY sends the wrong message.
A vegan diet doesn’t cause severe nutritional deficiencies such as rickets, a CRAPPY diet does without adequate nutritional supplementation. If you eat the standard western junk food diet no matter if it’s vegan, paleo or whatever, you will suffer.
I really wish you made the distinction here rather than just creating anger and hatred towards vegans.
Sometimes I love your articles and sometimes they are just sensationalistic tabloid-like crap to drive views/readership.
The best diet is the one your body needs. I totally get veganism and all that, but you need to be practical and honest. All this talk about a natural diet that is best for the body … plant based B12 is not absorbed by the body. Only animal base. Heck, Gabriel Cousins’ blog told me that. So you have to supplement it. Here’s a question: if you gotta take a pill to supplement it, how natural and complete is this “natural” diet?
If there is a philosophical/religious reason for not eating meat, then cool … go with the flow, and ride your faith. No problem here.
Look, no one will argue that most people need more raw plants/veggies/fruits/seeds/nuts in their diet. Just in the right amounts. And, yeah, you still need to eat meat. I wouldn’t touch that “regular” crap that gets massed produced, and, yes, you shouldn’t be eating 2 lbs or whatever a day, but you still need meat for the fat and nutrients.
B12 is in bacteria, fool!
Cats are NOT strictly carnivores, they eat grasses and other plant material like catnip essential for digestion. If they were strictly carnivores they wouldn’t eat catnip or grasses. My own cat will devour an entire plant of catnip including stems.
Yes, cats are carnivores. Cats and dogs will seek out plants that they need to make themselves better. Cats and dogs generally will eat grass to make themselves throw up. Or they’ll look for something like catnip which makes them high and devour it. Or they’ll find a medicinal plant in the wild and eat it to cure themselves. That doesn’t make them omnivores.
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Cats are obligate carnivores. They don’t derive any nutritional value eating grass. This is an instinctual behavior that helps them expel items difficult to digest – like feet, feathers, mouse whiskers and teeth, for example. Cats are also becoming sick with many of the same chronic degenerative diseases as humans because most are fed a species-inappropriate, high starch, highly processed food from a bag. The SAD diet for cats. Cats need meat, organs, bones and that’s it. See catinfo.org for good, species appropriate, nutrition info from a vet. Even canned food is much better than dry, Very sad, too, that some vegans will attempt to feed obligate carnivores a plant-based diet.
I believe they are obligate carnivores but it’s not true that it’s meat and “that’s it.” In the wild when they’re eating a bird or a mouse, there is a small amount of grain/vegetable matter in the animal’s stomach that they eat and they have evolved to need that small amount in their diet. It’s a small amount, but they are missing out if their diet is pure meat.
Hi Juliet, I don’t agree that cats have evolved to need grains or vegetable matter – especially NOT grains. Birds and mice don’t naturally eat grains anyway; sometimes they do get some grain with “bird feed” or corn if they are near farms, but grains are not a natural food for them. Vegetable matter in the stomach of prey is a tiny amount, even if it’s even present, and also it’s predigested. I don’t think a small amount of vegetable matter is necessarily bad, but some well-known feline vets like Dr. Lisa Pierson (catinfo.org) and Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins do, and feel it’s unnecessary to include vegetables (certainly no grain) in a cats diet. Some veggies can cause digestive upset in cats and can also affect blood glucose, but if it’s small amount (as a lot of premium canned food has), it’s probably not a problem. Cats basically need to eat the whole animal: meat, bones, skin, fat, organs in a balanced amount. Ideally, that is. Catinfo,org and fnes.org have good info. My own cat developed diabetes after years of high starch, highly processed species inappropriate dry food. This is part of why I’m rambling here about feline diet, but I’ve gone through a lot with my sweet boy.
Re: above comment – yes, I look forward to a meatless diet in heaven too but we are not there yet and this is what our bodies need here on earth, this earth, that we currently inhabit not the original. why and when it changed? don’t know. Will ask Him but for now will eat what we need for now. Mom always talked about eating a Garden of Eden diet when she raised me vegan but we don’t live in the Garden of Eden! I am sure the top soil was different, the plants more nutritious, etc. But they are not sufficient now. Israelites didn’t need meat in the desert but manna is straight from Heaven. my food now isn’t! Israelites ate meat at all other times as did the apostles in the NT.
Get sunshine or at least a tanning bed. Your body needs vitamin D. About 85% of Americans are vitamin D deficient. Nothing like the real thing — get rays. Pesto is great for vitamin K.
I have found it very eye opening to search for the top 20 food sources for each of the key nutrients. Top sources for many are all meat – check bio available A, most of the Bs, for instance. K1 & 2. many minerals are also best sourced from animal products. If you look at how much one gets from plants v. the animals you realize that there is no way one eats enough plant based foods every day to get even the minimum daily dosage. maybe a few days but not all. And that is just the RDAs not what you really might need. Research how RDAs are set too and know that every individual varies in needs. If you just hit the minimums chances are there is something you need more of. Whole Foods site is interesting because though they promote the China study and fire engine diet their own resources state that meat products are by far the best sources for many nutrients.
“there is no way one eats enough plant based foods every day to get even the minimum daily dosage.”
^^^^that right there is SPECULATION. while a person who chooses to eat an unrestricted diet may not consume enough plant based foods to ge the minimum daily dosage, a person who chooses vegetarianism or veganism ALTERS their diet to obtain what they need through plant based foods, and supplements where needed.
i think this is hilarious… suddenly eating whatever you want is the healthy diet, huh?? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh america and their obesity problem….lol
I think it’s awfully sad how many children have died and suffered because their parents fed them a vegan diet.
But, I also think it’s wrong to prosecute the parents, who probably thought they were doing the best thing. I mean giving people a life sentence when they exclusively breast fed a child, is pretty harsh (given that breast feeding is best and all). Yes, I guess the parents should have been smart enough to see that their child wasn’t thriving… or someone should have picked it up sooner… But how devastating it would be to realise that you’d caused your child’s death??? Isn’t that enough of a punishment?
It’s just tragic!
There are plenty of books, websites etc. etc. out there promoting veganism as the most natural way for humans to eat, and when people start eating that way they generally believe they are doing the BEST THING. There was a time when *I* thought it was the best thing too, because I was swayed by what I read (and by being disgusted at the way food animals are treated).
However, I came around to realising that humans do best as omnivores (or at least, most do… some may thrive better as vegetarians/vegans than others, I’m not going to judge everyone who decides differently to me). But that doesn’t mean that parents who are vegan are actual “child abusers” and to classify them as such is wrong. They’re doing the best they can with the knowledge they have.
I don’t understand how vegans think they can create a new biology for humanity than what it has always been for thousands of years. If vegans are so sure their diet is good, then list ONE traditional cultures that existed for MULTIPLE generations producing healthy children (both parents vegan with vegan children and so forth) with NORMAL and natural fertility (in vitro and other fertility methods do not count). Even a single one does not exist anywhere in history.
How would you know if “a single one does not exist anywhere in history”?
We have not been documenting anthropological history for more than 1500 years. There have been civilizations for millennia upon millennia.
If you went to the trouble to research properly, there is an abundance of testimony that a well managed vegan diet is perfectly adequate. Trouble is, that would create some cognitive dissonance for you I think.
lol sarah! yu can’t just make things up and write whatever you want, dear. there are facts, opinions, and what the hell it is you just did.
You are absolutely right, Sarah, in your desire to bring these stories to light, to question the lack of any evidence of there having ever been a vegan society that was able to sustain itself naturally, and in so many more things. I’m praying for you as I read all these attacks. So much misinformation, ad hominem, and other unethical and unworthy tactics… it’s certainly telling as to where your attackers are coming from and how much real evidence they have on their side. Thank-you for all you do to help those of us who are recovering from the health problems our former diets caused or contributed to!
Kaayla, I will be more than happy to show you my CBC. And I’d hope you’d do us the favor of posting your CBC, so we could contrast and compare. Then you’ll see what 6 years of an Organic Vegan diet can do for you.
Go Vegan.
You seem to be on a mission to discredit the vegetarian and vegan diets. I and my husband have been vegetarians for 25 years and have raised three children in robust health on the same food chioces. Why are you being such a scaremonger with these (cherry picked) stories? You’re beginning to sound like Mike Adams. Not good.
I personally believe/think that in human life balance must be achieved. Is like everything else in life, balance is the rule of all “thumbs”.
When I saw this, I decided that it was time for me and my family to eat more cow’s liver (and beef too). Check out the super high amount of vitamins and minerals that beef and liver have:
http://ckresser.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/liver.jpeg
do you know what the liver’s job is? it is a FILTER. now something all that healthy to eat. high in iron? absolutely. full of crap? sure thing.
When it comes down to it, a cow, or even a tiger doesn’t care that you’re.a vegan. You’re still on the food chain….
Rickets is a vitamin d deficiency and it’s quite common in the Uk due to the lack of sun.
eat natural, fresh, food cut out the stuff thats not good for you you are what you eat, no processed foods.
The strongest animals in the world are elephants and they eat a plant-based diet.
There is a whole discipline of scientific study called physiology. Perhaps you should research and compare/contrast elephant physiology and human physiology.
Terribly misleading article. Veganism did not cause this child’s health issues. Rather, a diet lacking in nutritional value did. If the child’s parents had been responsible, they would have carefully tracked key nutrients, which are all available for vegans. Take a B-12 supplement, eat lots of leafy greens, eat the same fortified foods that non-vegans do such as cereal and orange juice….
God, this article is just ridiculous. Vegan diets vary widely from vegan to vegan, just as the traditional meat-and-dairy diet does. One vegan may eat nothing but potato chips and peanut butter and the next may eat a balanced diet of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. But did Sarah of “the healthy home economist” bother to tell us what the child was actually eating? Nope, she just wanted a quick way to demonize a perfectly healthy and ethical diet.
Looking again, it seems Sarah merely posted the misleading information. The actual author of the article would be Kaayla.
Was vegan for years in college- always said I felt the best I ever did in my life. When I got pregnant I started eating meat and dairy again (organic) and have for years. Within the last year I developed RA- have gone back to vegan diet and I am finallly getting relief from the pain/inflamation. I belief in giving my body what it needs-
Consuming good sources of calcium and getting adequate Vitamin D is important, but on it’s own is not enough to make bones strong, just as consuming ample protein sources alone won’t make muscles strong.
Physical activity is key to strong bones and muscles and is absolutely essential throughout early childhood. This has nothing to do with “veganism.”
In all fairness, if doctors were to report parents of children who are obese and on the road to diabetes and heart disease it would receive intense criticism .
Vegansim doesn’t cause ill health. Uneducated and poor lifestyles with little or no physical activity lead to ill health.
Various dietary guidelines in America, Canada and Australia (google the pdfs) state that a well planned vegan or vegetarian diet is sufficient at all stages of life, and has little to no difference on the child’s development compared to a traditional meat and dairy diet. It states the importance of variety and supplementation when necessary for both kinds of diets.
A vegan diet was not the cause of this child’s illness. A poorly-planned vegan diet was the cause. Any poorly-planned diet can be dangerous. This particular case sounds like a Vitamin D deficiency which caused rickets. That is not just a vegan problem. In the past, many UK children developed rickets, and they were not vegan. In fact, rickets is still a minor problem in the UK for children (vegan or not) who do not get enough sunlight and/or Vitamin D (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19467505).
The statement that “If raised strictly vegan, the child would almost certainly have severe deficiencies of Vitamins A and D…..” is false. According to the American Dietetic Association, a vegan diet is healthy for all stages of life, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes. Source: http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/yjada/article/S0002-8223(09)00700-7/fulltext#abstract
The issue of soymilk is simple. Soymilk is NOT a suitable infant formula. Soy infant formula is a suitable replacement, which has been proven safe.
This author attempts to discredit vegans, without citing any sources about nutrition. Some of her statements contradict the current scientific consensus. For example, she suggests that vegans are prone to Vitamin K deficiency. However, the highest sources of Vitamin K are green leafy vegetables (just eat them in a little cooking oil to boost absorption). There are millions of vegan in the world, and they do not have these problems. For detailed and scientific info on vegan health, please visit http://www.veganhealth.org
Couldn’t have said it better.
Readers of this traditional, whole foods blog do not agree with or follow ADA recommendations. The organization is a sell out to Big Ag and the pharmaceutical industry.
You really should research the dangers of soy. It is full of phytoestrogens, which mimic estrogen in our bodies. It wreaks havoc on the endocrine system. I think I’ll pass on giving my two young sons an unhealthy product that contains massive amounts of phytoestrogens. It’s also full of phytates, which binds up minerals so they are unavailable for the body to absorb.
Soy infant formula is not suitable in any circumstance, unless the mother is unable to breast feed, and the infant has a life threatening allergy to every other kind of milk (cow, goat, etc.) in existence. Soy should be an absolute last resort. Not to mention the fact that more than 90% of soy is genetically modified. No thanks.
First of all, the position statement from the ADA is just that; a position statement. It does not attempt to encourage people to be veggies or vegans. It simply states the safety of the veggie/vegan diet. It is well-cited with numerous independent peer-reviewed scientific studies.
I have researched the implications of eating soy. All you would ever want to know about soy is here (long version: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/soy_wth abridged version: http://jacknorrisrd.com/?p=1778). And, yes, I know, the site is called “veganhealth”. But Jack Norris, the doctor who maintains the site, is very impartial. He frequently scolds other vegans who ignore scientific nutritional advice in favor of what they want to hear (for example: http://jacknorrisrd.com/?p=3955). He simply conveys the up-to-date scientific evidence and recommendations. Based on these studies, one or two servings of soy a day have shown no harmful effects, and in some instances are slightly beneficial.
In regards to phytate. Phytate only binds to some of the minerals present in the phytate-containing food itself. It just reduces absorption, which means that you still absorb the unbound minerals. It does not take minerals out of the body.
I encourage everyone to read the sources I have cited. And check those sources as well. Soy is the most researched food in the past few decades. It is therefore easy to cherry-pick studies both for and against soy consumption. What matters is the overall findings of many studies when evaluated together.
Sorry, I did not address soy infant formula or GM (genetically modified) soy.
Yes, I completely agree that breast milk is the absolute best food for babies. I only said that soy formula was a suitable (not perfect) replacement for breast milk, to only be used in the case that breast milk cannot be given. Soy formula was rated by an expert panel to be of “minimal concern” for adverse affects (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/sya-soy-formula/index.cfm#a11251).
93% of the soy grown in the U.S. is genetically modified. That is definitely true. However, where does that soy go? According to the United Soybean Board, 70% of worldwide soy is used for animal feed in factory farms (http://www.unitedsoybean.org/topics/animal-ag/u-s-soy-farmers-poised-for-growth-in-global-animal-feed-industry/). Almost all the rest is in the form of soy oil, which is added to unhealthy processed foods. A minor fraction of soy is consumed by humans in whole form (tofu, tempeh, soymilk, edamame, etc.).
For people who already eat healthy and clean, GM soy should not be a concern, since we already avoid processed foods and the vast majority of animal products (90-99% of U.S. food animals are from factory farms, which are fed GM corn and soy). For those that do not, I encourage you to choose non-GMO foods. This includes factory farmed animals that were raised on GM crops.
Green leafy vegetables are high in vitamin K1. You need K2 for bone support which is found predominantly in animal foods and natto.
I thought someone may mention this. Read the second paragraph of the Wiki entry on Vitamin K. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_K
And concerning conversion of K1 to K2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_K#Conversion_of_vitamin_K1_to_vitamin_K2_in_animals
So, I know I need to do a lot more reading/researching…but even after reading ALL these comments I still have to ask a question. I have been wondering (for a long time now) how in the world can the two main health “camps” BOTH be right? I mean I really respect WAP and also how the GAPS protocol has helped so many children and adults to heal. But on the other side you have research that seems to indicate that vegetarianism/veganism is the way to go (look into the Gerson therapy, which takes care of multiple forms of disease, including all sorts of cancer – there are plenty of records at the Gerson Institute and of course documentaries if you are interested). Also “Forks over Knives” and “Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead” show us that eating meat/dairy doesn’t seem to be necessary – in fact they would say it is detrimental when you are fighting cancer and auto-immune disease. So how can both methods work??? Is this why food combining or food pairing has helped so many? (Being careful not to eat concentrated proteins with concentrated starch in the same meal, eating fruit always by itself, etc…) I want to follow Nourishing Traditions, whole foods etc…but I often wonder if my risk of cancer is greater because I eat so much meat (since watching FOK). I would like to learn more about eating for your type, but so far all the info I can find is very subjective – how do you know for sure what type you are? I don’t want a simple “survey” of questions to see how I “feel” after each meal to be the only indicator of my nutritional type. That doesn’t seem to be scientific enough – after all, it can take a while for your body to react to meals and it’s hard for me to notice trends over time since I don’t eat the same thing every day. Anybody have any suggestions?
If you have eliminated processed meats, meats from GMO sources, and animal foods from animals that eat soy, then I would say that the risk of cancer or any degenerative disease being caused by animals in your diet is pretty close to nil. All of those sources you mentioned have some things you can learn from them. I especially enjoyed Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. However each of them is like seeing just a piece of the puzzle and sometimes having it laying in the middle of a pile of other puzzle pieces that don’t go with what you are trying to put together at all. Gerson therapy is definitely something I would try if I were diagnosed with cancer. I don’t think I would ever go with conventional cancer treatment as it exists in America. Dr. Campbell-McBride, who wrote the GAPS book advocates juicing and fasting both as very useful and healthy for cleansing the body. She also says that a cancer patient should NOT be on her GAPS diet as it is very nourishing but all the foods also would nourish the cancer cells that are already there in the patient. I can’t remember for sure, but she may have even mentioned Gerson therapy as a good route in cancer cases.
Thanks Sheril, I think I see what you mean. It is just so interesting to me because the two methods are so different and offer seemingly opposing information but BOTH therapies seem to work for so many ill people (Gaps and Gerson Therapy). Yes, Dr. Campbell-McBride incorporates juicing and sees that Gerson Therapy would be beneficial especially for cancer etc., but I think Charlotte Gerson would not approve of Gaps. In fact, she agrees with the logic that others have commented on here “the cow is a huge animal and gets plenty of protein from grass” when people ask how can a vegetarian get enough protein) etc… I agree that we don’t have the same digestive system as a cow and I think that is why I would still love to find out more about how to “eat for your type.” I think our bodies are amazing and there is SO much we still don’t know. It’s disappointing to see that so many people commenting here are so arrogant that they feel they need to insult others in order to feel good about getting their point across. One would hope that people that “educate” themselves so much would be more mature, but I guess that is not guaranteed. I was hoping to get several real answers/suggestions to my questions (in my previous comment) about eating right for your type. But I fear I might be wasting my time waiting for comments that are actually focused on a mature discussion of the facts, allowing evidence to be presented without attacks, etc. Thanks for taking the time to answer.
Thx for bringing this to the fore jarl!!!
That article is so full of flawed information, that is pathetic. The author is paid by the Weston Price Foundation a notorious flesh and secretions pusher (who also has a lot of agribusiness money coincidently). Of course, she is gonna spread these lies. Animals don’t make vitamins and minerals, plants do! Vitamin D is a hormone that is created by the sun on your skin. Calcium doesn’t come from cows, they get it from plants. When you repeat lies over and over again to people who believe in myths, of course they are gonna believe their own myths. And they want to make people believe that, as a mammal species ourselves, we are different from cows and should go suck the tits of cows to get something that the cows themselves get from plants? That is the epitamy of absurd.
Animals and animal secretions? wow.. and on top of a belief that WAPF is a big money power broker… Thanks for the laugh. :p
The epitome of absurd is your claim that the WAPF “has a lot of agribusiness money”. You really should inform yourself before commenting here. WAPF advocates organic, grass fed, pastured meat, dairy and eggs from small, local farms… the exact opposite of Big Ag. Seriously, there is a WAPF website that spells this out. Ignorance is bliss I guess…
It is sad to see this blog becoming such a hater of other styles of eating. I am a vegetarian who has become vegan due to finding out that I am intollerant to eggs and cows milk (I drink some goats milk tho and eat honey). I choose this way of eating because it is better for the environment, it is more likely to increase available food to those in poverty and because I care about animals. I don’t hate on meat eaters tho, and I can see that paleo and similar eating styles could be healthy (I prefer to maintain a healthy alkaline state in my body to avoid cancer and disease which you can’t do if you consume animal products) and I have cooked meat when required for a sick relative. Obviously the above cases are extreme and any style of eating in extremes can cause problems. I recall reading a comment by Sarah that the vegan world was so bitchy but the paleo world was so supportive (my words but you get the idea) but nothing about the entry’s lately has felt very supportive, more like an attack. Just my thoughts….
Have you heard of the GAPS diet? Just wanting to offer you a possible answer to explore for yourself. I know having food intolerances and allergies is a terrible thing to deal with. I have a good friend who recently healed her daughter’s egg allergy with just a short time on GAPS and I’ve read of numerous similar experiences. I’m on it too, praying and hoping. Eggs are not one of my numerous food issues. But if GAPS helps me get past even a quarter of my food things, I will be so grateful!
If you want to read about it, try the book, Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.
Thanks, I am aware of the GAPS protocol but I don’t think it is for me. Happy to be moving towards a vegan diet to allow my body to become alkaline. Working with fermented foods too.
My comment tho is more about disgust about the article and the comments to follow. Why can’t both sides of this debate (vegan v’s paleo) come together on common grounds of improving our health and avoiding poor diet choices even tho we don’t all agree on all points. This constant anger and bitching is so counter-productive!
I have a masters in holistic nutrition and natural health, a few months away from my PHD and also a Vegan. I tell all my clients to consult with a professional before making a change. All of my levels of iron, protein, calcium and vitamin d and B12 are very strong. If you raise your child as a vegan or breast feed, you have to first make sure your levels are strong! Many vegans end up eating alot of sugar and pastas and can become deficient in many things. As with any lifestyle change, always make sure you know what you are doing and what you need to be eating. There is other food for all of these nutrients, you have to make you are eating them. The health benefits far outweigh the sacrifice. You do have to be smart when making these changes, otherwise sad stories like this can come about.
I’m sorry, but a way of eating that requires constant monitoring of levels of every nutrient is ridiculous. There is no way it can be healthy, if constant obsession is required to ensure that “health”. Many readers here eat a nutrient dense, traditional diet to maintain health and avoid running to the doctor for every little thing. Why would anyone choose a diet that requires constant monitoring by medical personnel?
Jen-
At least ONE vegan isn’t “constantly monitoring” or “running to the doctor for every little thing”. You make it sound as if we’re ALL obsessed with getting blood work etc. Not here, I’m petrified of needles.
Matter of fact, I can’t even remember the last time I went to the doctor. I’m feeling perfectly fine, not “craving meat/dairy”, not tired or droopy (well… maybe my upper arms & thighs are a bit droopy) or any of the other reasons people give as to why they give up on vegan eating. The ONLY vitamin I take is B12 since I know its not found in plant foods.
So much hate and poor information out there .. is the food we eat and share about to become a divide?? I will say that one of the reasons the human digestive system evolved away from our primate cousins is largely because humans have learned to cook their food. Seems like some are interested in a new paradigm for evolution …
I have been vegetarian, vegan and a meat eater in varying places in my life. I have learned to listen to my body and pay attention to my health and eat accordingly. Right now, that means meat now and again, grassfed if possible, lots of greens and not too much dairy. My divorce from cheese is proving to be painful…. but I think of my personal picture, and move forward…
I truly believe that everyone body is different, some people can live and healthy on a vegan diet but other can’t and I am one of the people who body needs meat protein. I have believed that all things should be kept in balance with all food groups.
Growing children shouldn’t be vegetarians
why not?
Kelly
Umm… because she said so? Perfectly fine reason for her.
I guess it doesn’t matter that scientific, peer-reviewed literature and mainstream health organizations say it is. If she says its not…then its not. Nothing we say otherwise is going to change minds on this site.
Better to just leave the “traditional” people to themselves and go look for some delicious veg*n chocolate recipes.
This isn’t good journalism. What did they feed the kid? A couple a while back killed their child by only feeding lettuce and almond milk. It has nothing to do with a vegan diet and everything to do with neglect. My daughter has been raised on vegan food and was on the wrestling team in middle school. She’s a strong kid!
Your daughter rocks and so do you.
seriously… enough of the prayer and god talk. we are SUPPOSED to be talking about veganism.
while i appreciate some might be god-fearfing folks please respect other enough to not attempt to force your views down our throats.and you befor eyou try to tellme “clearly you need god in your life, blah blah blah” stop and think for a second and realize maybe i DO and i just don feel the need to force that on other, ask moey for my religion, push my vews on others, or try to recruit people. i go have gods in my life. goddesses as well.
THIS IS ABOUT FOOD!!!!
You sound about as angry as I used to be, Kelly, and that’s the only thing I’ll tell you as far as that goes. No one is pushing their ‘talk’ on you. We just aren’t holding back to avoid offending anyone with our ‘talk’. Which doesn’t make any sense to me, but I do remember getting irrationally hot under the collar every time someone mentioned God or being a Christian.
Why is it that people get so angry when Christians speak about God? Oh yeah I remember, because it’s intolerant, right? It’s intolerant hate speech to speak about the deity you love in the context of ANYTHING. Unless you’re Hindi. Or Muslim. Or Buddist. Or… just about anyone else. But Christians are bad, right? Evil narrow-minded bigots? Or is it the ‘fact’ that ‘everyone’ knows that it’s all just make believe? That’s what scientists and magazines and the media tells us anyway. Majority says something and it must be true.
Hey I get it. I used to ride that bus, too. I was about as anti-Christian as you could get. Then I got over myself and started looking around me. And I started to see how Christianity jived with my own beliefs and it went from there. Narrow-minded bigots are everywhere. In every religion or non-religion and every place in between including those who talk about nutrition. Just because Hawkins says that there is no God and Bill Maher says there is no God and a bunch of other talking heads say there is no God doesn’t make it truth. Just like Alicia Silverstone and David Wolff saying that raw veganism is the healthiest lifestyle choice available doesn’t make it truth. Learn to draw connections and get over yourself. We weren’t bothering you and you don’t have to read the word God if you don’t want to!
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This subjects gets a lot of comments! Have any of the vegans/vegetarians on here read “The Vegetarian Myth”? What did you think of it?
What died so the monocultures of soy, corn, wheat, etc. can be grown? The way I see it is: whole ecosystems. From the native grasslands on our prairies, a lot had to die to grow the monocultures which are consumed. Also the land continues to be harmed with the many “cides” ie. fertilizers, pesticides, etc. that this “land” now requires to keep growing these monocultures. What was once land that was teeming with life, is now wasted and barren, growing only monocultures. (And a personal apology for using that word 4 times in one post!)
I respect personal decision and would not appreciate the government telling me how I should eat! Neither would I want to harm anyone and we all could use a little more education sometimes, to help in our choices.
This clearly isn’t a vegan friendly blog,so Sarah can post all the anti-vegan articles she wants to. Keep em coming Sarah please….
Thanks for this “cut to the chase” comment! I agree! Now, if everyone will take the time to look at something FAR more important right now, watch a documentary entitled, “Why In The World Are They Spraying?” OH MY! It’s not gonna matter what diet you are on..they are DESTROYING the FOOD SUPPLY. Be brave enough to find out for yourself. My Mom told me about this at least 5 yrs ago, and I just couldn’t believe it. HORRIBLE! Everyone needs to get mad about this!
“If raised strictly vegan, the child would almost certainly have severe deficiencies of Vitamins A and D, both of which are essential bone nutrients that can only be obtained from animal products.”
This is just wrong. Plant foods do have these nutrients..moreover they’re easier to assimilate than from animal products because they have fibre and water content.
She says failing to eat animal products will turn your spine into microwaved plasticine. Every Gladiator in Rome, Serena Williams, Michael Arnstein, Doug Graham, Ruth Heidrich (an actual 80 year old female Ironman triathlon champion lol) have all just been fluking it.
America’s osteoporosis rates ought to be really low according to mainstream dietary wisdom..but they are not only not low, but amazingly high.
Politically, this is an asinine article because of the following info about the author: “She is Vice President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, on the Board of Directors of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund”
The Weston A. Price Foundation are well known to be taking money from various interest groups for their assistance in making feeble cases against “veganism” (this can mean a broad spectrum of eating habits, so, way to go) and by the same crude token promote animal products as essential to health. This group have basically made it their business to flatly oppose any and everything that The China Study found in its studies, with personal attacks aimed at the author of that book being their matter of course.
Sources please for this, “The Weston A. Price Foundation are well known to be taking money from various interest groups for their assistance in making feeble cases against “veganism”… “. I’d like proof.
The China Study has been flat out debunked, and not by a WAPF supporter either… by a former vegan. Ha! Imagine that. Google “Denise Minger China Study”. Not that you will, and even if you did, you will dismiss the facts. Oh well, it’s your health.
I have watched FOK and was convinced of The China Study until I read her rebuke. It was very interesting. Certainly brings to mind more questions. Thanks for bringing that up.
I would rather listen to a team of scientists led by someone like Colin Campbell than a blogger like Denise Minger. Or course I may be biased, since I myself am I scientist and not a blogger.
Brent, data is data. If you’re a scientist (I am as well), then you realize that data can be manipulated, by someone with an agenda, to show just about any outcome desired. Colin Campbell has an agenda.
Any intelligent, educated person can apply vaild statistical analysis to data, blogger or not. Listen to whoever you want, but don’t fool yourself and believe that scientists don’t have preconceptions, and see what they want to see in their data.
If you’re a scientist, then you must not have even read her analysis of The China Study data. If you had, then you would know that it has been flat out debunked. Unless, of course, you deny factual analysis of data.
http://www.greatveganathletes.com/vegan_athlete_ruth-heidrich
My 80 year old homegirl.
the problem is most of you can’t imagine cooking without meat and diary.
lol. probably most of you, if not eating meat, would eat bread or potatoes every day. things is that lot of vegetables are out there folks.
oh wait, in america they make pesto with parsley too, so i think that hamburgers it’s all you can do. learn to cook, learn about nutrients. they are in vegetables.
ps: basil is different from parsley , as pine nuts are different from classic nuts.
Dmitri, it seems you have not read any of this blog. If you had, you would know that Sarah writes about excellent nutrition. And that does include vegetables. You are making incorrect assumptions about most of Sarah’s readers.
What exactly was the kid eating? Sure, if you feed the kid soda pop and potato chips for dinner, of course they aren’t going to be healthy. Soda pop and potato chip are vegan, therefore a vegan diet is to blame. That is simply ludicrous.
About the whole soy milk/infant formula bit… veganism should not be to blame for these babies’ malnutrition. The issue here comes from parents’ stupidity. The density of nutrients an infant needs requires that either A)You breast-feed your baby. Make sure to talk to your doctor and have the nutritional profile of your blood screen routinely for deficincies during pregnancy and the baby’s breastfeeding timespan.You should already be seeing your doctor routinely anyway, so this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. or B)You look for the best formula you can find for your baby, vegan or not. Ask a vegan friendly doctor if you have to. Wanting to eliminate animal suffering is great, as a vegan I get that, but if your infant child is suffering, you may want to discuss a few minor things you can relax in the baby’s diet just until he/she is past infancy age.
This child’s case of bones that are that degenerated took years to get that bad, and would have been, ultimately, much more noticable before she hit 12 years old. Her parents made some wrong decisions early in her infancy, and as a result, this affected her bone development. (I’d like to also note briefly that I have a hard time believing and article whose main source comes from Fox News, and again, instead or blaming veganism as a whole, we need to prevent parents from making such lethal mistakes; more resources about a proper way to handle feeding an infant a vegan diet need to surface. Otherwise, too many first-time parents will end up losing their children.)
I would like to mention that meat industry is very cruel to animals. Animals, birds, fishes are our friends, our family. We should care for them, protect them and give them their rights to live. Modern man is so intelligent, he/she knows how to grow varities of crops, veggies, fruits, herbs, spices, nuts, pulses, lentils, cereals, seeds, roots..bamboo pulp..so many varieties of food is being grown. If we organize our diet, have a feeling of share and care for each other, if we show human values and compassion, if we discourage these big co-oporartion and meat industries and money making inhumane slaughter houses then we can bring a big huge positive change for all our people, animals and for this planet. When I see the beauty in pigs and cows, see their lovely deep eyes, when I see how they have ability to reproduce and love their babies I feel so touched. My only appeal is to protect animals and give them their natural right to live..especially these wonderful animals like cows, sheeps, goats, amazing lovely fishes and birds who have never ever hurt us. So as humans, having such refined intellect and an ability to evolve and discover, reason and think..we all can slowly become wellwishers of all the beings who share this earth with us, try to be least violent to nature. But still we can always have a meaningful symbiotic relationships with animals where we can help each other without hurting anyone. Instead of misusing the cows for so much lavish amounts of cheese and icecreams, we can understand our real needs and reduce our greed for pleasure. Then no animal, no human, nobody will have to suffer. May all beings be happy, may we all be happy, may peace and love make our lives worth living, worth sharing! Peace and light – Jeenal
I’m vegan and healthy, you say a lot of shit!
Andrea, you just lowered yourself at least 5 notches on a scale of 1-5. So happy you are healthy physically; might think about meditation to take the edge of that grouchy attitude.
I would say that the author of this article had a very grouchy and dismissive attitude towards vegans. While Andrea was crude about it, she is correct.
P.S. Watch “Why In The World Are They Spraying?” and get mad at the greedy folks who are destroying our food supply so you can’t have an opinion at all….
Kids fed an omnivorous diet can and do also develop rickets. Rickets is a vitamin D deficiency (it’s not having “the bones of an 80 yo”) and it used to be extremely common. It’s no longer all that common because all dairy milk is fortified with vitamin D. Milk doesn’t often have vitamin D naturally … it’s added to the milk. It’s D2 that’s added to the milk, as well … which is the plant derived form. The plant based D2 is the most effective at preventing vitamin D deficiency.
It’s not the milk that prevents rickets. It’s the supplements added to the milk that prevents rickets. All the milk is doing is adding hormones such as estrogen (one reason we know dairy causes breast cancer), the also cancer causing IGF-1, and the saturated fat that kills nearly 50% of Americans prematurely.
This is a highly irresponsible article, by someone who doesn’t appear to understand very basic biology and nutrition, and that goes against every bit of the scientific evidence.
Lisa is Raw on $10 a Day (or Less!)\’s last post: Raw Food Menu: March 10, 2013
No, you have it wrong. Most milk is now fortified with D3 – and has been for quite some time – because new research indicated that D2 is not sufficient or effective for bone support. The amount added is also very, very low.
And finally, there are plenty of sources of milk that does not have added hormones. To say that is like saying all plants have estrogens because they are sprayed with pesticides that act as xenoestrogens. In fact, you can get organic vegetables.
I will let someone else get into correcting the old tired myth of saturated fat causing heart disease. Your reply is lacking in any recent research. (And by recent I mean the past 30 years.) I hope your blog has better information!
what a remarkably dishonest and disreputable article.. professional (as in trained in a common place approach) nutritionists seem to ignore the most basic facts of food science.. the most readily absorbed source of calcium are green leaves ..how foolish and unkind to suggest veganism is a poor choice when diabetes and obesity are the serial killers of folk who indulge in the filth of the modern day diet
Jane, if you had any clue as to the type of blog you are posting on here, then you would know that readers here do not “indulge in the filth of the modern day diet”. Perhaps you should take your “foolish and unkind” comment elsewhere.
I believe veganism should be a choice for a grown adult to make on their own without their parent’s influence. If parents choose to be vegan for whatever reason, that is their choice, but they should not make their kids or babies follow the diet until they are old enough to make their own decision. I believe it is a form of abuse to make your kids stick to a vegan diet just because of your personal beliefs, especially when there are so many cases of child veganism causing serious health issues.
And I agree, poor parental decisions such as not going to a qualified physician for help when your milk supply was not sufficient for the baby is more to blame that veganism itself.
are you kidding.. any parent who gives soda, refined grains refined sweetners/sugar , hormone antibiotic treated animal flesh infected milk products, are damaging their offspring!! but not to to worry physicians do not help parents feed their children whole fresh ripe raw organic fruits and vegetables so these cannot be good for them, they do not recommend exercise but recommend disgusting drugs and mind control treatments such as ritalin.. these are all good things because some medic says as much.. give me a break
Egad … what sort of doctors are YOU going to? Our pediatrician is a huge proponent of lots of exercise and whole foods.
(And, fwiw, as a person who has ADD and has a child with ADD, Ritalin is not a “mind control treatment.” It is a medication that has helped me to function greatly when NOTHING else worked.)
But that’s what parents do: make choices for their children until they are old enough to do so themselves. Anything you choose to feed your children is just that – a choice you are making for them. And in many ways we make choices for our children based on our values (what religion, if any, to follow; where to go to school). I much prefer that people make conscious choices about what to feed their children (and themselves) rather than just giving whatever food is easiest. We should all be aware of the nutritional needs of our children and meet those needs but making food choices for our children in and of itself is not unethical.
The lack of understanding by many vegan commenters of the various forms of K and D make it evident how this girl ended up with rickets!! Please do your research! Horrifying.
When parents who follow a more standard diet fail their children nutritionally, we blame the parents in that specific situation rather than diet in general or all people who follow that diet. This girl (http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/01/27/child-abuse-17-year-old-drops-after-eating-only-chicken-nuggets-age-2), for example, was really unhealthy because she ate pretty much nothing but fast food but the reaction wasn’t “PARENTS WHO LET THEIR KIDS EAT FAST FOOD ARE EVIL AND SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO HAVE KIDS.”
As others have said, the failing here was not making sure the child had a nutritious diet, vegan or otherwise. This is a failure of every parent who sends their kid to school with hot chips and soda for lunch (I’m talking to you, pretty much every parent at the school where I teach) and every parent who comments on their child’s weight in a way that pushes them into an eating disorder (I’m talking to you, pretty much every parent at the school where I went). It is not a failure inherent in veganism. To prove that failure would require a whole lot more than a few cases of uninformed or unfit parents.
Well said.
I’m glad you specified that you are talking to parents at the school where you teach, and the school you attended, because you sure aren’t talking to any parents reading this blog.
Sure. I think failing your child nutritionally – I mean truly failing, not just allowing maybe a few more snacks than you should – is not that normal. But I also want to call out that it’s not normal for vegan parents, either. A few unhealthy vegan children does not call into question the diet, just as a few unhealthy omnivores does not call into question diets that include animal products.
Don’t countries with the highest dairy consumption have the highest rates of bone fractures? It has to do with your body’s mechanism of using calcium from your bones to buffer the acid forming high protien foods.
This was definitely an interesting read. I think that food is such a sensitive topic – as evidenced by the comments on this post. I agree with some of the comments that the region you live, and the ancestors you have probably has a large part to do with how well you do on certain diets. I am a big proponent of a plant based lifestyle, but finding fresh veggies in winter in the North East is not entirely easy. I think we have to remind ourselves that there are people who have done exceptionally well eating mainly whale blubber, but I definitely don’t think that would work for my family
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But my dear Heather, the truth is that almost 65 percent of grains are being fed to animals. Meat is leading to so many diseases, slaughter houses are any ways cruel where beautiful living creatures with red blood and tears of pain are being killed, slaughter houses have led to so many problems on earth. Let me explain you more..though not completely because I have to rush. But do you know that artificial breeding is leading to deforestation and global warming. Land is being used to grow crops for animals and leading to many social, economical and environmental issues. It is largely leading to poverty too. Great people and thinkers from west and east, not 1 but there is a huge list..Plato, Leonardo da vinci, Albert Einstein, George Bernard Show, Nikola Tesla, Leo Tolstoy, Voltaire have strongly propagated a vegetarian diet because of its moral, spiritual and health benefits. In fact, Pythagoras, the father of medicine himself is against meat-eating because firstly of the cruelty factor towards animal. Apart from it, nowadays if you are well informed you will get an advice from majority of the doctors to stop meat as it leads to so many diseases like cancer and cardiac, liver, bones problems. In fact so many people are getting cancer today because of meat eating. First of all, the animals produces so many negative emotions and hormones in the blood stream when being killed (just like a human would feel too, because animals are living creatures..with blood, eyes, gentials..they reproduce..they have feelings) and secondly it is too heavy for our intestines as our intestines are really long. In fact if you look around Heather, you will see so many intelligent, ecologically aware and health conscious people have turned vegan..and they have got amazing results..yes majority of them. There is a huge revolution everywhere. There are so many spiritual gurus, so many actors and actresses and sport personalities who have gone vegan and found amazing benefits. But the sad thing is that still there are people who are unaware of the tricks that huge companies who deal in slaughter business. And to support them is Mc donalds, KFC, Burger King who are bringing in more diseases amongst children and adults. Today there are numerous scientific research going on by dedicated team of doctors and scholars on vegetarianism. It heals and cures. But there are wrong propaganda put across by huge money making corporations to mislead us. Though people are standing strong, now they are also moving towards veg but organic food which is the most healthy.
But at the end Heather, the cruel involved is gruesome. To see these lovely animals, who have equal rights to live and enjoy this earthly life are being treated like slaves. Like slavery even slaughtering is absolutely wrong. It would be extremely unwise to say that humans can control, torture and kill animals. Because being human is to show humanity, to show respect and compassion for all the beings. Being human is to evolve and find out alternative non-violent means of living. I am happy to know that you appreciate plant based diet, Heather. But do not be disheartened or think that it is difficult to get veg food in your country. I have traveled and researched. In today’s, modern world many many veggie healthy options are available even in your country. I have many friends who are healthy vegetarians living in North East, and they say more and more people over there are also trying to become vegetarian. So if you do not think that the ‘whale blubber isn’t good for your family, then you are thinking so right..because don’t you think that by killing a marvelous huge and stunning animal like a whale the humans show a disrupted and psychotic personality? It takes a lot to kill, animals have feelings…but we all can protect them. Compassion is the word to be practiced..so you have done such a wonderful thing for your family..your kids by respecting the life of a whale! Kids can learn from us to protect animals, acknowledge their lives. Also there is so much greed for pleasure in the society that we base our happiness on the cost of someone else happiness. The real killer is also radiation, but we can’t live without our wireless and mobiles (that is what we think which is not true) and another killer is meat but humans are now so addicted to meat just like radiation. Thinking rationally, scientifically, spiritually, morally, emotionally…also financially, ecologically as an intelligent human meat actually can lead us to so much harm. Yes Heather. But please do not misunderstand that I am pushing my opinions on you, I am just sharing with you, as you shared with us your views about this vegan girl having some sort of problem. May be you are honestly concerned about this and you have good intentions. However don’t you think that this one incident and such a story would not be appropriate, it has less weight..there should be more reasons and points that one can rely before coming to a conclusion, especially today when millions of people are going vegan and are really improving their health. Therefore, some people are upset with this article and they feel frustrated because they had have positive experiences with vegetarianism. Some are really upset, I can see that. I agree to them, but they could have been polite with you Heather. But it seems they felt that the information was not right..so may be.
I just hope that we all, the animals, the earth and our children be happy and healthy. And together we can bring love, share and care. We can bring small healthy non-violent changes. No slaughter houses, lots of trees, no radiation, organic food coming from the core of the earth, fresh water to drink, cows and pigs and chicken happy, all happy and a life to rejoice. That is what people who have opted for vegetarianism are trying to bring. If you wish, you can join the team too!!! But even if you do not wish to join this movement or disagree..I still respect you. Because we all have different opinions and we still should try to bring peace. Please do not feel bad if I said anything that you did not like. But I think I was polite and lovely with you and also the animals!!
I wish you so much love, big success in your work, and a lot of joy in life.
May we all be lead to pure knowledge and may all come out of pain and ignorance. May you be happy, may all be happy!
Well wisher of everyone
Jeenal
The thing is, there have been healthy, thriving vegetarians and vegans for as long as there have been humans. Some were so do to moral or ethical concerns, others due resource utilization issues, others due to cultural taboos. All other factors being equal, the veg(etari)ans have thrived, and continue to do so.
For some more recent historical examples of vegans, we can look at Pythagoras, the “Pythagoreans” (as vegans were called for the following 1300 years). Buddhists, Jainists, et al., have been doing grand as veg(etari)ans since around the 6th century BCE. There are many more examples, but the point is as it effect this conversation is that vegans have not and do not suffer greater occurrences of edge case conditions such as depicted in this article any more than the rest of the population, and it’s just silly to suggest otherwise.
But then, this story is sourced from Fox “News”, so I suppose we shouldn’t expect much in the way of academic or scientific rigor in the reporting, eh?
As an aside, for anyone who is interested in engaging the broader discussion of veganism, you can find a willing and interested group of folks in the Vegan community on G+: goo.gl/gkg0P
It always amazes me how many uneducated people are out there. No matter what diet anybody is on, they have to educate themselves about balance and nutrition. Nobody raises an eye, when an obese child develops health problems due to bad diet! I used to have a normal diet, eating meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables, etc., but I was always ill, I developed CFS, IBS, always overweight and could not loose any of it, acid reflux and suffered with depression. I am now vegan, IBS, acid reflux, CFS all gone! And the weight is not a problem any more. I am stronger and healthier than ever in my life, and I have so much energy that I started doing extreme sports, and other activities on a daily basis.
That’s odd, because the Dieticians of Canada, and their counterparts in the USA, state that an appropriately planned vegan diet is safe for all life stages. I can think of a lot more than 1 sick 12 year old – most of them are obese from eating a meat and dairy diet. Some are even getting type 2 diebetes in childhood, although I hope it hasn’t hit the 12 year olds yet!
MJ
A lot of the readers here don’t believe/trust in mainstream health organziations.
Better to just leave the “traditional” people to themselves and go look for some delicious veg*n chocolate recipes.
Sensationalist bullcrap, and lousy journalism.
Yep, the author of the article is right!! We MUST feed meat to babies and especially formula from Nestle – everything that comes from nature is unhealthy, MUST be, because the industry teaches us so
Hey there, I’m 18 and I’ve always been strict vegetarian. I don’t eat meat or eggs, either directly or indirectly,ie not from chocolates,biscuits,cakes,ice creams etc. Infact, I don’t even use silk,leather or shampoos and makeup that contain animal products. I’m healthy,according to my doctor and yes, I do have a healthy weight of 112 ibs for my height. I neither look fat nor anorexic but fit. It’s all about balance and having healthy meals. I’m a lacto veg. There is no such thing as all vegetarians or vegans being unhealthy. It’s all a common misconception. If it happens so,its because the person isn’t having healthy balanced meals. Infact,I have non veg friends who have certain vitamin deficiancies,whereas I don’t have any.
Omg a sick child who eats a plant based diet as opposed to an entire generation that is expected to not out live their parents. A whole generation who are already the fattest in history. A generation who is already riddled with diet related cronic sickness like type 2 diabetes and a stroke at 21, completely normal.
Thanks for this meat and dairy industry advertisement, but I am happy to keep eating plants!
Vegan 21yrs and raising two very healthy energetic vegan boys with no health concerns, perfect teeth and my last bone density test was as high as could be. This article stinks of Western Price. I wonder what is so fearful about veganism and ethical eating that is causing this organisation to be throwing everything at the vegan/ethical movement.
As a previous child protection worker i have seen way too many cases of ‘meat eating’ kids with a number of health issues but its never reported in the media but one very rare case of a vegan child is affected it is front page news everywhere.
I can understand that veganism can cause many to face their ethical choices and be uncomfortable or want to bury ones head but dont understand the hatred that is espoused by those that get so very defensive with it. I especially dont understand the cult like movement of WP and the efforts both financially and time that is spent trying to attack veganism.
Nothing we say is going to change opinions on this site.
Better to just leave the “traditional” people to themselves and go look for some delicious veg*n chocolate recipes.
So there is one child who is not well and she happens to be vegan! WOW. Every time I leave the house these days I see obese children everywhere – sometimes they are just toddlers. This is child abuse. I see obese parents walking around with obese children and I am disgusted and horrified at their abuse of their children, who will no doubt develop diabetes and other life threatening illnesses. They are obviously feeding their children massive amounts of animal fats and processed foods. These people are EVERYWHERE. How about we focus on this epidemic instead of one case where a child in sick who happens to be vegan. We don’t know what genetic issues may have been present in this case as there are millions of very healthy vegan children. I have met a few children who have been vegan since birth and they are some of the healthiest, brightest, and happy children I have seen.
I had a dear friend in high school that was and is a vegan, sadly he is in terrible condition
mentally and physically. I am also aware of several people who embraced the vegan lifestyle until they had a event of illness due not having enough b-12 in their system, such as chronic fatigue and cancers breast in particular. Read the book “Is IT B-12″ available used on amazon for cheap! Excellent book! I am of a mind that some people may be able to be vegan for awhile, and even some, although very few for a lifetime. However children need
a full array of healthy food, preferable non GMO, organic fruits, seed, nuts,veggies and beans as well as grass fed meats and raw dairy! If the child is of a mind to try to be a vegan as an adult at least they have stores of b-12 to live on for awhile. I have read and researched tons of literature and studies due to trying to help my vegan friend gain some semblance of help and was surprised to see many studies stating that the IQ of children raised vegan is lower than those raised on traditional foods! And if you read about b-12 you will understand why that is so. Our bodies need natual grassfed animal fat to be healthy mentally and physically, chew the fat and change your life.
We don’t need meat and dairy. It’s a myth that they are required for proper nutrition that’s been promoted by strong agriculture and dairy lobbies. You can get a well-balanced diet, nutritionally, from plant-based sources. In fact, in countries where dairy and meat are the highest proportion of the diet, there is also a high osteoporosis and heart disease rate. In countries where meat & dairy is smallest (or nonexistent) they do not suffer from these health issues.
The issues are most likely something beyond the vegan diet here, or it only serves as an example of a poor vegan diet at best, consisting of processed foods rather than whole fruits and veg. ANY diet that focuses on processed food products and not whole foods will be nutrient deficient.
There are many people who raise healthy, strong, happy kids who are vegan. Veganism seems to be the new villain. People have been forced to believe (against research to the contrary) that they NEED meat & dairy to eat healthy, when in fact, they do not. Vegans are immediately considered unhealthy, but tell someone you’re “low carb” and eat 3 pounds of bacon a day and no one blinks an eye.
I suggest that if you think that we need meat & dairy to survive that you do some real research into nutrition, what you find might surprise you.
What does it mean vegan ? I’m vegan and I’m healthy. But vegan doesn’t mean that you drink Coca Cola all day and eat spaghetti. Vegan mean that you eat fruit all fruit, vegetables and some seeds. Correct vegan diet is not dangerous do you know Annette Larkins or Mimi Kirk ? 70 years old that looks like 40. Search on google. Vegan is ideal diet for body and mind.
I do wonder where all the trillions of articles are citing the terrible effects on individual children of the modern American diet! How many children visit doctors suffering from various deficiencies? I’ve heard tell of thousands of kids who never eat vegetables suffering from constipation so terribly they are vomiting up excrement! And you have the audacity to single out veganism as a form of abuse? Disgusting. Veganism, if combined with full-term breast-feeding and a proper understanding of nutrition is almost certainly the most healthy way to raise your kids!
All vegans suck.
Bacon is life.
Now all you grass eating morons go eat a cheeseburger, you stupid hippie clowns!
Class. Real class.
Ssshhh. Don’t feed the trolls.
I was raised vegan. I had very sporadic periods, about twice a year through my teens and early twenties. Ever since I added meat into my diet I have had them every 32 days like clockwork. Vegan diets are a great detox, but I would say they are not appropriate for long term health.
Hmm… I respect where you’re coming from on this, @Ravenwyn, but I don’t think I comprehend how veganism might not be considered appropriate for long term health.
You see, as *I* understand it (and to partially reiterate a previous post), there have been healthy, thriving vegetarians and vegans for as long as there have been humans. Some were so do to moral or ethical concern, others due to resource utilization issues, others due to cultural taboos. All other factors being equal, the veg(etari)ans have thrived, and continue to do so. For some more recent historical examples of vegans, we can look at Pythagoras and the subsequent the “Pythagoreans” (as vegans were called for the following 1300 years), along with a plethora of like-minded contemporaries (e.g. goo.gl/lgDBL). Buddhists, Jainists, et al., have been doing grand as veg(etari)ans since around the 6th century BCE. There are many more examples, but the point is that veganism is clearly a viable option for humans.
In fact, it’s well established that when humans consume the flesh, secretions, et al., of animals, it causes diseases in them at a much, much higher rate than it does in those who don’t. These consist primarily of a range of heart diseases and cancers (colorectal and breast cancers in particular), but include a long list of fairly nasty ailments. Given the increased risk of contracting these illnesses and that consuming animals is clearly not a necessity for humans, doesn’t this mean that doing is actually less health-some rather than more so?
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