Children 'harmed' by vegan diets
Discussion
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4282257.stm
Interesting. And simultaeneously satisfying and worrying...poor kids!
>>> Edited by Don on Monday 21st February 09:25
bbc_web_site said:
Putting children on strict vegan diets is "unethical" and could harm their development, a US scientist has argued.
Lindsay Allen, of the US Agricultural Research Service, attacked parents who insisted their children lived by the maxim "meat is murder".
Animal source foods have some nutrients not found anywhere else, she told a Washington science conference.
The Vegan Society dismissed the claims, saying its research showed vegans were often healthier than meat eaters.
'Development affected'
Professor Allen said: "There have been sufficient studies clearly showing that when women avoid all animal foods, their babies are born small, they grow very slowly and they are developmentally retarded, possibly permanently."
Professor_Lindsay_Allen_director_of_the_US_Agricultural_Research_Service said:
There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents to bring up their children as strict vegans
"If you're talking about feeding young children, pregnant women and lactating women, I would go as far as to say it is unethical to withhold these foods [animal source foods] during that period of life."
She was especially critical of parents who imposed a vegan lifestyle on their children, which denied them milk, cheese, butter and meat.
"There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents to bring up their children as strict vegans," she said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting.
Missing nutrients
She said the damage to a child began while it was growing in the womb and continued once it had been born.
Research she carried out among African schoolchildren suggests as little as two spoonfuls of meat each day is enough to provide nutrients such as vitamin B12, zinc and iron.
The 544 children studied had been raised on diets chiefly consisting of starchy, low-nutrition corn and bean staples lacking these micronutrients.
Over two years, some of the children were given 2oz supplements of meat each day, equivalent to about two spoonfuls of mince.
Two other groups received either a cup of milk a day or an oil supplement containing the same amount of energy. The diet of a fourth group was left unaltered.
The changes seen in the children given the meat, and to a lesser extent the milk or oil, were dramatic.
These children grew more and performed better on problem-solving and intelligence tests than any of the other children at the end of the two years.
They also became more active, talkative and playful at school.
Adding either meat or milk to the diets also almost completely eliminated the very high rates of vitamin B12 deficiency previously seen in the children.
No quick fixes
Professor Allen stressed that although the study was conducted in a poor African community, its message was highly relevant to people in developed countries.
She accepted that adults could avoid animal foods if they took the right supplements.
But she said adding animal source food into the diet was a better way to tackle malnutrition worldwide than quick fixes with supplements in the form of pills.
"Where feasible, it would be much better to do it through the diet than by giving pills," she said.
"With pills it's very hard to be certain that the quantity of nutrition is right for everybody and it's hard to sustain."
In Africa, good results had been obtained from giving people a dried meat on a stick snack which proved both nutritious and appealing.
Professor Montague Demment, from the University of California at Davis, said more emphasis should be placed on animal source food to combat global malnutrition.
However, the claims have been dismissed by the Vegan Society.
They point to research which suggests that vegans are, on average, healthier than those who eat animal products.
Interesting. And simultaeneously satisfying and worrying...poor kids!
>>> Edited by Don on Monday 21st February 09:25
BliarOut said:
And they call smacking child abuse If you want to harm yourself by eating a crackpot diet, fair enough but it's so very wrong to enforce malnutrition on a child.
Aren't you on holiday yet?
Anyway, I seem to remember a study a few years ago where it was found that the average vegan IQ was 2 or 3 points lower than standard average.
It was not found out whether their diet was the cause of their IQ or their IQ was the cause of their diet.
Yeah because a 1 year old is able to rationalise the moral difference between animal and non-animal produce.
You HAVE to make the decision on what is best for your child in the early days and enforced militant veganism is NOT the best for your child. Can you even begin to imagine the developmental effects of substituting maternal milk with soya milk?
Its a diet that is lacking in the building blocks of everything our body does.
You HAVE to make the decision on what is best for your child in the early days and enforced militant veganism is NOT the best for your child. Can you even begin to imagine the developmental effects of substituting maternal milk with soya milk?
Its a diet that is lacking in the building blocks of everything our body does.
Wouldn't surprise me - I lived with a house full of people last year who gradually all moved to a vegetarian or vegan diet for no reason other than it added to their ultra-affected personality constructs.
As a result, they were nearly permenantly ill despite the fact that they lived off a diet of rather expensive meat-substitute this and that and soya-based 'dairy' products, washed down with a metric tonne of pills as supplements, they managed to catch every bug going and had almost constant stomach-ache of some kind or another. Thing is, I never caught their bugs, so my diet must have been better for my immune system.
As humans (and vegetarians may protest but this fact cannot be denied) we are designed to be omnivorous. Our bodies are such that a balanced diet must include a mixture of fruits, vegetables and meats. Obviously it is best if we shy away from excessively processed stuff and try to find the lowest-fat, lowest-salt, organically-produced items, but they're all vital unless you have some kind of illness, or your physique has literally evolved on religious lines.
And yes, you need fat, salt and sugar as part of a balanced diet too. People on diets seem to forget this - ever noticed how these 'healthy, ethical' eaters are always knackered and pale - they've got nowhere to store their energy, and they don't take enough of it in in the first place.
Eat to live, and live to eat, but don't get too picky for the sake of your 'evolved conscience' or you'll just make yourself ill.
I can imagine the effects on a child would be even worse.
As a result, they were nearly permenantly ill despite the fact that they lived off a diet of rather expensive meat-substitute this and that and soya-based 'dairy' products, washed down with a metric tonne of pills as supplements, they managed to catch every bug going and had almost constant stomach-ache of some kind or another. Thing is, I never caught their bugs, so my diet must have been better for my immune system.
As humans (and vegetarians may protest but this fact cannot be denied) we are designed to be omnivorous. Our bodies are such that a balanced diet must include a mixture of fruits, vegetables and meats. Obviously it is best if we shy away from excessively processed stuff and try to find the lowest-fat, lowest-salt, organically-produced items, but they're all vital unless you have some kind of illness, or your physique has literally evolved on religious lines.
And yes, you need fat, salt and sugar as part of a balanced diet too. People on diets seem to forget this - ever noticed how these 'healthy, ethical' eaters are always knackered and pale - they've got nowhere to store their energy, and they don't take enough of it in in the first place.
Eat to live, and live to eat, but don't get too picky for the sake of your 'evolved conscience' or you'll just make yourself ill.
I can imagine the effects on a child would be even worse.
This follows on from research last year where Creatine, a substance found in meat, was given to vegetarians and caused an almost immediate IQ boost.
Vegetarianism is a stupid fad. Parents who practice it whilst pregnant or who force it on their children are harming those children. Makes sense, we evolved over more than 100 thousand years as hunter gatherers to eat an omniverous diet, just look at your teeth and you can see that they were designed for this job. This is also why modern diets high in simple carbohydrates and saturated fats cause so much trouble, obesity, diabetes, mood swings etc. Our bodies are just not designed for the junk that people put into them. Crisps, for instance, are the devil's spawn.
Vegetarianism is a stupid fad. Parents who practice it whilst pregnant or who force it on their children are harming those children. Makes sense, we evolved over more than 100 thousand years as hunter gatherers to eat an omniverous diet, just look at your teeth and you can see that they were designed for this job. This is also why modern diets high in simple carbohydrates and saturated fats cause so much trouble, obesity, diabetes, mood swings etc. Our bodies are just not designed for the junk that people put into them. Crisps, for instance, are the devil's spawn.
vetteheadracer said:
No breast feeding then
I'd have thought breastfeeding is ok (But then I'm sane
) as the main objection (AFAIK) is to the exploitation of animals, rather than use of animal protein per se. After all if you don't use breasts for their true purpose, what do you use them for? :wandersoffhandsinpocketswhistlinginnocentlywaitingforasoapyt1tw4nkgagsmiley:
bruciebabe said:
Vegetarianism is a stupid fad.
I disagree. People are vegetarian for a variety of reasons. I have not eaten meat for 17 years, which is hardly a fad.
However, I don't agree with forcing other people, particularly children, to follow your personal choices. It's perfectly possible to give children a healthy diet which includes meat and then allow them to make their own decisions about what they want to eat/not eat when they're old enough.
mechsympathy said:
No breast feeding then
I'd have thought breastfeeding is ok (But then I'm sane
:wandersoffhandsinpocketswhistlinginnocentlywaitingforasoapyt1tw4nkgagsmiley:
It is according to Veganism but there are many reasons that breast feeding cannot take place.
So the child doesnt get the colostrum, the lack of which has been linked to immunodeficiency and then doesnt get the fats and milk solids found in dairy.
If the mother cannot breast feed forcing veganism is an act of lunacy IMHO.
Plotloss said:
It is according to Veganism but there are many reasons that breast feeding cannot take place.
So the child doesnt get the colostrum, the lack of which has been linked to immunodeficiency and then doesnt get the fats and milk solids found in dairy.
If the mother cannot breast feed forcing veganism is an act of lunacy IMHO.
I agree, I just hadn't factored in being unable breastfeed.
birdbrain said:
Vegetarianism is a stupid fad.
I disagree. People are vegetarian for a variety of reasons. I have not eaten meat for 17 years, which is hardly a fad.
However, I don't agree with forcing other people, particularly children, to follow your personal choices. It's perfectly possible to give children a healthy diet which includes meat and then allow them to make their own decisions about what they want to eat/not eat when they're old enough.
Another long term veggie here.
I'm a baggage handler and not notably sickly.
I recently went out with a vegan - her life was making sure her diet was not compromised. Also the healthiest person I have ever met. Freaky. Her mates were a bunch of whimps, though.
But deffo not something to inflict on kids - I grew this big on a mediteranean diet.....something I would recommend to anyone of whatever age.
mechsympathy said:
as the main objection (AFAIK) is to the exploitation of animals
I try not to exploit vegetables. They have feelings too...
Frankly, it's all ill-educated tosh. An extreme example was a man who thought it best to live only on grass. I think he died. No-one told him his body didn't have cellulase, the enzyme needed to break down plant cell walls...
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