If you are a parent considering raising your child plant-based, consider the case of a 12-year-old girl raised on a strict vegan diet. The girl ended up in 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.
Fast Food Diet Better for a Child than Veganism
Say what you will about a child who eats junk food, if the diet overall includes animal foods like eggs, meat and dairy…even if from fast food joints…this type of bone degeneration simply does not happen.
For all the downsides of The Standard American Diet, it is shockingly still a better choice than even a whole food vegan diet (aka “plant-based”) that is devoid of numerous critical nutrients a growing child’s body demands.
Pediatrician Discredits Veganism for Children
Media reports indicate that the hospital doctors were under pressure to report the girl’s parents to police and social workers.
Dr. Faisal Ahmed, a pediatrician treating the girl, warned that the dangers of forcing children to follow a strict vegan diet need to be publicized. (1)
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 foods.
For example, using aquafaba instead of eggs and plant-based meat substitutes can prove very dangerous.
In all likelihood, the child would also be lacking needed calcium, zinc (the intelligence mineral), B-12 as well as other B vitamins, Vitamin K2, 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 from vegetables like carrots 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 spent a lot of time outdoors year-round in a tropical area. Northern climes like Scotland simply do not offer the benefit of Vitamin D-producing sunlight for much of the year.
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 the 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 soy milk instead of soy 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 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. 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. (3)
The sad truth is that numerous vegans have been charged and found guilty of unintentionally starving their children from all across the globe, including parents in Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Australia, and the United States among others. (4-10)
Vegan Breastfeeding Dangerous Too
In France, a vegan couple was sentenced to 5 years in prison 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 breastfed by a vegan mother.
An autopsy showed her to be not only severely underweight and malnourished but severely deficient in Vitamins A and B12. (2, 11-12)
The mother had cared enough to breastfeed, but had an inadequate supply of poor quality milk because of the severe nutritional limitations of her plant-based diet.
While veganism for very young children can be catastrophic, the tragic case of the 12-year-old Scottish girl illustrates that plant based diets for older children are also dangerous. Although finally getting medical treatment, the child’s long-term prognosis for recovery and a normal life remains grim.
Sadly, the word about the dangers of veganism for children doesn’t seem to be getting through to the general public. The continual barrage of highly flawed propaganda-ridden, documentaries such as What The Health guarantees that more well-intentioned but seriously misinformed vegan child malnourishment cases are likely to follow.
References
(1) Parents of 12-Year-Old Vegan Girl Who Has Degenerative Condition May Face Charges
(2) French Vegans Charged with Neglect After Baby’s Death from Nutritional Deficiencies
(3) Vegan Couple Serving Life Sentences for Starving Baby to Death
(4) Vegan Couple Who Fed Child Only Raw Fruit and Vegetables Charged with Murder
(5) Sydney vegan couple starved 20-month-old girl leaving her toothless and with rickets
(6) Baby Death: Parents Convicted of Killing Son with a Diet of Vegetable Milk
(7) Swedish Parents Jailed for Almost Starving Vegan Toddler to Death
(8) Strict vegan parents starved their baby of nutrients so badly that the one-year-old developed cerebral palsy and was in intensive care for a month with rashes and internal bleeding
(9) Italian baby raised on a vegan diet hospitalized for severe malnutrition, removed from parents
(10) Vegan couple will serve life sentences for starving baby to death, Georgia court rules
(11) French Couple Sentenced to 5 Years in Jail for Vegan Breastfeeding Death of 11 Month Old Baby
(12) Vegan Parents Face Jail
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.
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!
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…
Thx for bringing this to the fore jarl!!!
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. 🙂
FYI: The Gerson Method uses liver extract in the treatment thus it is NOT vegan and is used therapeutically for cancer treatment.
eat natural, fresh, food cut out the stuff thats not good for you you are what you eat, no processed foods.
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 ). 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
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.
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-
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.