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
http://www.greatveganathletes.com/vegan_athlete_ruth-heidrich
My 80 year old homegirl.
“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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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. 🙂
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.
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…