How could a vegan diet be safe and practical for infants and small children?

Question

This girl was put on a strict vegan diet, and ended up with a degenerative bone disease that left her with the spine of an 80 year old:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4087977.ece

I understand the philosophy of veganism, and I am interested, BUT people do come first. How could this girl's diet have been structured safely and still be considered vegan?

Answer 1

She didn't end up with rickets because she was vegan, she ended up with rickets because her parents didn't bother to see to her vitamin D intake.  There's a big difference.

The American Dietitic Association and the Dietitians of Canada agree that a properly planned vegan diet is appropriate for ALL life stages, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence.  

It's the reponsibility of all parents to make sure that their children are getting the nutrition they need, regardless of the diet they've chosen for their families.  A few isolated cases of malnutrition splashed all over the media should not constitute an indictment for a dietary plan that nutrition experts approve of.  What the general public never hears about is the thousands of perfectly healthy vegan kids.  I know four vegan kids personally ranging from 3-14; their parents are informed and responsible and the kids are happy, healthy and thriving.

I don't know all of the details of this particular case so I don't know if there were deficiencies beyond vitamin D, but that's all that was covered in the story.  In that case, since she lived in Glasgow, which is too far north to get the necessary sunshine to form vitamin D most of the year, her parents could have added fortified foods or a supplement to her diet.  Note that dairy products do NOT naturally have vitamin D.  Rickets used to be a common problem.  Vitamin D and calcium work best in conjunction and government officials needed a vehicle for getting sufficient vitamin D into children's diet, so they chose milk because it already had the calcium and most children drink it regularly.  There's no reason, knowing those facts, that a vegan child drinking fortified plant milk would be any different than an omnivore child drinking fortified animal milk.

Answer 2

A well-balanced vegan diet is completely safe for children.

http://www.vegansociety.com/people/lifes...

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/kids.htm

The girl in this article suffered from rickets, a condition that is caused by a lack of vitamin D. The main source of vitamin D for all humans (vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore) is the sun. Not fish liver, THE SUN. Very few foods actually contain vitamin D.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18088...

In areas such as Scotland (where this girl lives) many people do not get enough sun exposure to make sufficient amounts of vitamin D. For this reason cows milk is often fortified with vitamin D. Vegans do not drink cows milk; however, there are many other fortified vegan products available such as margarine and non-dairy milks. If fortified cows milk is an acceptable dietary source of vitamin D, then it follows that fortified soy milk is also an acceptable source. Fortified foods provide most of the vitamin D in the American diet.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15585...

Ruling out the possibility of a genetic condition which prevents vitamin D absorption, the fact that this girl developed rickets may be a result of bad parenting BUT it is not a result of a vegan diet.

Vegan parents, just like other parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children eat well and get all the nutrients they need. And, yes... in this case it appears the poor child's parents failed to do this. However, the majority of vegan parents are careful to ensure their children eat a healthy diet.

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/real...

To keep things in perspective: There are many more omnivore children with diet related health issues than vegan children. You only need to look at the rising statistics of obese children worldwide. I wonder how many of those children are vegan?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/articl...

Answer 3

This a what you would all neglect. They had been around the girl for the past 12 years, it should be pretty easy to see that she "had the spine of an 80-year old". Why was nothing done until now?

Like someone said, when an omni child develops a severe deficiency it's called malnutrition. When a vegan child gets sick o dies, they just call it veganism and everyone talks about how right they are to not be "normal".

The girl had rickets caused by lack of vitamin D. How stupid is that? You can make your own just by being in the sun and there are countless fortified foods that can offer it.

Sorry, this article has nothing to do with vegan diets and everything to do with s**+tty parenting.

Answer 4

I have two children who are 19 months old, and almost 3 yrs old, and they have eaten a WELL PLANNED vegan diet since birth. They are very healthy, and on target for growth, and other milestones, and are by no means under nurished. Their pediatrician (who is a meat eater)said that are children are eatting a perfectly healthy diet, and are not deficient in any areas.

Situations like the one you sited happen because some parents (whether they are vegan or meat-eaters) do not take the time to plan a healthy diet for their children, and make sure they are getting all of the nutrients they need. For example, a few years ago a five year old boy developed scurvy because his parents allowed him to eat a diet of pizza and pop tarts. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0...

The girl you mentioned could have gotten vitamin D by just spending some time in the sunshine, or from fortified soy or rice milks, or from a vitamin suppliment.

Answer 5

it is difficult, if not impossible for children to grow in a normal and healthy manner when following a vegan diet. they simply cant get enough nutrients. even with supplements, diets that are vegan are extremely dangerous for young children

in my opinion, children should be fed well rounded diets that are healthy, and then be allowed to make their own choices later when it is safe to cut out meat and animal products. its not fair for a parent to subject their child to poor growth and ill health because of their stance on animal rights (what about human rights ???)

Answer 6

I have a 4 year vegan old girl who started walking at 9 1/2 months.  She was breast feed until she was 19 months. She can walk nearly five miles. She has better than average dexterity and balance than her peers. She does not want to be carried or go places in the car. She wants to walk or go on bikes. We are very aware of what she eats. We have talked with her doctor about her diet.

There are 1000's of cases of malnutrition of children that eat meat.

Do you think formula is good for infants?

What parents that feed their children McDonald's and fried foods everyday?

The simple fact is you are not comfortable with my lifestyle because you are ignorant of it.

Have you ever posted on the fact that in the USA that over 50%  of the population is overweight?

Are concerned that this major health concern is now effecting children and infants?

I doubt that you post on these facts.

Are you aware of any other cases besides the one you site here? These cases are very rare. A good parent takes the time to make sure their child(ren) get what they need. Stay out of my life.