Vegans can you explain this please?

Question

I have just read an article in the Times . About a 12 year old girl being taken to hospital because she was suffering from Rickets and other bone problems . They are claiming it is because of her diet.Was these problems due to being on a strict Vegan diet ? And if you are a strict vegan do you allow your children vegetarian food first or is your child a vegan also. Is this genuine or are they just targeting a belief they don't understand ?

I am a vegetarian by the way and do not have children.

Answer 1

There are numerous cases these days of Vegans who have been raised that way since birth. A vegan diet is appropriate and healthy for any stage of life, including childhood, pregnancy, and old age.

The parents were obviously ill informed, and they should worry about their own health as well. This goes to show the importance of education and knowledge when approaching any situation. You have to ensure that your child will be getting adequate nutrition from any diet you put him or her on.

Veganism itself is perfectly healthy, as long as it is well planned.

Answer 2

I read the same article, which seemed to suggest that the cause of her severe degenerative bone condition was a lack of vitamin D, due to her being fed a strictly vegan diet.

It said vitamin D is needed to absorb calcium and is found in liver, fish and dairy produce.

She has been "left with the spine of an 80 year old".

A consultant paediatrician and a nutritionist seemed to be suggesting that her diet had caused her condition.

Also highlighted were an American couple who were given life sentences for starving their 6 week old baby to death, and 2 vegans from London who were sentenced to 3 years community rehabilitation after they admitted starving their baby to death.

These cases can hardly have been prosecuted as a result of ill informed prejudice against vegans.

It is well and good for all parents to adhere to whatever diet they want for themselves, but they should recognise that such a diet may well be unsuitable for a developing child.

If vegans (or anyone else) wishes to impose their dietary preferences on any child, they are, and should be, responsible for ensuring that no harm results.

It may well be that the parents concerned just did not know that their daughter was malnourished, but that is no excuse. They have the duty of care, and it is they who have to take steps to feed their children adequate diets.

Answer 3

I'm not a Vegan but have seen some documentaries about Vegan life. If anything, Vegans eat a far more balanced diet than us carnivores. They pay special attention to all the proteins, vitamins and nutrients that they eat. I just shove any old thing in my mouth without thinking of the health aspect of it, as do most folk I know!!!

Answer 4

It might be an idea to go back to how our diet developed. I very much doubt early humans cared about veganism, so I'd guess it's not natural. Their diets would have got proteins from insects and all sorts we wouldn't consider now. To experiment on young children doesn't seem a good idea to me. I suspect vegans have improved their diets in the past 20 years, I stayed in a commune of vegans about then and they were like ghosts. I was helping build things on their land, and I'm sorry to say they weren't very good at hard work, weak and little staying power. Incidentally, I don't eat meat as a rule, though probably would if I was a guest somewhere that did.

Answer 5

Rickets is caused by calcium deficiency. You can get plenty of calcium in a well balanced vegan diet.

Answer 6

I heard this debate on the radio earlier. The vgetarian society woman made a very good point - Lots of children on non vegan diets get rickets too so I think it's just swings and roundabouts really. I'm not a vegetarian or vegan but I think this is a ridiculous attack on the vegetarian/vegan community because of a slow news day. I see some of the c**p that people feed their kids on a daily basis and alot of it is pure junk but you don't see the parents of any of the many obese children being torn to shreds in the tabloids. No one sets out to harm their children by feeding them what they think is best and we can't get everything right all of the time.

Answer 7

My understanding of a vegan diet is that you have to be careful to ensure you get a full and balanced diet.  It is perfectly possible to achieve however.

This is of course particularly important for children who need these nutrients for growth and development.

If the parents didn't understand the dietary requirements of their child and didn't feed her correctly then she would naturally suffer the consequences.  This is true of any diet, including those with meat.  

I am sure I have recently read that there is an increased level of rickets being reported - I believe linked to some children not getting sufficient sunlight.  

Although this child is suffering as a result of her diet, it is due to negligent parents and is not proof that the vegan way of life is bad for you.

Answer 8

Attacking something they don't undersand I guess.

Your question reminds me of when, at University, a lecturer told us that the vegan diet is a ''fad'', so I made sure he knew how unprofessional and offensive that is to say that.

Basically, there's a lot of misinformation.

[edit] Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption. Vegans get adequate vitamin D by exposure to natural light (sunlight). A little sunshine in summer allows your body to produce enough vitamin D for the rest of the year.

Answer 9

Being a vegan may have played a small part in her health but I do think that people were primarily attacking something they dont fully understand.

I know many vegans with children and they have generally made their children vegetarian as a kind of half way deal kind of thing and then let them have their own choice when they are old enough to decide for themself :)

Answer 10

I would have thought the parents would have had the common sense to feed the child normal food with all the nutrients needed before a fad of eating nuts and veg, when the child is older then they could choose what they wanted to do with there eating habits, the parents should be done for cruelty

Answer 11

stupid people that push their diet on there kids not knowing that children need a balance diet

Answer 12

The couple who raised that child were not smart about giving them the proper nutrition.  Her spine condition was a result of a vitamin D deficiency.  Vitamin D can be made by the skin from simple sun exposure so it sounds like they kept her inside all the time and without fortified dairy alternatives or supplements.  

This is not uncommon for anyone, vegan or otherwise, but you only hear about something awful if it happens to a vegan child.  

Anyway, it should be stated that vegans should be making sure their kids are getting all the appropriate nutrients, however, this is usually never a problem.  

If I had children I would raise them vegan.  I have done research so I know all the necessary nutrition needed and I would find it rewarding to raise a child with a clean body and clean conscience from the get-go.