Death by Veganism

[Guest guest]

From The NYT Op-Ed Page

May 21, 2007

By NINA PLANCK

 

WHEN Crown Shakur died of starvation, he was 6 weeks old and weighed

3.5 pounds. His vegan parents, who fed him mainly soy milk and apple

juice, were convicted in Atlanta recently of murder, involuntary

manslaughter and cruelty.

 

This particular calamity — at least the third such conviction of vegan

parents in four years — may be largely due to ignorance. But it should

prompt frank discussion about nutrition.

 

I was once a vegan. But well before I became pregnant, I concluded

that a vegan pregnancy was irresponsible. You cannot create and

nourish a robust baby merely on foods from plants.

 

Indigenous cuisines offer clues about what humans, naturally

omnivorous, need to survive, reproduce and grow: traditional

vegetarian diets, as in India, invariably include dairy and eggs for

complete protein, essential fats and vitamins. There are no vegan

societies for a simple reason: a vegan diet is not adequate in the

long run.

 

Protein deficiency is one danger of a vegan diet for babies.

Nutritionists used to speak of proteins as " first class " (from meat,

fish, eggs and milk) and " second class " (from plants), but today this

is considered denigrating to vegetarians.

 

The fact remains, though, that humans prefer animal proteins and fats

to cereals and tubers, because they contain all the essential amino

acids needed for life in the right ratio. This is not true of plant

proteins, which are inferior in quantity and quality — even soy.

 

A vegan diet may lack vitamin B12, found only in animal foods; usable

vitamins A and D, found in meat, fish, eggs and butter; and necessary

minerals like calcium and zinc. When babies are deprived of all these

nutrients, they will suffer from retarded growth, rickets and nerve

damage.

 

Responsible vegan parents know that breast milk is ideal. It contains

many necessary components, including cholesterol (which babies use to

make nerve cells) and countless immune and growth factors. When

breastfeeding isn't possible, soy milk and fruit juice, even in

seemingly sufficient quantities, are not safe substitutes for a

quality infant formula.

 

Yet even a breast-fed baby is at risk. Studies show that vegan breast

milk lacks enough docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, the omega-3 fat found

in fatty fish. It is difficult to overstate the importance of DHA,

vital as it is for eye and brain development.

 

A vegan diet is equally dangerous for weaned babies and toddlers, who

need plenty of protein and calcium. Too often, vegans turn to soy,

which actually inhibits growth and reduces absorption of protein and

minerals. That's why health officials in Britain, Canada and other

countries express caution about soy for babies. (Not here, though —

perhaps because our farm policy is so soy-friendly.)

 

Historically, diet honored tradition: we ate the foods that our

mothers, and their mothers, ate. Now, your neighbor or sibling may be

a meat-eater or vegetarian, may ferment his foods or eat them raw.

This fragmentation of the American menu reflects admirable diversity

and tolerance, but food is more important than fashion. Though it's

not politically correct to say so, all diets are not created equal.

 

An adult who was well-nourished in utero and in infancy may choose to

get by on a vegan diet, but babies are built from protein, calcium,

cholesterol and fish oil. Children fed only plants will not get the

precious things they need to live and grow.

 

Nina Planck is the author of " Real Food: What to Eat and Why. "

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/opinion/21planck.html?th & emc=th