Putting children on strict vegan diets is unethical

February 22, 2005

Hello Professor Allen,

I really think before you take money from the Dairy & meat industry

and make public comments you should get your facts straight.

your basis is on a really poor African diet that just about any food would help improve the diet of these people and you try to apply this to the western diet,

there are NO Vitamins (except E) in Meat or dairy only minerals and protein.

so the nutritional aspects you are talking about are MUTE. as for improved memory etc.. well I think you would find if you just added a couple spoons of soy or lentils to their diet you would get a far better result.

I don't really want to waste too much of my time telling you things you already know . I just wanted to tell you YOUR ethics SUCK you really are the lowest of the low in your unethical money grabbing game.

Craig Dearth

cd39

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4282257.stm

Putting children on strict vegan diets is "unethical" and could harm theirdevelopment, a US scientist has argued.Lindsay Allen, of the US Agricultural Research Service, attacked parents whoinsisted their children lived by the maxim "meat is murder".Animal source foods have some nutrients not found anywhere else, she told aWashington science conference.The Vegan Society dismissed the claims, saying its research showed veganswere often healthier than meat eaters.'Development affected'Professor Allen said: "There have been sufficient studies clearly showingthat when women avoid all animal foods, their babies are born small, theygrow very slowly and they are developmentally retarded, possiblypermanently." There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents tobring up their children as strict vegans Professor Lindsay Allen, director of the US Agricultural ResearchService"If you're talking about feeding young children, pregnant women andlactating women, I would go as far as to say it is unethical to withholdthese foods [animal source foods] during that period of life."She was especially critical of parents who imposed a vegan lifestyle ontheir children, which denied them milk, cheese, butter and meat."There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents to bring uptheir children as strict vegans," she said at the American Association forthe Advancement of Science meeting........

February 23, 2005

here is my response from Lindsey Allen

referring to the article on the BBC

Craig

Putting children on strict vegan diets is "unethical"The study was funded by the Agency for International Development and I have spent 20 years trying to improve the nutritional status of children and women in developing countries. Current strategies to improve the well-recognized situation of widespread micronutrient deficiencies in developing countries are to provide mineral vitamin pills, or just iron, or just vitamin A once every 6 months, or to fortify staple foods with micronutrients. The purpose of these strategies is to improve the health and function of these children. Unfortunately children like the ones we studied in Africa don't have access to any of these alternative strategies to quality food. I have dedicated my life to these efforts. We had beans and maize and oil and vegetables in the control group supplements and the animal source food snacks (equal in energy) did better.Animal source foods are the ONLY dietary source of vitamin B-12, vitamin D, retinol, and highly absorbable zinc and iron. Even the World Health Organization recommends that for children after 6 months of age: "meat, poultry, fish or eggs should be eaten daily, or as often as possible, Vegetarian diets cannot meet nutrient needs at this age unless nutrient supplements or fortified products are used".Finally, this study was not funded by industry or by USDA and was completed several years ago before I joined USDA.My remarks were taken out of context deliberately by a reporter as I made it completely clear that I said it was unethical for pregnant, lactating women or parents to give infants or young children vegan diets UNLESS they knew what supplements or fortified foods to give to provide the missing nutrients.I hope this helps to improve the lousy impression I have given you. I should have used the word "unwise" rather than "unethical", I readily admit, then I would probably have received less hurtful mail. I do hope also that this flurry of attention serves to keep the public's attention on this critically important and very difficult issue.Sincerely, Lindsay AllenAt 06:13 PM 2/21/2005, you wrote:

Hello Professor Allen, I really think before you take money from the Dairy & meat industryand make public comments you should get your facts straight. your basis is on a really poor African diet that just about any food would help improve the diet of these people and you try to apply this to the western diet,there are NO Vitamins (except E) in Meat or dairy only minerals and protein.so the nutritional aspects you are talking about are MUTE. as for improved memory etc.. well I think you would find if you just added a couple spoons of soy or lentils to their diet you would get a far better result. I don't really want to waste too much of my time telling you things you already know . I just wanted to tell you YOUR ethics SUCK you really are the lowest of the low in your unethical money grabbing game. Craig Dearth cd39 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4282257.stm Putting children on strict vegan diets is "unethical" and could harm theirdevelopment, a US scientist has argued.Lindsay Allen, of the US Agricultural Research Service, attacked parents whoinsisted their children lived by the maxim "meat is murder".Animal source foods have some nutrients not found anywhere else, she told aWashington science conference.The Vegan Society dismissed the claims, saying its research showed veganswere often healthier than meat eaters.'Development affected'Professor Allen said: "There have been sufficient studies clearly showingthat when women avoid all animal foods, their babies are born small, theygrow very slowly and they are developmentally retarded, possiblypermanently." There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents tobring up their children as strict vegans Professor Lindsay Allen, director of the US Agricultural ResearchService"If you're talking about feeding young children, pregnant women andlactating women, I would go as far as to say it is unethical to withholdthese foods [animal source foods] during that period of life."She was especially critical of parents who imposed a vegan lifestyle ontheir children, which denied them milk, cheese, butter and meat."There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents to bring uptheir children as strict vegans," she said at the American Association forthe Advancement of Science meeting........