"Children Harmed by Vegan Diets" GRRRRR

[vegma]

Hi everyone. Anyone up for a letter-writing campaign? And to whom do you think the letters should be addressed? Its another scare tactic by the US Agriculture Department - or said "scientist" - that based her comments on a "study" of a group of malnourshed 3rd-world children. Here's the link...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4282257.stm

[Erin Pavlina]

Read my response to the article in my blog:

http://www.vegfamily.com/blog/index.php

[PikkuMyy]

Oh my God! What a sick article and an even sicker study! I really wish the Vegan Society had said something about the fact that a vegan diet does not consist of "beans and corn" and nothing else. What a poor study, research-wise.

[Christa]

Really? Beans & corn were all I ate when I was pregnant ;) ! My girls weighed over 8 lbs each at birth & grew like little giants. My grandmother kept asking me if I was sure that they gave me the right baby with Angelina b/c she was so big (my family is really short & small). She's in the top of her class academically & reading at a 3rd-4th grade level at age six.

A vegan diet definately didn't cause my kids to be "born small... grow very slowly and... [be] developmentally retarded, possibly permanently." Yikes! However, given my experience with the USDA, (I worked as a nutrition research associate for a university dept. funded by the USDA for a while), I can't say that I am surprised. We had to tell people that Twinkies were fine as "part of a balanced diet" if they asked if they made a good breakfast food b/c the USDA forbids its grantees to tell anyone that any food is bad for them. They came down pretty hard on another state who did an anti-soda campaign.

[ariix]

Well, you guys already know that study is bad science... But here's a statistics student to say so too... They didn't show all the details of the study but it's perfectly clear that they can't logically make the conclusions they are making, based on the study they did!!

[Fiona]

What a shame that this study received any publicity, let alone from the BBC and other credible news sources in the UK. Unfortunately, it's the headline which will probably stick in most people's minds. On the other hand, I was pleased that several meat eating relatives heard the story and thought it was a load of rubbish.

Fiona

[annie7]

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/mccartney%20attacks%20antiveggie%20research

[PikkuMyy]

Go Paul!

[Christa]

Well, now I've heard that this study was funded by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association :rolleyes: - who would have guessed!

http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/ncbs_vegan_study.htm

[vegma]

Surprise, surprise.:rolleyes: Has anyone seen the article in any US papers? I've only run across it on BBC.com...

[sarahrose]

That article made me so angry! I mean, how can you compare starving African children with American children, who are fighting eating TOO MUCH? The thing that makes me angrier than anything though is that I know that the majority of people (who sadly lack any critical thinking skills) will just believe it without a second thought.

[Fiona]

The conclusions drawn from this study defy belief. According to the Vegan Society website, the groups of children were measured on three mental development tests, and

'On all three measures, the vegetable oil group beat the milk group and on two measures the vegetable oil group beat the meat group'.

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/

Fiona

[counterGOPI]

I just found this!!! Please read ASAP!! :)
Nicole

Some of you may have heard about this extremely misleading article about veganism and children that was run by The Guardian. A (vegan!) friend if mine is post-doc at UCDavis (where the prof quoted above is) and he fwded me her response.

This is the original article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1419386,00.html

A similar article at BBC
http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/health/4282257.stm

----

Here is a canned letter meat industry hack Lindsay Allen is sending to
people contacting her about her "study" and comments. Sort of makes you
wonder why, if she's concerned her comments about vegans were taken
wrong (and blasted around the globe), why she didn't decide to call a
press conference to claify?

From Lindsay Allen:
Due to a large amount of mail I don't have time to answer you with a
long letter. Yes, I am coming from 25 years of working with populations
in which micronutrient deficiencies are widespread because there are
insufficient animal source foods in the diet, and mothers and children
suffer major problems as a result. Nobody working in international
nutrition would disagree with this - the problem is mainly poor food
quality, not quantity - and if the latter is true, the former will be as
well.
However, I agree the link with our Africa study was not strong and we
would much rather have talked about that study except that the
reporter's interest was about vegans as they are more newsworthy
apparently (but not in my mind for sure!). The point of doing the
African study is that I for one am fed up with the "let them take pills
to get micronutrients" attitude that for one reason or another (well
intentioned of course) has characterized the interventions in these
populations for the past 20 years. I have done many of those
interventions myself.
The news reporter "hyped" my concern about vegan diets for
pregnant/lactating mothers and infants/children by not adding the
sentence I was emphatic they keep in, namely that vegan diets were
unethical UNLESS those who practiced them were well-informed about how
to add back the missing nutrients through supplements or fortified foods
(which people in Africa unfortunately don't have).
I completely agree that it is possible to add back those missing
nutrients and myself have stated this in a position paper on nutrition
in pregnancy for the American Dietetic Association.
I also agree that well-managed vegan diets, plus supplements plus
fortified foods to get those missing nutrients, are probably healthier
for adults and even many children than the average US or UK diet.
The most alarming part of this experience has been the amazing amount of
misinformation that vegans have imparted to me in response to my
(definitely misinterpreted and hyped) comments. I hope this issue gets
STUDIED responsibly so we can all be reassured.

[Christa]

I still disagree with her stance that, in order for a vegan diet to be healthy and complete, that vegans must take supplements and eat fortified foods. Naturally fortified foods (like nutritional yeast), yes, but the way she states it, it sounds like we need to take a truck load of vitamins & eat processed foods that are fortified with micronutrients.

I simply haven't found this to be the case. Yes, all of us process things differently & some people may need more supplements than others, but not all of us do. I supplemented with nothing for the first 10 years that I was vegan and suffered no ill health effects as a result. I didn't even take any B-12, eat nutritional yeast or drink soy or other "milks" that were fortified with B-12. Now, I wouldn't recommend this for anyone else & maybe I was just lucky, but she makes it sound like you need to have a degree in clinical nutrition & measure out specific quantities of food every day to make a vegan diet work.

I really don't think that it is that hard. Most omnis do not go to that kind of trouble & I am pretty confident that their diets are just as likely to be lacking in micronutrients (perhaps different micronutrients) as vegans. Why don't people eating the SAD get blasted by the media all of the time about how they should be carefully planning their diets to avoid devastating their and their children's health? Their diets are just as likely to be lacking and inadequate as ours, perhaps even more likely.

[counterGOPI]

well said! i too never worried about supplements. i actually ate the junk food vegan diet my 1st 5 years and was fine, now im more careful and eat healthy and am super healthy neevr getting sick but i just thought it was niceto see she didnt agree with that study so much afterall!

Originally posted by counterGOPI
I just found this!!! Please read ASAP!! :)
Nicole

Some of you may have heard about this extremely misleading article about veganism and children that was run by The Guardian. A (vegan!) friend if mine is post-doc at UCDavis (where the prof quoted above is) and he fwded me her response.

This is the original article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1419386,00.html

A similar article at BBC
http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/health/4282257.stm

----

Here is a canned letter meat industry hack Lindsay Allen is sending to
people contacting her about her "study" and comments. Sort of makes you
wonder why, if she's concerned her comments about vegans were taken
wrong (and blasted around the globe), why she didn't decide to call a
press conference to claify?

From Lindsay Allen:
Due to a large amount of mail I don't have time to answer you with a
long letter. Yes, I am coming from 25 years of working with populations
in which micronutrient deficiencies are widespread because there are
insufficient animal source foods in the diet, and mothers and children
suffer major problems as a result. Nobody working in international
nutrition would disagree with this - the problem is mainly poor food
quality, not quantity - and if the latter is true, the former will be as
well.
However, I agree the link with our Africa study was not strong and we
would much rather have talked about that study except that the
reporter's interest was about vegans as they are more newsworthy
apparently (but not in my mind for sure!). The point of doing the
African study is that I for one am fed up with the "let them take pills
to get micronutrients" attitude that for one reason or another (well
intentioned of course) has characterized the interventions in these
populations for the past 20 years. I have done many of those
interventions myself.
The news reporter "hyped" my concern about vegan diets for
pregnant/lactating mothers and infants/children by not adding the
sentence I was emphatic they keep in, namely that vegan diets were
unethical UNLESS those who practiced them were well-informed about how
to add back the missing nutrients through supplements or fortified foods
(which people in Africa unfortunately don't have).
I completely agree that it is possible to add back those missing
nutrients and myself have stated this in a position paper on nutrition
in pregnancy for the American Dietetic Association.
I also agree that well-managed vegan diets, plus supplements plus
fortified foods to get those missing nutrients, are probably healthier
for adults and even many children than the average US or UK diet.
The most alarming part of this experience has been the amazing amount of
misinformation that vegans have imparted to me in response to my
(definitely misinterpreted and hyped) comments. I hope this issue gets
STUDIED responsibly so we can all be reassured.

[sarahrose]

I fully agree! I take an under the tongue B12 tab daily, but other than that, I am really not very good about taking my multi vitamin regularly. My health is great, plenty of energy, good color, etc. With a balanced diet, I don't think vegans really have to worry too much about it, especially adults.

I am far more disciplined about my daugter though as she is a growing child. I want to be careful with her health, as I would even if we ate meat, though our veganism also has to do with protecting our health. However, even for her I just give her a chewable multi vitamin (something that pretty much all SAD diet kids could definatly benefit from too) and a B12 tab daily. Her health is great (exept for that awful stomach virus a long time ago that some of you may remember).

I hate that people think we have to measure all of our foods, write it down, and make complicated calculations to make sure we are getting what we need. It's really not complicated or difficult!! I wish that people would get it.

[ariix]

I hate that people think we have to measure all of our foods, write it down, and make complicated calculations to make sure we are getting what we need. It's really not complicated or difficult!! I wish that people would get it.

You said it Sarahrose!!

Now that I'm vegan, I find it weird how people think it must be so difficult to eat this way. Granted, I didn't switch from vegetarian to vegan overnight, but at this time I find it so natural, and not difficult at all!

I, too, only take my multivitamin once or twice a week, and I'm very healthy. I've been giving blood the past little while, and my iron level is always great, in fact the last time the nurse commented on how good it was. This makes me very happy because a few years back when I was still omni I had problems with a low iron level (even though at the time I was even eating 8-10 servings of veggies and fruits a day, like I do now)! :D

[Lucy S]

I, too, get sick about hearing how as vegans we have to plan our diets so carefully, blah, blah, blah. Especially for kids. Well, excuse me, but I think any parent/caregiver should be planning their child's diet carefully - not just vegans. The amount of pure garbage I see given to young children horrifies me.

We (hubby, 3 year old daughter and I) are all very healthy vegans. I take a few supplements to help deal with migraines (magnesium primarily) and we have some multivitamins with B12 for daughter for when I feel she isn't eating properly (after all she is 3 and has the standard "food jags" kids her age get). Otherwise - none. My husband regularly donates blood and last time the nurse was in awe of his iron level. Yet the number of people I know (non-vegans) who have almost chronic iron deficiency... My health is so much better as a vegan - my asthma has almost completely cleared up, my blood levels are better, I get fewer colds and when I do get them, don't get as sick and recover faster, etc. etc. There have been other threads on this board in which many of us have said the same thing.

So: quit picking on the vegans about planning our diets! Go tell it to the Macdonalds crowd!

[Erin Pavlina]

Speaking of donating blood, when my mom was in the hospital getting a triple bypass the staff told us she would probably need some blood and that we could donate some to her. The first thing she said was, "I want Steve's blood (my husband). I know his is the healthiest." That is saying something.

[alexis]

It was sick making. I don't know how Dr. Allen got the 'Dr.' but I sure as hell hope it was not a research based course. As for 'vegan' well, technically, corn and beans are vegan, but then again, so are pasta and candy and white rice and water. That experiment sounds like a preschooler's after school play time thing, not a real research thing. Somehow, I doubt McNuggets and coke is any healthier than corn and bean. In fact, I think corn and bean are probably better than McNuggets and that rubbish. Sheesh.