Omega 3 Fatty Acids & Iron

pixiexxs · #1 10-10-2006, 10:00 AM

My husband and I had a pretty heated discussion last night about our diet. Basically, his concerns are that the children are not getting enough omega 3 fatty acids and iron in their diet. I argued that from all the research I have done the children are now getting more of the omega 3's than before. The only fish my children ever ate before was tuna out of a can and the research I've done shows it's not even a good source for it. As for the iron, he might have me on that one. However, I don't think (in my opinion of course) that this means we need to stop what we are doing and start feeding the children meat or fish.

How can I make sure our children are getting enough iron? I've read about the signs of iron deficiency and my children exhibit no symptoms of this at all. My children are eating so much better, so much more food than they ever did before. They are thriving and just doing so great, but I don't want to keep this as a hot topic between my husband and myself.

He accuses me of getting my information from PETA and only vegans, but that is simply not true. Is there any research out there from a well-known reputable person (not saying that vegetarians and vegans are not) that I can show him to help make his fears go away? I am not the type of person who takes one person's word as gospel when it comes to my children's health and I always research from many different sources, this has always been the case even before we went vegan.

I'm so sorry for the long post but I am not enjoying this struggle. Thank you to anyone who can help.

Christa · #2 10-10-2006, 11:05 AM

Would he stop harping on this if you took them to the dr and had a blood iron test done? They are pretty simple finger-prick tests.

You can't access the full text of this article w/out a subscription, but you can get the general gist of it from the beginning part that you can access free
here . (From 2004 Pediatrics in Review -- article entitled Vegan Diets in Infants, Children, and Adolescents.) You may also be able to get the full text from a university library, if you have one close to you.

pixiexxs · #3 10-12-2006, 05:10 AM

Thank you, Christa, for your response. We're good now but just to ease his mind, I am going to schedule some appointments for all the children to have their yearly checkup and have them do an iron test on the kiddos when we're there. We should have those done in a few months. My husband is retired military and we have to get seen at the big military hospital in town so I'm hesitant to share with the doctor our being vegan since they seem to be more "preachy" than other doctors. Oh well, either way we'll get them done and my husband and I have agreed not to "debate"

this subject as long as the children are doing fine.

zottemie · #4 10-25-2006, 02:41 AM

hi,

i can recommend the omega 3 products for children of www.minami-nutrition.us. My children are taking these supplements too and they are very good with these, and for the iron much green vegetables

pixiexxs · #5 10-25-2006, 11:48 AM

Thank you, zottemie. I will look up that website and check them out. I appreciate the info.

VegParent · #6 11-01-2006, 04:15 PM

I can really identify with what you said about debating this kind of stuff with a spouse. I was vegetarian 6 years ago when I married my husband and then I converted to a vegan about a year and half ago (hard to believe it's been that long already). At that point, my daughter was about 6 months old and we were just starting solids, so food introduction and how we were going to feed our daughter began being discussed more. He was still an omni and I was a newly converting vegan, so we had a lot to discuss and agree on, in terms of what we would eventually be feeding our daughter. His worries about our daughter getting adequate nutrition were his major source of concern and I wanted to put his mind at ease. So, to make a long story short, I convinced him to read the China Study by T. Colin Campbell PhD. He read it from start to finish, though begrudgingly at first. And I'm happy to report that with such excellent and exhaustively researched findings my "logic-minded" Engineer husband decided conclusively,once and for all that he had no alternative but to become a vegan.

I'd highly recommend the book to anyone and especially to anyone that needs reliable, conclusive evidence that a vegan diet is not only NOT putting a child at any risk, but is very healthful lifestyle that promotes longevity. And now I can say with pride that our 2 year old daughter is vegan and robustly healthy!