Vegan Children: A Recent Review

by Michael Greger, M.D.

Vegan babies are sprouting up all over. The medical journal Pediatrics in Review recently took on the topic in an article entitled "Vegan Diets in Infants, Children and Adolescents." Out of the Children's National Medical Center in D.C., the assessment noted: "Multiple experts have concluded independently that vegan diets can be followed safely by infants and children without compromise of nutrition or growth and with some notable health benefits."[8]

The health benefits of raising children vegan are particularly pronounced now in the context of our childhood obesity epidemic. Ever since the landmark autopsy reports on soldiers who died in the Korean War[9] and the Vietnam War,[10] we have known that young adults can have advanced coronary artery disease. Now we're finding fatty cholesterol buildup in the arteries of children as young as 2 years old.[11] No wonder Dr. Benjamin Spock, the most esteemed pediatrician of all time, recommended that all children be raised vegan in the latest edition of his world-famous Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care, the best-selling book in American history (second only to the bible).[12]

This new review of pediatric vegan nutrition is in line with the position of the largest organization of nutrition professionals in the world, the American Dietetic Association, who declared "Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence."[13]

What is meant by well-planned, though? Vitamin B12 of course, which is especially critical during infancy, and attention paid to adequate energy, protein and mineral intake. For details, read Feeding Vegan Kids by Reed Mangels, the nutrition advisor for the Vegetarian Resource Group.

"Of course it takes time and thought to feed vegan children," writes Dr. Mangels, "Shouldn't feeding of any child require time and thought?"

REFERENCES

[8] Pediatrics in Review 25(2004):172
[9] Journal of the American Medical Association 158(1955):912
[10] Journal of the American Medical Association 216(1971):118
[11] New England Journal of Medicine 4 June 1998
[12] Spock B, Parker S. Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care. New York, NY:Pocket Books, 1998
[13] Journal of the American Dietetic Association 97(1997):1317