Thursday, May 3, 2007

Yet more vegans convicted of starving a child

Coming on the heels a few weeks ago of an Arizona vegan woman being convicted of nearly starving her three year old daughter to death, two more vegan parents have been convicted of starving a child in Atlanta. This time however, the result was much more tragic as the 6 week old baby, who weighed only 3 and a half pounds, did not survive. The couple was convicted of murdering the child and will receive mandatory life sentences. If anyone has an explanation as to why lunatics such as these become so obsessed with their own dietary dogma that they are willing to endanger the lives of their own children, I'm all ears. That one could engage in behavior this reckless and irresponsible, though those terms don't really do it justice, against one's own child is quite mind boggling to me. Here's to hoping these two sit and rot for a long, long time.

4 comments:

CarolWR said...

My sentiments exactly, GrizzlyBear. I agree with prosecutor Carlson that, “They’re not vegans. They’re baby killers.” I’m not sure how large in population vegan children are, but they allegedly exist and hopefully in some good health, even if not optimal (there are omni children not in optimal healthy either). While a food regimen “largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice” is a vegan diet for sure, it is a very unhealthy vegan diet, as I’m sure most vegan parents would know. There are healthIER vegan diets for pregnant mums and children. While I’m guarded about vegan diets during pregnancy and for children, there are pediatric and nutrition journals that publish studies with critically examined data on this issue. There are also books on vegan diets for pregnant and nursing mothers and children, even if the authors may have a politicoreligious agenda and the primary scientific literature and data cited may be selective and/or misused. This couple had their baby at home, fine, but I wonder if mother ever saw a pediatrician and/or nutritionist (there are pro vegan nutritionists) to help her and her child.


Though possibly more studies need to be done on larger populations of vegan mothers and children, on balance the existing data has not shown a vegan diet to be the best choice for fetus growth, most infants, and young children. An embryo’s nutritional environment is important to its development and possibly how its genes are expressed, and young children are so vulnerable to the risks for nutrient deficiencies that even with the best-planned vegan can pose. Any missed opportunity in the physical/physiological and emotional/cognitive development in the first critical years of a child’s life may never be fully made up or compensated for later on in life: the damage may be lasting. Even – among others - the oft cited by “AR”/vegans Growth of Vegetarian Children: The Farm Study; Pediatrics 1989 Sep; 84(3):475-81, the followups of this organic vegan commune study showed that vegan diets tend to be less nutrient dense, particularly with regards to calcium and calories, and very low fat (the healthy fat, like those higher in omega-3 fatty acids). This may be fine for adults, but not many pediatric nutrition folks would recommend this for a child say less than 4 years of age. Maybe there are other vegan children studies of healthier vegan diets that this Farm study. Also, with more studies and changes in vegan food technology, perhaps vegan diets can become healthier, I’m not sure.


While I might admire vegetarian parents who take the time and dedication to understand and prevent the risks involved with lacto-ovo vegetarian diets they place upon their unborn children and newborns. On the other hand, I don’t understand that vegetarian parents, and vegan parents in particular, are willing to put their unborn children, infants and growing young children at such risk. I say “risk” because I imagine – since I don’t have children myself - that it is not an easy task for pregnant and nursing omni parents to ensure the health of their omni young’ens. So, why make it more difficult with vegetarianism? And, even more difficult and risky with vegan diet? Vegan parents are sort of experimenting on the lives and health of their unborn and infant children. Maybe it’s better to go from vegan to vegetarian, at minimum, during pregnancy and wait until children are more grown before imposing a vegetarian or vegan diet on them. Or better still, wait until they are developed enough and better able to make an informed choice for themselves about their diet.

CarolWR said...

My sentiments exactly, GrizzlyBear. I agree with prosecutor Carlson that, “They’re not vegans. They’re baby killers.” I’m not sure how large in population vegan children are, but they allegedly exist and hopefully in some good health, even if not optimal (there are omni children not in optimal healthy either). While a food regimen “largely consisting of soy milk and apple juice” is a vegan diet for sure, it is a very unhealthy vegan diet, as I’m sure most vegan parents would know. There are healthIER vegan diets for pregnant mums and children. While I’m guarded about vegan diets during pregnancy and for children, there are pediatric and nutrition journals that publish studies with critically examined data on this issue. There are also books on vegan diets for pregnant and nursing mothers and children, even if the authors may have a politicoreligious agenda and the primary scientific literature and data cited may be selective and/or misused. This couple had their baby at home, fine, but I wonder if mother ever saw a pediatrician and/or nutritionist (there are pro vegan nutritionists) to help her and her child.


Though possibly more studies need to be done on larger populations of vegan mothers and children, on balance the existing data has not shown a vegan diet to be the best choice for fetus growth, most infants, and young children. An embryo’s nutritional environment is important to its development and possibly how its genes are expressed, and young children are so vulnerable to the risks for nutrient deficiencies that even with the best-planned vegan can pose. Any missed opportunity in the physical/physiological and emotional/cognitive development in the first critical years of a child’s life may never be fully made up or compensated for later on in life: the damage may be lasting. Even – among others - the oft cited by “AR”/vegans Growth of Vegetarian Children: The Farm Study; Pediatrics 1989 Sep; 84(3):475-81, the followups of this organic vegan commune study showed that vegan diets tend to be less nutrient dense, particularly with regards to calcium and calories, and very low fat (the healthy fat, like those higher in omega-3 fatty acids). This may be fine for adults, but not many pediatric nutrition folks would recommend this for a child say less than 4 years of age. Maybe there are other vegan children studies of healthier vegan diets that this Farm study. Also, with more studies and changes in vegan food technology, perhaps vegan diets can become healthier, I’m not sure.


While I might admire vegetarian parents who take the time and dedication to understand and prevent the risks involved with lacto-ovo vegetarian diets they place upon their unborn children and newborns. On the other hand, I don’t understand that vegetarian parents, and vegan parents in particular, are willing to put their unborn children, infants and growing young children at such risk. I say “risk” because I imagine – since I don’t have children myself - that it is not an easy task for pregnant and nursing omni parents to ensure the health of their omni young’ens. So, why make it more difficult with vegetarianism? And, even more difficult and risky with vegan diet? Vegan parents are sort of experimenting on the lives and health of their unborn and infant children. Maybe it’s better to go from vegan to vegetarian, at minimum, during pregnancy and wait until children are more grown before imposing a vegetarian or vegan diet on them. Or better still, wait until they are developed enough and better able to make an informed choice for themselves about their diet.

Anonymous said...

Actually, when I was talking about vegan diets, I did not take into account of the baby’s age. Newborns I think only, or mainly, require breast milk of their (healthy) mother. It sounds like this vegan mother was not eating the best vegan diet for her state of pregnancy and probably produced an unhealthy, underweight baby. A healthy vegan newborn may do better on “largely … soy milk [or better, soy infant formula – but which may not be 100% vegan] and apple juice” for the first few months of life. Though, still, I suspect, not the best nutrition for baby.

Vegan sources do recommend breast milk. I guess this mother did not use her breast milk because doing so is not vegan, or because her milk was deficient due to her poor vegan diet during pregnancy, or the baby was so malnourished at birth and could not physically feed and digest mother’s milk. Or, mother just could not produce breast milk, again, because of her own deficient vegan diet.

Regardless, an unhealthy and underweight newborn, vegan or omni, would require different feeding needs than a healthy baby.


CarolWR

Anonymous said...

you guys are idiots.