Op-ed piece in the NYT about vegan babies who die of malnutrition. I agree with the author on this one. I liked the part about how there is no evidence of a vegan society in human history.
I also wondered how many pregnant vegan women turn to pica (dirt-eating) when their bodies run out of iron to feed the placenta. This has been shown to happen to pregnant women who have iron deficiencies or malnutrition, though it is of course rare. And while I know that iron is found in some plants, it is most easily absorbed by the human body in the form of meat and fish and other animal proteins like eggs.
this might be answered in the article which I have not yet red
do vegan babies then not have breast milk?
vegan babies, give me a fucking break. I’m sorry.
Re: this might be answered in the article which I have not yet red
They were giving the baby soymilk, if you can believe that.
Vegan breastmilk still does not contain the volume of brain food that infants require.
Some people attempt to make their cats and dogs vegan too, which is pretty much animal abuse.
counterpoint:
http://isachandra.livejournal.com/66741.html
They make soy formula that is safe for infants and provides proper nutrition. Why didn’t the couple just use that?
According to a midwife I know, several medical organizations have a list in descending order of nutritional value that is acceptable for an infant:
#1 — breastmilk directly from mother to infant
#2 — expressed milk from the mother
#3 — human milk from another mother
#4 — goat milk-based formula
#5 — cow formula
#6 — soy formula, only when medically necessary in extreme cases
I would absolutely never give soymilk to an infant.
Well, I breastfed my own baby so I am not saying I would feed a baby soy formula, but soy formula has to be better than just straight soy milk. Anyway, I think the problem was that these people were crazy, more than that they were vegans…
Yeah, I don’t get vegan, as hard as I try to I just think its silly. There isn’t a point in not using things that the animals have as “byproducts” almost, like milk for cheese, drinking, or eggs even. Gathering it humanely is one thing, not utilizing these gifts from animal-kind is another altogether. Just plain silly. Vegetarianism I tried I really did, but its kind of futile – the animals still get slaughtered inhumanely, sooo be concious, don’t eat so much of it, and try to get meat products from local farmers. A lot of the “free range” and “organic” eggs and meat producers do so because of the added value they’re getting since people are buying into that stuff – at least that’s what some of the articles I’ve read have said. Its all so complicated. Sometimes I think being ignorant is a blessing 🙂