Children brought up as strict vegetarians suffer mental and physical problems that can affect them for the rest of their lives, according to a leading nutritionist who condemned parents who refuse to give their offspring meat or animal products.
Studies of children fed a vegetarian diet have shown that just two spoonfuls of meat a day can have a dramatic and permanent improvement in their physical and mental development, said Lindsay Allen of the University of California at Davis.
The study took place in Kenya where children are fed almost exclusively on staple crops and have a poor diet lacking many of the vital micro-nutrients that are essential for the growth of brain and muscle tissue, Allen said.
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"It's applicable to the West as well. There have been studies on vegetarian women (in Europe and the US) and their children are very developmentally delayed," she said.
| The study took place in Kenya |
Although some vegetarian parents give their children food supplements to offset deficiencies in diet, many vegans, who eat no animal produce at all, rear their children on the same food they eat themselves.
"There is absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents to bring up their children as strict vegans. There is data to show that," Allen said.
"Even when they were adolescents these children who were fed as vegans when they were young still had delayed development or permanently impaired development," she told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC.
In addition to being rich in protein, meat and to a lesser extent animal products such as milk or cheese, contain vital micro-nutrients such as iron, calcium, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
"We have realised over the past 20 years that micro-nutrient deficiencies are much more of the problem in terms of the causes of growth stunting and poor development in developing countries," she told the meeting.
| Children fed the meat were found to have muscles and were up to 80 percent bigger |
"There is no question that meat and animal-source foods have some nutrients that are not found anywhere else in the diet."
"If you are talking about feeding young children in particular, and pregnant or lactating women, I'd go as far as to say it is unethical to withhold these foods in that period of life," Allen said.
"I think when you are older you can avoid animal source foods if you know how to take supplements to fill in for those particular foods," she added.
The study in Kenya involved 544 young children with an average age of seven. While attending school, some were fed an extra two ounces of meat a day while others were given a cup of milk on top of their usual meagre diet.
After two years all the children were physically examined and tested for educational performance.
Children fed the meat were found to have muscles and were up to 80 percent bigger than children who lived on the typical Kenyan diet of food staples made from maize and cassava.
"The group that received the meat supplement showed the biggest improvement in fluid intelligence over these two years," Allen said.
"Most dramatically, the improvement in end-of-term test scores of these children were 35 points better in the meat group compared to 13 points in the milk group and zero improvement in controls over the two years."
"The group that received the meat supplement were more active in the playground, more talkative and playful and showed greater leadership skills," she told the meeting.
"The meat and milk supplements almost completely eliminated the high prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency that was found in these children."
Professor Montague Demment of the University of California said that adding small amounts of meat or animal produce to the diet of children in developing countries could lead to dramatic long-term improvements.
"In many countries we see the poverty-malnutrition trap. Poverty creates malnutrition and malnutrition reinforces poverty," Demment said.
- This article was originally published on page 7 of Pretoria News on February 22, 2005
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