There’s an op-ed in the New York Times today about a vegan couple who neglected and malnourished their child, and it died. Which is very unfortunate and sad. The op-ed author, however, uses this sad story to make all sorts of scary statements about the dangers of veganism. She does this because she was once a vegan and felt bad, then stopped being a vegan and felt better, and now makes a living selling animal products and books telling people to eat animal products. There are plenty of people who were meat-eaters, felt bad, became vegan, felt better, and now make a living selling vegan products and books telling people to eat a vegan diet. There are also meat-eating parents who neglect and malnourish their babies and cause their deaths, and that is equally sad.

Given all this reality, while I respect the right of the Times to publish op-eds that are clearly just one person’s opinion, I do wish they would provide actual research when op-ed writers make health claims, so that readers can make an informed judgment.

For an article by a doctor about vegan nutrition in pregnancy and childhood see www.vrg.org/nutrition/pregnancy.htm.

PS. For those new to this blog, I have been following a vegan diet for several years. I feel pretty much exactly the same as I did before I changed my diet; at first I lost a few pounds (which I was not seeking to do) and then regained them. Look for my upcoming book on how you should become a vegan because you will undoubtedly have the exact same experience I did.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Leader. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.