Well-meaning parents, ignorant of basic critical thinking, allow themselves to get duped by alternative medicine and questionable nutrition advice from snake-oil marketers who have shamelessly turned the general public into one big dietary experiment. Recent years has seen beleaguered parents deluged under an avalanche of amazing new health “discoveries”. They are urged to put their children on strict diets that are gluten-free, sugar-free, paleo, raw-food, vegan, or fruit-powered diets that claim optimal health and prevent almost any disease that a child can contract. Kids need chiropractic manipulation and don’t need to be vaccinated. The risks are real, and the evidence presented is for the most part unsubstantiated.
Risks
Sound advice from Karen Kuperberg, a registered dietician at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto:
“Once you start restricting food groups or large chunks of
food groups, you start running into problems like vitamin and mineral
deficiency. In general, any diets for kids aren’t recommended. You want kids to
eat a variety of foods from all food groups.”
Many physicians and dieticians have seen children harmed by
these diets. Kuperberg is just one example:
“Kuperberg ….. has seen children in her clinic with
everything from cognitive delays to rickets, a softening of the bones due to
lack of vitamin D or calcium. One family, she remembers, had a diet that
encompassed basically fruit, nuts, seeds and homemade almond milk—and the child
came in with vitamin D deficiency, vitamin B12 deficiency, and, well, ‘the list
was endless,’ Kuperberg says. Some families dutifully follow Kuperberg’s advice
to get their child’s diet back on track. For parents who fail to provide their
kids a healthy diet, under worst-case scenarios, she says, Children’s Aid has
had to step in.”
Restrictive
diets like paleo, raw, or vegan can offer benefits to children. But avoiding
serious dietary deficiencies takes a lot of work, and most parents are too
stressed and have too little time to oversee every detail of their child’s
diet. Tanis Fenton, a dietician and epidemiologist at
the University of Calgary, explains:
“A child
would have to consume five cups of cooked spinach to get the same amount of
calcium as in two cups of milk. A couple of cups of milk is possible in a day.
I’ve never met a child that would eat five cups of cooked spinach a day.”
Celebrity
Influences
Sound evidence is ignored by some parents in exchange for
hype and celebrity endorsements. Professor in law and public health at the
University of Alberta and the Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy,
Timothy Caulfield says it best:
“Stories and narratives always win out over the data. One
good cover story in People magazine about Kourtney Kardashian
(dairy and gluten-free diet) is always going to win out over a whole body of
evidence ….. We
need better information about what basic nutrition is. We need to have a
science-literate society and a food-literate society. The best we can do is
work with the best evidence available ….. We’re slipping into this ‘all
knowledge is relative’ dark age. You don’t see this in other areas of science.
We don’t have alternative physics or people who believe there’s a natural
healing force that can be utilized to build bridges. But in health, we have
this huge tolerance for this alternative, non-scientific perspective.”
Internet
Rife with “Experts”
Devious medical lies and pseudo-scientific claims have found
a comfortable home on the internet:
“With cherry-picked scientific evidence, it’s possible to
find support for almost any argument, and medical professionals and
scientists—no matter their qualifications—now compete on the Internet with
alternative health proponents or bloggers who have little more than a personal
success story. A claim on Mercola’s website about certain kinds of brassieres
potentially causing cancer, for example, cited leaders in the alternative
medical field and a 1995 study from an anthropologist. Even though cancer researchers
have found no such linkage, the theory circulated far and wide—even ending up
on the popular (albeit equally controversial) lifestyle website Goop, curated
by Oscar-winning health authority Gwyneth Paltrow.”
No
Evidence for Paleo
All glowing claims for the paleo diet are lacking in solid
scientific evidence:
“There is no
strong scientific evidence at this time for claims that a Paleo Diet helps
prevent or treat many medical conditions. Much of what we know about 10,000
years ago is an inference, based on studies of skeletal remains and human
artifacts. Our understanding on exactly what composed a true paleolithic diet,
and in what quantities, is at most an educated guess…… Even if the claims of
the Paleo Diet can be validated, you can't separate it from the overall
lifestyle of that age. The rigorous physical demands of living outdoors,
hunting, gathering and foraging for food surely contributed to the overall
health of these people.” http://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/the-paleo-diet-back-to-the-stone-age
Gluten-Free:
Useless and Sometimes Risky
A
gluten-free diet for kids has been gaining some popularity. Once again,
important fibre and vitamins are lost or reduced. Extra sugar and salt is often
added to make the product tasty for children. Peter Green, director of the
Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University:
“It’s a
restrictive diet that’s totally unnecessary. A gluten-free diet is a
life-saving diet for those with celiac disease. But if you don’t have celiac
disease, we don’t think it’s a healthy diet ….. If parents buy a lot of
products labelled as gluten-free, often when they take gluten out of the
product, they add more salt.”
From The Journal of Pediatrics:
“There is
arguably no role for a GFD (gluten-free diet) for children outside of treatment
of CD (Celiac disease) and wheat allergy. The likelihood of a diagnosis of NCGS
(non-Celiac gluten sensitivity) in children is unclear, given the limited data
available describing pediatric populations with NCGS. Certainly there is no evidence to support a
GFD for asymptomatic children without CD, or for delaying gluten introduction
to infants to prevent CD. Given the substantial nutritional and quality of life
risks, a GFD driven by factors apart from the treatment of specific disease or
symptoms may carry more risk than benefit for children.” http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(16)30062-2/fulltext?rss=yes
Fruit and
Nut Diet Endangers 11 Month Old
Pennsylvania
mom Elizabeth Hawk was a zealous vegan and wanted her eleven month old son off
to a healthy start. She began feeding him small meals of only fruits and nuts.
Seeing obvious signs of malnutrition, her separated husband (the child’s father)
took the boy to a Children & Youth Services agency in nearby Fayette
County. The agency immediately brought the child to a West Virginia hospital.
According to the Washington Post:
“Malnourishment
had hindered the boy’s ability to develop, and ignoring the skin condition
could have led to septic shock.
Elizabeth Hawk faces charges of child endangerment and was released on
her own recognizance.”
The Post also cited recommendations for vegan infants in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association:
“For the first 4 to 6 months, breast milk should be the sole
food with soy-based infant formula as an alternative. Commercial soymilk should
not be the primary beverage until after age 1 year. Breastfed vegan infants may
need supplements of vitamin B-12 if maternal diet is inadequate; older infants
may need zinc supplements and reliable sources of iron and vitamins D and B-12.
Timing of solid food introduction is similar to that recommended for
non-vegetarians. Tofu, dried beans, and meat analogs are introduced as protein
sources around 7-8 months. Vegan diets can be planned to be nutritionally
adequate and support growth for infants.”
Negligent
Veganism
Katya Nova
placed her son on a vegan diet but wasn’t meticulous in insuring his
nutritional needs:
“That’s a
lesson learned the hard way. Originally from Edmonton, Nova had plans to her
raise her son Zion on a vegan diet—and she had thousands of Instagram followers
giving her plenty of love throughout her journey. But trouble struck when
Zion’s teeth started to come in. One tooth, she recalls, had started to crumble
apart by his first birthday. ‘It happened so fast,’ Nova says. ‘His teeth are
just really weak.’
“She decided
to introduce some animal products into Zion’s diet, such as cod liver oil and
grass-fed dairy. When she announced her decision on social media, she says, ‘My
Instagram followers dropped by 2,000 in 48 hours. There were a lot of angry
vegans who said, ‘How dare you use your huge platform to say that a vegan diet
may not be suitable to all children?’”
Parent’s Deadly
Choice
This Canadian couple received two years in prison for the death of 2-year-old Matinah
Hosannah:
“An autopsy concluded that Matinah, who never crawled or walked, died on
Feb. 25, 2011, from complications of asthma and malnutrition. The trial heard
she had a rare case of rickets, blamed on a lack of Vitamin D, which had also
caused two broken bones …… ‘The evidence does not support, and certainly does
not prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that this is a case of parents
deliberately starving a child in the sense of withholding food from a hungry
child over an extended period.’
“But
he said the Hosannahs’ ‘vegan or near vegan’ diet lacked necessary vitamins. ‘It
appears that in terms of choices of food, the Hosannahs believed they were
doing the right thing, but it turned out to be horribly wrong,’ he said.” https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/04/10/parents-jailed-in-manslaughter-death-of-2-year-old-girl.html
Another Deadly Choice
A Canadian
couple’s son died of meningitis when they opted for remedies based on the
pseudo-scientific philosophy of naturopathy instead of taking him to a hospital
for a science-based treatment:
“The meningitis death of a 19-month-old boy who suffered for
weeks while his parents treated him with home remedies is calling attention to
the responsibilities of those who know about child abuse or neglect, but don’t
report it.
“David and Collet Stephan were found guilty this week of
failing to provide the necessaries of life for their son Ezekiel. Believing he
had croup, they treated him with natural medicines such as hot peppers, onions,
garlic and horseradish for two and a half weeks before he later died. The Crown
said there was no doubt the Stephans loved their child, but didn’t follow the
standard of care as set by criminal law.”
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/what-we-can-learn-from-the-death-of-ezekiel-stephan/
From The Academy of
Nutrition and Dietetics and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP):
Nutrients
that need to be closely monitored when feeding vegetarian or vegan children:
Vitamin
B12: Vegetarians can
get plenty of B12 from milk products and eggs. Vegans, both breast-feeding moms
and children, need a good source of B12. Options include a supplement or
fortified foods such as soy beverages, cereals and meat substitutes.
Vitamin D: The AAP recommends all breast-fed
infants receive 400 IU per day of supplemental vitamin D starting shortly after
birth. This should continue until your child consumes the same amount of
vitamin D from fortified milk: at least one quart per day of cow or soy milk.
Calcium: Breast- and formula-fed babies, as
well as toddlers who consume milk and dairy foods, usually get plenty of
additional calcium from foods including yogurt and cheese. For vegan toddlers,
calcium-fortified foods and beverages or supplements may be necessary. See a
registered dietitian nutritionist for advice.
For iron,
protein and fiber see the complete list at: http://www.eatright.org/resource/food/nutrition/vegetarian-and-special-diets/feeding-vegetarian-and-vegan-infants-and-toddlers
From the Canadian
Pediatric Society:
“A
well-balanced vegetarian diet can provide for the needs of children and
adolescents. However, appropriate caloric intake should be ensured and growth
monitored. Particular attention should be paid to adequate protein intake and
sources of essential fatty acids, iron, zinc, calcium, and vitamins B12
and D. Supplementation may be required in cases of strict vegetarian diets with
no intake of any animal products. Pregnant and nursing mothers should also be
appropriately advised to ensure that the nutritional needs of the fetus and
infant are adequately met …… Strict vegans are at risk of vitamin B12
deficiency because this compound is only found in animal products.
Supplementation or intake of fortified food is therefore essential.
Lacto-ovo-vegetarians can obtain B12 from dairy products and eggs if
consumed regularly. Breast milk of strict vegan mothers can be low in B12;
therefore, their infants should be supplemented.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2912628/
Primary Source (Where no direct links are given) http://www.macleans.ca/society/health/gluten-free-baby-when-parents-ignore-science/
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Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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