12-year old girl with an 80-year old spine

[CFLarsen]

Parents of ill vegan girl may face police

A 12-YEAR-OLD girl in Scotland brought up by her parents on a strict vegan diet has been admitted to hospital with a degenerative bone condition said to have left her with the spine of an 80-year-old woman.

Doctors are under pressure to report the couple to police and social workers amid concerns that her health and welfare may have been neglected in pursuit of their dietary beliefs.

The girl, who has been fed on a strict meat and dairy-free diet from birth, is said to have a severe form of rickets and to have suffered a number of fractured bones.

The condition is caused by a lack of vitamin D, which is needed to absorb calcium and is found in liver, oily fish and dairy produce. Decalcification leads to the bones becoming brittle and can cause curvature of the spine.

Dr Faisal Ahmed, the consultant paediatrician treating the child at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow, declined to discuss the specific case. He said, however, that he believed the dangers of forcing children to follow a strict vegan diet needed to be highlighted.

Let's keep an eye on this one.

 

[paximperium]

This is just disgusting, not due to veganism but due to complete and utter ignorance and stupidity.

Even if they wanted to keep strictly vegan, there are soy based formulas, fortified foods and a multitude of well informed ways to feed a child properly to prevent crap like this. I hope they do get charged.

 

[Big Les]

I'm confused. Why General Skepticism?

 

[heavensblade23]

A vegan diet is perfectly healthy as long as you have the nutritional requirements well in mind. Supplements would have prevented this.

 

[grayman]

A vegan diet is perfectly healthy as long as you have the nutritional requirements well in mind. Supplements would have prevented this.

Purely speculation on my part, but the parents may have considered supplements to be part of "Big Pharma", and/or not natural.

 

[sophia8]

A vegan diet is perfectly healthy as long as you have the nutritional requirements well in mind. Supplements would have prevented this.

I agree. I'm almost vegan, for health reasons, and I take supplements. And since Scotland isn't exactly the sunniest place on earth, I especially make sure I get my RDA of Vitamin D.
Since she's reported to have already suffered fractures, I'm wondering why this wasn't picked up much earlier. There are lots of little rural communes and self-sufficient communities hidden away in the wilds here, making it fairly easy to avoid doctors and health checks. But they aren't generally vegan - long-term veganism isn't really compatible with living the self-sufficient life in this part of the world; in fact, since there's an abundance of rabbits and roadkill here, most of them are healthily carnivorous.

 

[Showmeproof]

Great, another incident where parents impose their stupid beliefs on their child, and it leads to negative consequences.

 

[rjh01]

Another good reason to eat a wide variety of food. That way you are likely to get everything you need. The more you say no to certain types of food the more likely something like this will happen.

 

[Loss Leader]

Wasn't this a plot point on Lost?

 

[mayday]

I would bet the parents had way more issues than a vegan diet.

In other words, it is unfair to blame veganism.

 

[Miss Whiplash]

I would bet the parents had way more issues than a vegan diet.

In other words, it is unfair to blame veganism.

How so? The girl's problem was poor diet.

 

[JoeEllison]

How so? The girl's problem was poor diet.

I think the point is that if a parent feeds their kid nothing but bacon, you can't blame the Atkins Diet.

 

[paximperium]

How so? The girl's problem was poor diet.

I'm in no way a vegan (love the cow too much) and have had my fair share of spats with nutjob extremist vegans but veganism in it by itself does not lead to a poor diet.

Stupidity and ignorance can. There are many vegan-based websites and books out there that inform parents about a proper diet for kids.

If meat eating parents did the same to their kids, I wouldn't blame meat-eating, I'd blame the parents.

 

[paximperium]

I think the point is that if a parent feeds their kid nothing but bacon, you can't blame the Atkins Diet.

Hmmmm...bacon...

 

[Lonewulf]

How so? The girl's problem was poor diet.

"Vegan Diet" does not automatically translate into "poor diet". I wish more people would stop spreading this false meme.

 

[CFLarsen]

I'm confused. Why General Skepticism?

Great, another incident where parents impose their stupid beliefs on their child, and it leads to negative consequences.

That's why.

I would bet the parents had way more issues than a vegan diet.

In other words, it is unfair to blame veganism.

Yes, it is certainly worthwhile to listen to your opinions on nutrition.

Do tell us about how you used herbs during your pregnancy, and what the consequences were.

 

[Lonewulf]

Yes, it is certainly worthwhile to listen to your opinions on nutrition.

Do tell us about how you used herbs during your pregnancy, and what the consequences were.

No, Larsen, you're the self-imposed expert here.

Do tell us what makes a Vegan Diet bad, and what nutrients you'd be lacking, and how you cannot find any other possible source for those nutrients.

C'mon, Larsen. Use your expert study skillz.

 

[sophia8]

Reading the article properly, it seems that the parents weren't living in some rural commune, but in Glasgow. Which makes it even stranger that the girl's condition wasn't spotted much earlier. There's got to be more to the story than this.
An update of the story has this:

...the parents, who are understood to be well-known figures in Glasgow’s vegan community...

. So the parents should certainly know how important supplements are, would have been in contact with other vegan families and been able to see for themselves how much healthier other vegan kids were. Maybe the girl has brittle bone disease? That's known to be difficult to diagnose.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

I have a vague memory (I'll try to look it up later if I get a chance) of reading something about soy forumla being associated with vitamin deficiencies, by blocking the uptake of fats, so increasing the bodies need for fat soluble vitamins. So this may have been a contributor if the mum didn't breastfeed.

But feel free to correct me if I am talking rubbish.

I think also *some* (ie very few) vegans who chose this diet as adults do not realise the different nutritional requirements that young children/babies have.

Here's a couple of other cases which may have relevance.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18574603/

http://www.courttv.com/trials/andressohn/110705_ctv.html

 

[Miss Whiplash]

"Vegan Diet" does not automatically translate into "poor diet". I wish more people would stop spreading this false meme.

Vegan diet does not automatically translate into "completely healthy" either. Not all vegans take the time to assess their nutritional needs. They simply assume, "if it's vegan, it must be healthy" then, when deficiencies arise, they wonder why.

Personally, I equate vegetarianism with homeopathy and weird religions, but that's just my opinion.