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Birth defects blamed on vegan diet
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Here we go again. Every four months or so, an aritcle comes out exaggerating a study to scare readers into thinking veganism is unhealthy, brain-deteriorating, or even fatal.
About a week ago, The Telegraph published the article, "Vegan diet tied to birth defects" claiming the lifestyle of non-violence was related due to the low availability of B12 in its diet.
These articles usually follow the same format: If someone has weak bones or any one of a myriad of health problems, it's not news. But if she or he's a vegan? All you need is one little study that outlines that the vegan diet has deficiencies in the nutritive causes of said problem.
The rebuttal is often the same as well: Any specific diet has deficiencies and a deficiency doesn't necessarily mean you can't get a nutrient, but (in the case of B12 or Iron in a vegan diet) there is less of it in the food options on average.
It's unfortunate that a lifestyle of non-violence which is gradually challenging cultural norms, decreasing the rate of animal exploitation, improving public health, and benefiting the environment is being ostracized by these claims.
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In this case, B12 is indeed the problem which causes birth defects, however, the only relevance to veganism itself is the slippery slope: "Vegans and women who eat little or no meat, fish, eggs, milk or cheese are at the highest risk" This is due to the belief that it is difficult to get B12 in a vegan diet. Some even say B12 can only be recovered from animals.
The truth is that B12 comes not from animals nor from plants, but bacteria. So supplements like cyanocobalamin which is common in many vegan foods is a fine vegan source of B12.
No one in the study was vegan
What is even more interesting is that the article makes no mention of any single women out of the 279 women studied being vegan. Instead, the study looked at some women with neural tube defects.
The point this article should be making is that B12 deficiency which could be related to inflammatory bowel disease or a number of other causes should be dealt with in a medical setting before carrying a child.
We've seen the same thing from people like hypochondriac mother Holly Paige who made a number of claims relating to veganism (actually raw veganism) including the rotting of her children's teeth (she also claimed they healed back up after switching back to omnivorism).
There was also a case about a year ago with a young girl with ricketts. Why was this news? She and her family were vegans. The case of ricketts was blamed on low levels of Vitamin D. The article claimed the lack of milk in the vegan diet causes ricketts. So why aren't so many other vegans getting ricketts?
Actually, Vitamin D is absorbed from the sun. Pigment in the skin is more of a hinderance than veganism.
Switching to any diet requires a balanced, diverse diet and time for the body to adjust. Anyone can go vegan. See you in four months for the next bogus article.
Update: 3/3/09 The Physician's Committe for Responsible Medicine published a response to this article stating:
The Pediatrics study is based on analysis of stored blood samples originally collected during pregnancy from three groups of Irish women between 1983 and 1990. It's not clear if any of the women were vegan, but the study clearly states that this population was deliberately chosen because vitamin supplementation and food fortification were rare at that time. The women lived in a region of traditionally high neural tube defects prevalence, suggesting a moderately high genetic predisposition.
Experts agree that pregnant women can thrive on vegan diets. The American Dietetic Association, the nation's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, states that "well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence." Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat and cholesterol and higher levels of fiber, folate, and cancer-fighting antioxidants and phytochemicals.
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