Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [143]
These doctors and health gurus recognize the benefits of a vegan diet for children and teens, and they have done the legwork to prove it. Now it’s up to parents and children to do the smart and tasty thing — go vegan!
A vegan diet based on a variety of whole foods ensures that a child’s daily nutritional requirements are met and protects the health of that child for her entire life.
Understanding normal growth rates
Don’t assume that vegan kids will be scrawny and poorly developed. They may be skinnier than the other kids in class, but considering the obesity epidemic in the United States, this trimness is probably good. Vegan children turn out just fine when offered a healthy diet. Just because your kid doesn’t eat cheeseburgers doesn’t mean he won’t be able to play basketball — vegan kids grow tall too!
If you need some scientific proof, consider the following:
A 1988 study by T.A. Sanders published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed how a group of vegan kids raised in England grew up just fine. These kids were actually taller than the other children studied and weighed just slightly less. You can search the journal’s archived articles for vegan studies at www.ajcn.org.
A study in Pediatrics (the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics) from 1989 revealed wonderful results from vegan children at the Farm community in Tennessee. Most of the more than 400 kids who were raised vegan from birth were slightly shorter than normal between the ages of 1 and 3, but by age 10 their heights had all evened out. Visit pediatrics.aappublications.org to search the journal’s archived articles for this vegan study and many others.
Most American pediatricians, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, use a standard set of growth charts to determine whether a child’s growth is within the standard healthy trajectory. These charts have been used for years and have been updated according to shifting population information. However, all contain one fatal flaw: Every child is different. Tracking your child’s height, weight, and head measurements can help you determine the rate at which they’re growing, but you need to take many factors into account to get a true picture. These current charting standards don’t tell you how much a child should grow to ensure a healthy life; they only describe how they’re growing in comparison to the average child.
While these standard growth charts are somewhat useful, they also can cause unnecessary concern. Some kids hit growth spurts later than others. It’s helpful to know the possible medical causes, such as hyperthyroidism, food allergies, kidney problems, and growth hormone deficiency, for a child being shorter than expected. However, if a child’s parents are short, the kid will likely be shorter as well.
The bottom line is this: There are healthy kids, vegan and nonvegan alike, who fall within the “normal” rate of growth on doctor office charts. There also are kids who fall below and above normal. If you have concerns that your child’s growth has slowed or stopped, talk with your healthcare provider about the possible factors. You’re the parent, and you know more about your children than anyone — trust your intuition. If you notice that your child is experiencing any developmental delays or that he’s withdrawing, lacking energy, or has lost his appetite, it may be time to talk with a medical professional.
Looking at a new kind of growth chart
In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its Child Growth Standards. The first charts of their kind, these standards show that children born anywhere in the world, Amazonian Pygmies aside,