The perilous downside of a strict vegetarian diet
Three times tragic
It’s hard to imagine anything more heartbreaking than the death of an infant girl just before her first birthday.
But one thing makes this situation much sadder: The deeply coldhearted decision by French authorities to put the child’s grief-stricken parents in prison. The charge: “neglect or food deprivation.”
But this young girl was not abused or neglected and she absolutely was not deprived of food.
The only “abuse” here is the flagrant abuse of power.
The couple now under arrest are strict vegetarians and their daughter was exclusively breastfed. A postmortem revealed that the infant was deficient in vitamins A and B-12.
And that’s the third tragedy in this sad story: This mother, who was only trying to do the very best for her child, might have prevented her death simply by taking supplementary vitamins–specifically, an ample daily dose of B-12.
You see, virtually all your B-12 intake comes from animal protein–beef, fish, chicken, ham, yogurt, cheese, etc. You pick up a trace of B-12 in fortified foods, but it’s a scant dosage at best.
And what happens when B-12 is deficient? Red blood cells don’t form properly, DNA synthesis is compromised, and neurological function suffers–just to name three essential functions that can go very wrong.
Vegetarian checklist
As Dr. Spreen has noted before, vegetarians MUST include vitamin B-12 in their supplement regimen. When meat is absent from the diet, there’s really no other way to get this important B vitamin in adequate amounts.
So I asked Dr. Spreen what other supplement recommendations he might offer strict vegetarians.
Dr. Spreen: “Besides the B-12, I’d add some conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), as that form only comes from being processed within an animal. Getting enough of the omega-3 oils in general is a problem, as the ratio tends to be more omega-6 in vegetarians (no fish).
“I’d also add some saturated fat–since butter and lard (animal fat) are out, vegetarians (especially young ones) are missing the type of fat that’s needed for cell membrane production (kind of important, as you might imagine). In that case I’d be pushing for the use of coconut oil and palm kernel oil (neither one being popular these days).
“Iron is a problem (especially since only animal sources provide iron in a form that ‘insulates’ its oxidative effects from the body within a heme ring), so I’d add an iron supplement.
“Vitamin D is no problem if the individual gets enough whole-body solar exposure daily. That’s kind of rare, unfortunately, so I’d be adding that.
“High quality protein (egg highest, milk next) is an issue. You’re only left with soy, a sad substitute (especially in young boys), but I’d have to add that.”
Dr. Spreen also has a warning for what he calls the only thing worse than vegetarianism: fruitarianism. A fruitarian eats only fruits, nuts, and seeds. But nothing gets cooked–it’s a strict raw food diet.
In fact, Dr. Spreen told me about a fruitarian he knew–an athletic young girl of 14 who he once coached in diving competitions. One day, while on a hiking outing with her church group, she collapsed on the trail and died. She was perfectly healthy, except for the heartbreaking and tragic imperfection of being deficient in a few key nutrients, such as B-12.
No matter what your diet, Dr. Spreen recommends 1 mg (1000 mcg) of B-12 per day in sublingual form (dissolved under the tongue).
Sources:
“French vegans face trial after death of baby fed only on breast milk” Kim Willsher, The Guardian, 3/29/11, guardian.co.uk
