You may have heard about the vegan parents who were recently convicted for killing their baby with a vegan diet. Put simply, veganism is not natural. Adults may be able to get by on a vegan diet in the modern world thanks to a global market economy. Ironic, considering that many of them are probably enemies of the very thing that enables them to live their preferred lifestyle: laissez-faire capitalism. But veganism would not be viable in a more primitive non-market society, which cannot provide the food alternatives and supplements needed. The human body quite simply needs the fats and proteins and other nutrients found in meat, fish, and dairy products. This is especially true for children.
Nina Planck, author of Real Food: What to Eat and Why, writes in more detail about this (minus the economic aspect) in a New York Times article “Death by Veganism.”
We hear all the time how poor the American diet is. It makes me wonder then, and this is nothing but speculation on my part, whether the continued the rise of cases of autism, childhood asthma and the like result from poor nutrition – from the womb through the first few years of life on through early childhood.
(Disclaimer for hypersensitive politically correct types: I’m not saying that vegans ought to give up their diet. I’m just saying that those who aren’t grateful to global market economy for their lifestyle ought to be. Also and more importantly, vegan parents ought not to force their diet on their children, starting from conception onwards. It’s just not healthy for them.)
Geoffrey is an Aristotelian-Libertarian political philosopher, writer, editor, and web designer. He is the founder of the