Go to Jail for Raising a Vegan?

I have a Facebook “friend” who’s recently crossed over to the Dark Side of constant activism. It seems he’s now an unofficial spokesperson for PETA, anti-horse-racing organizations, the Humane Society...the list goes on. His sudden online (and, I presume, in-person) behavior change directly followed his conversion to veganism, a relatively small group anecdotally known for their outspokenness about their lifestyle. (An old joke—Q: How can you spot a vegan at a dinner party? A: Don’t worry, he’ll let you know.)

Veganism—the increasingly popular diet forbidding consumption of any animal-related product—made the news this month when Italian lawmaker Elvira Savino introduced a bill to hold parents legally responsible for feeding their children “a diet devoid of elements essential for healthy and balanced growth.” Specifically, the bill proposes jailing a parent for a year for raising a child on a vegan diet, and up to seven if the child dies as a result of the diet. The bill seems like the culmination of a few unfortunate incidents in Italy, including the July 2016 hospitalization of a one-year-old vegan-fed boy who weighed as much as an average three-month-old.

It’s difficult to be completely objective about diet and nutrition. Each and every person has a unique metabolism and nutritional needs, so food is never a “one size fits all” proposition. Unfortunately, diet adherents who find amazing success tend to become fanatical about extending their beliefs to others, including their own children. One doesn’t have to look far to find stories of individuals who committed to a vegan commune, got very sick and malnourished, then have fellow vegans tell them they weren’t successful because they’re doing it wrong or not working hard enough. In reality, some people can’t maintain healthy blood chemistry without meat or eggs.

Veganism is also tricky from a scientific standpoint. The Vegan Society and other advocators talk a big game, claiming that vegans have a 33% reduced risk of premature death, lower BMIs, and lower risk of a host of diseases than those on a traditional Western diet. Adherents often point to The China Study, a bestselling 2006 book arguing that an animal-product-rich diet leads to health problems as varied as heart disease, diabetes, and various types of cancer. Based on a 20-year observational study of the diets, lifestyles, and disease rates of 6,500 people in rural China, the book advocates a whole-food, vegan, plant-based, no-cholesterol diet. The China Study has inspired millions of people to adopt veganism, often with excellent results.

Those interested in digging a little deeper into the statistics behind these claims find some holes. The China Study was purely observational and was therefore unable to prove a solid causality, and the data indicated that wheat intake had a stronger correlation than animal protein intake; the authors left this fact out of the bestselling book. Critics of the study also point out that the data was collected during the relative starvation following the end of Chairman Mao’s rule, so veganism and lower calorie intake—the latter of which also results in the reduction of disease and early death—was probably not a choice but a necessity. Advocating a zero-cholesterol diet is somewhat extreme and potentially dangerous: science has been largely unable to prove that the lipid is directly related to heart disease, and it’s an essential nutrient for brain development and makes up 30% of all animal cell membranes. Just about the only objective truth stated in the book is the recommendation to trade processed foods and refined sugars for whole foods. The study cited as supporting the 33% reduced risk of death was not specific to veganism, but rather compared the mortality of people who ate seven or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day (like good vegans do) with those who ate less than one portion; animal protein consumption is completely absent.

People don’t go vegan solely because of perceived health benefits. It’s hard to argue with an ethical vegan altering their diet to protest factory farming or killing of other sentient life forms. Environmental vegans believe that the livestock industry is environmentally unsustainable and a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and accordingly avoid animal products to break the cycle. Doing a little more active critical thinking about the state of our food system can, and maybe should, be horrifying.

Figuring out how to effectively feed dependent children is even more complex and difficult than eating right and maintain personal health. If passed, the Italian bill would likely cause a stir among the passionate vegans of the world. But it might be a step closer to a good solid maxim to live by: Freely hold and share your beliefs and values, but also incorporate a little common sense.

Image credit: Takver from Australia (Its Time to Evolve - Go Vegan) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons