{"id":3563,"date":"2021-03-18T12:20:17","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T12:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.veganfriendly.org.uk\/?post_type=articles&p=3563"},"modified":"2021-03-18T12:20:17","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T12:20:17","slug":"should-children-be-vegan","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.veganfriendly.org.uk\/articles\/should-children-be-vegan\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Children Be Vegan?"},"content":{"rendered":"
You might be a parent who is vegan who is considering transitioning your children to a vegan diet. Or your (presumably slightly older) child might have announced to you they have become (or intend to become) vegan. Or you might even be a grandparent who is concerned about your hippy son-in-law\u2019s insistence that your precious grandkids be brought up eating only lentils and mung beans. Whatever your situation, we aim to give you the answers you seek about children and veganism.<\/p>\n
\u201cShould\u201d can be quite a loaded word, of course. Nobody likes being told how to bring up their children. It can be a hard enough job as it is without having people casting aspersions on your parenting style or questioning whether you should allow them a bit of birthday cake on occasion. And, we are not here to judge anyone in terms of the choices they make for their kids. A more accurate question to ask, therefore, might be: is a vegan diet safe and healthy for children and babies?<\/em><\/p>\n In this article, we\u2019ll attempt to answer this question by focussing primarily on the nutritional angle. That is, does (or can<\/em>) a vegan diet provide all the nutrients a growing baby or child needs to be healthy. We\u2019ll look at whether there are any nutrients that kids need but which are particularly hard to get from a vegan diet. And, we\u2019ll seek out evidence that compares a vegan diet with one that contains meat, eggs and dairy and attempt to explain which appears healthier.<\/p>\n Aside from the nutritional information, we\u2019ll also take a brief look at the environmental and ethical arguments for your children becoming vegan. But first, let\u2019s find out what the various authorities and health and nutrition bodies recommend when it comes to what children and babies should eat.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Given the amount of information that\u2019s dished out to parents, most people are at least quite aware of what children need to eat and drink\u2026 and what they should avoid. But what are the guidelines from the organisations whose job it is to look out for the health of kids or to give nutritional advice in general? Here we are talking about advice about eating to be healthy, not just to survive.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll give you a snapshot of the information provided by the UK Government (through Public Health England), the NHS (through their Eatwell Guide), the British Nutrition Foundation and the British Dietetic Association. Much of the information overlaps and generally reinforces the notion that it is possible for children to obtain all they need to be healthy from a vegan diet\u2026 with a bit of careful planning.<\/p>\n Public Health England is an executive agency of the Department of Health of the UK Government. Its role is to \u201cprotect and improve the nation\u2019s health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities\u201d. It regularly produces science-based reports and recommendations covering various aspects of health and wellbeing, including the official Government Dietary Requirements<\/a> (last published in 2016).<\/p>\n This document breaks down the government\u2019s recommendations for children aged from one year to 18 years and for people aged 19 and older. They split the recommendations into various age bands and also by male and female and offer recommendations for energy, macronutrients (such as protein, fat and dietary fibre), and selected vitamins and minerals. We\u2019ll present just a snapshot of the information to give you an idea, but please refer to the document itself to find the data specific to children (or adult) of a particular age and gender. We\u2019ll take a look at some of the main recommendations for males and females aged 4-6, 7-10 and 15-18.<\/p>\nWhat Should Children Eat & Drink?<\/h2>\n
Public Health England (The UK Government)<\/h3>\n