The Scotsman, (UK) Sept 21, 2001

Fed on ignorance

Stephen McGinty

The slogan was once Meat is Murder, yet since the tragic death of little Areni Manuelyan, it is the vegan diet that is now on trial. Lost among the tragedy of the attack on America was the case of a nine-month-old British child who resembled a famine victim in the days before her death, after a short lifetime of raw fruit, mashed nuts and tomato juice. Initially charged with manslaughter, her parents finally pleaded guilty to child cruelty and escaped jail sentence after a judge deemed their behaviour misguided rather than evil.

The third child of Garabet Manuelyan, 45, and his wife Hasmik, 44, became a victim of her parents’ obsession with "Natural Hygiene", a lifestyle regime that shuns all drugs, believing the body will heal itself and thrive on a restricted diet of uncooked fruit and vegetables.

Born in Armenia, the couple moved to Britain, where Areni was born and placed on a diet to prevent the consumption of any harmful toxins. The parents ignored the warnings of doctors, nutritionists and social workers. Fearful of Areni’s failing health, the couple moved to a Spanish vegan commune in the belief that additional vitamin D from the sunshine would cure her, however in July they returned to see an alternative medicine specialist in Harley Street. The child was 11lb, 5lb under the weight of a typical healthy girl of that age, and the doctor insisted they took her to a hospital. The couple, incredibly, said they would think about it, but the next morning Areni was dead.

In the court case, which ended last week, their solicitor insisted they had researched the diet carefully, but had read misleading studies and unsafe literature.

The death has trained a spotlight on the vegan movement, which holds to a diet that prohibits meat, fish, dairy produce or animal by-products such as gelatine on both moral and health grounds. There are around 250,000 people in Britain who subscribe to a vegan diet, including thousands of children. The Vegan Society in Britain insist the incident is a terrible tragedy, but believe it is perfectly safe to raise a child from birth as a vegan by following their guidelines.

Julie Farrar, their spokeswoman, explained that there are already thousands of healthy children who have been raised vegan since birth. "The story is obviously very unfortunate and tragic that this child lost her life, and there will be bad press, but on a positive note it may make many mothers double check that they are giving their children the right foods so they receive the correct vitamins and minerals. We already provide a guidebook to healthy eating for children and a separate book for mothers to ensure a healthy pregnancy. It is perfectly possible to enjoy a healthy diet from the youngest age."

The Vegan Society, along with the government, advocates breast milk as the healthiest option; however, Areni Manuelyan’s mother was herself suffering from a poor diet and her milk lacked necessary nutrients. Although the society insists a well planned diet can be healthy, independent researchers say some vegans and vegetarians can lack necessary nutrients such as B vitamins and iron.

Calcium deficiencies are also common, as the vegetables that contain calcium do so in lesser quantities. Protein can also be a problem. Nutritionists say protein should make up at least 15 per cent of our daily diets, and although protein can be found in soya, tofu, nuts and cereals, it is of a different quality than from animal sources.

The death of Areni is another blow to veganism. Three months ago PETA, the organisation of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was criticised by teachers for producing a series of cards for schoolchildren claiming dairy products were harmful to health. Scientists at the British Nutritional Foundation say they are wary of placing children on restrictive diets.

Susan Stanner, at the BNF, says it is possible to raise a healthy child on a vegan diet, but not recommended. "Children need a wide variety of food groups; the more you restrict their diet the greater the chance that they will miss out on exactly what they require."

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-- Lars (lars@indy.net), September 21, 2001

Answers

Let them eat carrot cake.

-- (Marie Antionette @ PETA.chic), September 21, 2001.

Sad.

Actually there are diet adherents even MORE purist than vegans: (1) fruitarians, who eat only fruit [these are the most extreme Natural Hygienists], and (2) "breath-arians" who believe you don't need to eat at all! (Breath, i.e. Spirit, is your sustenance.)

So is the vegan diet deadly? No, but it's not an optimum diet either.

Here is a pretty solid, entertaining, research-based website on diet:

Beyond Vegetarianism
http://www.beyondveg.com

Veg*n diets are not the natural diet of humans

It sounds like the subjects in this article were among the minority of people on idealistic diets who become so obsessed with dietary purity that they abandon all common sense. They get a certain fixation on getting rid of "toxins" and "wastes" while completely forgetting that there's more to health than that... the body needs building up, too.

On failing to thrive, they believe that they or their child are just going through a "healing crisis"... which they may be, but they fail to distinguish between that and a real illness, and so go from bad to worse. (A healing crisis is to toxins as exorcism is to Satan.)

-- Debbie (dbspence@pobox.com), September 22, 2001.

Lars,

I should point out that this writer has his terms mixed up.

The article starts out by saying, "it is the vegan diet that is now on trial."

Then reading further you find out that the child who died was on a Natural Hygiene diet.

Natural Hygiene is much MORE restrictive than a Vegan diet. It believes in consuming only raw fruits and vegetables and an occasional raw egg yolk (and some other rules I forget) and little to no grains, beans or cooked foods of any kind.

Vegan philosophy is quite a different, er, animal. It allows any food (including grains, cooked foods, and processed foods) as long as there is no use of animal products in the food or even in the harvesting or manufacture of the food.

So, it's a mystery why the Vegan Society should have felt the need to make public statements defending itself in connection with this case. For if I understand this article correctly, it's not veganism but Natural Hygiene that was on trial!

-- Debbie (dbspence@pobox.com), September 22, 2001.

go debbie go! =)

-- (cin@cin.cin), September 22, 2001.

It's hard to believe that infants could thrive on raw food. Babies don't even develop teeth for at least the first six months.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), September 22, 2001.

Debbie,
The Vegan Society probably assumed that few readers would have heard of Natural Hygiene, let alone comprehended the distinction between that and veganism. Hence they acted to limit the extent that veganism would be tarnished.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), September 22, 2001.

(2) "breath-arians" who believe you don't need to eat at all! (Breath, i.e. Spirit, is your sustenance.)

LOL! And just how long do these morons survive on a diet of air?

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), September 22, 2001.

One thing about raw vegetables, they sure keep me regular.

-- (lars@Kohler.Konvenience), September 22, 2001.