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Josie Weitz

Professor Cassel

English 1201

17 April 2019

Vegetarianism in Children

Growing up, especially after turning 10, I always felt tired and run down. I felt like a lazy

kid but I didn’t want to be lazy, I just always needed to rest in order to feel better. My father was

in the military and was always being deployed while my mom was a busy nurse, so my dinners

were either fast food or some kind of quick dinner. Every meal I had consisted of meat, which I

hated the taste of. Finally, my mother had enough of my constant complaining and decided

maybe it was time for me to start a vegetarian diet. Months went by with this new and improved

diet and I started to transform into a completely different child. I became so much more active

and needed a lot less rest in order to go through my day. Ever since then I have been curious

about why other parents decide to influence the vegetarian lifestyle in their children.

Vegetarian diets have a common misconception that the people who do participate in this

diet are crazy animal rights activist, or that they try to push their diets upon other people. It is

also said that this diet leads to a tasteless life in the food world where there is no exploration of

new foods. In reality, vegetarianism is just a diet that generally excludes all meat, poultry, and

fish from a person’s diet but they are still able to eat dairy and eggs if they chose to. Although

vegetarians have to get their protein and other nutrients from other foods, they tend to get a bad

representation just for lacking meat in their diet.

The reasoning for people becoming vegetarians can be very different from one another

but for some people, they become vegetarian for health benefits, their religion or culture
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excludes meat, people don’t like the taste/texture of meat or their overall love and respect for

animals. As of 2014, there are 375 million vegetarians worldwide, and the number is seemingly

increasing (Figus). As this number increases, some of these vegetarians are also having kids and

raising them to not eat meat as well. Limited diets for growing children often scares people and

makes them worry about children’s developmental growth and whether or not it hurts them in the

long run. Although there are many reasons and research on why children become vegetarian,

research has shown that there are no negative developmental effects on a child from this diet if it

is nutritional maintained and balanced.

Vegetarian children need to get a lot of vegetables and fruits in order to make up for

lacking meat in their diet so they tend to eat quite healthy and maintain thinner body weight. In

this growing and fast pace world, fast food especially is an easy way for parents to feed their

children quickly and not have to worry about cooking especially for their busy schedules. So,

children who are eating this fast food on a regular basis aren’t getting enough of the right

nutrients and become overweight or obese. Worldwide, around 340 million children who are the

ages of 5 through 18 are considered to be overweight or obese (Obesity and Overweight). Fast

food places tend to lack options for vegetarians, so children are very limited to not eating these

foods as much as children who eat meat.

When doctors are explaining to parents about what their children should be eating, they

advise children to eat healthy which means more fruits and vegetables. Obesity and being

overweight puts people, especially children, at risk for many diseases and health problems, for

vegetarian children their risk is a lot lower because the main part of their diet is what a doctor

would recommend. According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarian diets that are

maintained nutritionally accurate reduces the risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and many
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cancers because these children have lower levels of cholesterol, saturated fats, and their blood

pressure is lower (To Meat or Not to Meat). Vegetarian diets or cutting down on meat is

extremely healthy especially for kids that are overweight and can be very beneficial for them in

the future.

Decreasing one’s meat consumption has become more known and recommended by

doctors. Meat, specifically red meats like pork and steak, has been starting to show significant

declines in people’s health. A study by Harvard Medical School was done with 121,000

participants that included men and women, where each of them submitted their diets every four

years. During the study over 24,000 people died and the risk of dying by eating meat every day

increased to 13 to 20 percent (Robb-Nicholson). If it’s constantly recommended by doctors and

researches that meat should be limited, it should be important that children are including with

this diet as well. Harvard recommends to cut down on the consumption of meat and only adding

in some meals per week not only because it’s healthy for people but it is also healthy for our

overall world.
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This cartoon is a perfect example of the negative outlook on vegetarianism and shows

the great irony of it all. This cartoon represents vegetarians and the insults they receive because

of them eating differently from what's normal when in reality it can be better for people's health.

This really only relating to pathos because it brings humor about people to worry about how

vegetarians are not getting enough protein when in reality they should be worried about their

own health because they're so overweight or their diets are extremely unbalanced and unhealthy.

The irony is that the overweight people in the picture are worried about in shape people who just

don't eat meat rather than themselves because they eat in the “right way”.

Decreasing meat consumption is also helping with environmental issues. As people's

actions are very environmentally damaging, so can people’s food consumptions. Havard states

“meat consumption is the second most environmentally expensive consumer activity, behind how

we transport ourselves from place to place. Making one pound of beef for the table creates 17

times more water pollution and 20 times more habitat alteration than making its caloric

equivalent in pasta” which helps explain how vegetarian diets can help relieve more

environmental issues (Robb-Nicholson). This is often why people start to consider this

vegetarian diet “healthy” because it is both beneficial to the body and to protect this world.

Obviously being vegetarian does not mean a person is going to save the world by cutting meat

out of their diet, but everyone who participates helps in a small but beneficial way.

Many parents are often worried about nutritional deficiencies because of children’s limits

in a vegetarian diet. Often this is because vegetarians become anemic from not getting the right

amount of iron that often is given whilst eating meat which is what affects their growth

negatively. According to Cedar Sinai, a medical center in California, if a child is anemic it can

cause poor growth rate, joint pain and swelling, and poor bone marrow. This is obviously very
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scary for a child to endure and something parents want to avoid if they can have any control over

it so some parents choose not to raise their children vegetarian.

Since every diet is different from person to person the percentage differences of

vegetarians and meat-eating diet of those who have an iron deficiency are hard to come up with.

Some studies have found 4.3 percent of vegetarian children had anemia while other studies have

shown that up to 71 percent do (Pawlak). But, throughout researching it is pretty consistent to see

that iron deficiency is more prevalent in vegetarians than it is among an omnivorous child, but

depending on their age. Through the ages of one and four children are growing at a rapid pace so

the child is taking up more nutrients, this is where anemic levels begin to develop. According to

the American Journal of Nutrition Intake, a study was done between this age and it was found

that there was a 6 to 21% difference in the iron deficiency levels of vegetarian children.

Vegetarian parents are extremely recommended by doctors to give their child supplements to

avoid anemia at all cost (Gibson). People do not like that fact that if a child’s diet is requiring

supplements then it not worth it and they should just allow them to eat meat.

Although this is true, if a vegetarian diet is well balanced, the risk for anemia is almost

immediately terminated. Diets can be well balanced through if supplement intake or buying

nutrient-rich foods that will benefit the child. After 11 years of age, the risk for iron deficiency

goes down and vegetarian iron levels grow similar to omnivorous children (Gibson). The term

supplements can scare parents because they want their child to get nutrition from actual food,

which is fair and not every child is in need of supplements. Balancing food consumption and

educating oneself of what foods are healthy and replace the right nutrition from meat for their

diets is key to avoid iron deficiency.

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So what foods are beneficial and nutritious for vegetarian children? There are plenty of

foods that are both delicious and provide plenty of protein and vitamins that cover for meat.

According to the Better Health Channel, who writes health articles, food sources that cover for

protein can include “eggs, grains, legumes, pulses, and various soy foods (such as tofu, tempeh,

and seitan)” and have the same benefits as meat. In nearly each of a child’s meals, they need to

make sure to contain lentils, hummus/chickpeas, baked beans, kidney beans, an assortment of

nuts or nut butter, etc (Vegetarian Diets and Children). It is also important to make sure the child

is not consuming too much fiber because it often absorbs a child’s protein, zinc, iron, and

calcium which all the nutrients cause anemia (Vegetarian Diets and Children). Although this it

may seem easy, this diet can be pretty harmful if it isn’t well taken care of so it crucial to

maintain it on a regular basis for child’s fast-growing body.

The vegetarian diet is healthy and environmentally safe but it isn’t always easy to get kids

to eat or like vegetables. According to Jenny Rosenstrach and Andy Ward, a health and parenting

blog, for kids who don’t like vegetables or are very reluctant to them, it is important to start

meals off by not telling them what it is until they serve it, or else they tend to complain and

refuse to eat the food. They add how it is important, if your child is reluctant, to make this

process a slow one, not to fully go vegetarian but to incorporate it in more during the week

(Rosenstrach and Ward). Obviously, this diet should not be forced upon a child but it is okay to

try this diet out and see how the child responds. If the child is too picky and not gaining enough

nutrients, sticking to meat is probably a parent’s better and safer option.

Vegetarianism is often looked at wrongly without any research when this diet can be very

beneficial to a child’s health. Although there are some risks with this diet, if not balanced, the

benefits can be astounding. The negatives of this diet can be easily prevented with careful
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watching and this diet will have none to slim development difference to children who have meat

in their diet. If there’s any children out there like me and feel lazy, I hope one day they are given

the opportunity to try this diet and see how it affects them. Everyone’s body is different, so not

every diet works for everyone but it is great to see what the effects are and whether they are

beneficial. The word “diet” seems very weird for a child to even be categorized with if they are

not unhealthy but through this research process, it is seen that this diet can be truly beneficial.

Children deserve the best and the vegetarian diet has a lot of advantages and is something to be

considered, especially if a parent is afraid of a child being overweight or obese.

Works Cited

“Anemia in Children.” Cedars-Sinai , 2019, www.cedars-sinai.org/health-

library/diseases-and-conditions---pediatrics/a/anemia-in-children.html. Date Accessed 20

April 2019.

Figus, Cinzia. “375 Million Vegetarians Worldwide. All the Reasons for a Green

Lifestyle.” EXPO, 27 Oct. 2014, 375 million vegetarians worldwide. All the reasons for a

green lifestyle. Accessed 8 Apr. 2019

Gibson, Rosalind S., et al. “Is Iron and Zinc Nutrition a Concern for Vegetarian Infants

and Young Children in Industrialized Countries?” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,

vol. 100, July 2014, p. 459S–468S. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3945/ajcn.113.071241. Accessed

10 April 2019

“Obesity and Overweight.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 16

Feb. 2018, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight. Accessed

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20 April 2019

Pawlak, Roman, and Kami Bell. “Iron Status of Vegetarian Children: A Review of

Literature.” Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism, vol. 70, no. 2, May 2017, pp. 88–99.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1159/000466706. Accessed 18 April 2019

Robb-Nicholson, Celeste. “What's the Beef with Red Meat?” Harvard Health Publishing,

Harvard Medical School , www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/whats-the-beef-with-red-

meat. Date Accessed 31 April 2019

Rosenstrach, Jenny, and Andy Ward. “Look Kids, No Meat: How to Get Your Children to

Eat Vegetarian (or Not).” Bon Appetit, Bon Appétit, 23 June 2015,

www.bonappetit.com/columns/providers/article/providers. Accessed 31 April 2019

"To meat or not to meat: is vegetarianism healthy for teens?" Current Events, a Weekly

Reader publication, 9 Feb. 2009, p. 7+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A193509659/OVIC?

u=dayt30401&sid=OVIC&xid=3e3e63a3. Accessed 8 Apr. 2019.

“Vegetarian Diets and Children.” Better Health Channel, Department of Health & Human

Services, 28 Feb. 2012, www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/HealthyLiving/vegetarian-

diets-and-children. Date Accessed 20 April 2019.