Child in hospital with rickets.

[PTA]

A GLASGOW girl who was fed berries and nuts by her vegan parents has been admitted to a city hospital with rickets.

Experts said the 12-year-old had the spine of an 80-year-old that was prompted by lack of vital vitamins.

The youngster, who has not been named, was admitted to Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children with the bone-destroying disease.

advertisementAnd she has already suffered a number of broken bones prompted by lack of vitamin D which is found in liver, dairy produce and oily fish.

It emerged today she was fed none of these since birth because vegans don't eat animal products.

Specialists at the Yorkhill hospital are coming under increasing pressure to report her parents to authorities.

But Dr Faisal Ahmed, who is looking after the girl, said: "We shouldn't name and shame the parents. Mum feels guilty and the whole thing just feels bad."

Bill Aitken, Tory justice spokesman, said: "If the girl has come to clinical harm something must be done."

The Vegan Society, which has 250,000 members also said the girl's parents must take responsibility.

A spokesman added: "I would suggest it is not the vegan diet itself that is to blame - but the parents".

Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS refused to comment.

In addition to diet, a lack of sunlight is also responsible for a lack of vitamin D.

Experts slammed parents who impose their strict eating regimes on children.

Professor Tom Sanders, head of nutrition at King's College in London, said: "Some of them think we can live on fruit and nuts."

In 2001, vegans Hazmik and Garabet Manuaelyan of Middlesex, admitted starving their 10-month-old daughter Arenai to death.

She had been fed nothing but breast milk, raw fruit, vegetables and nuts. Her parents were sentenced to three years' community rehabilitation.

Different cases Yurtgirl.

The 12yr old is currently receiving treatment and so in the news. The 10mth old was a case from about 3 years ago and the story is getting rechurned on the back of this new one.

it was on the front of the herald as well i think, it must be on teh wires.

It isn't constructive to say that children shouldnt have their parents views and choices inflicted on them. We ALL do this, from diet to religion, eductation, morals etc.

There were people up in arms about vegan children on a talk show the other morning, and although this case is very sad the majority of vegans give their children a healthy diet. Compare this to the parents who feed their kids turkey twizzlers and 10p bags of crisps for dinner - I know which kid i'd rather be.

we all wittingly and unwittingly perpetrate our values/belief by the books we chose, food/other products we buy. most evident when we go to someone else house/baby group and you see/hear something and think Cor...well lookey at that!

Is it possible to have rickets caused by genetic problems rather then just poor diet? I'm sure I heard of a case recently in Belgium about a child having rickets dispite getting sunlight and a good diet.

When my dd2 was ten months old she was still eating virtually nothing but breastmilk (she was very difficult to wean).

Rickets is caused by Vitamin D deficency. it is an acquired deficency. a disorder that becomes apparent during infancy or childhood, is the result of insufficient amounts of vitamin D in the body. The vitamin deficiency may be caused by poor nutrition, a lack of exposure to the sun, or malabsorption syndromes in which the intestines do not adequately absorb nutrients from foods.

But Hypophosphatasia (HP) is characterized by a genetic defect in the gene of the tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase TNSALP

Childhood HP presents after the first year of life with rickets causing a short stature, delayed walking and a waddling gait due to bone deformities (genua vara or valga) and chronic skeletal pain. Clinical variability of childhood hypophosphatasia includes short stature, premature loss of teeth, disturbances of gait, muscle weakness, signs of muscle inflammation and chronic pain located mainly in the lower legs

There are clinical variability of the HP phenotype: 5 major subtypes (perinatal, infantile, childhood, adult and odontohypophosphatasia) have been described Biochemical and molecular data indicate that the severity of the molecular genetic alterations and subsequently levels of TNSALP are major determinants of the clinical phenotype.

I don't think anyone can defend what happened to that poor baby who was effectively starved to death on a totally inappropriate diet.

Deficiency in vitamin B12 is extremely serious, and B12 only available from animal products (incl. fish, dairy and eggs) and supplements.

One of the many horrid side effects is the spine basically turning to jelly, so may be what they are talking about here with 12-year-old.

Also psoriasis, memory problems, fainting. Know someone who took strict vegetarianism too far while avoiding anything that might give him 'cholesterol' and this was result.

There is a thing about this in media/non member requests too

thanks scottishmoneymummy that's interesting

i think this is abuse plain and simpel. an ill child, a stack of sdvice and yet my vegan principles are still worth more.

I don't think this is a matter of principles
it is perfectly simple to give a child a healthy vegan diet if you have any idea about nutrition
I think this was ignorance and stupidity, not veganism

You are saying that veganism is safe for children when even nutritionists don't know whether it is - vegetables and fruit are not the only healthy foods and it is easy in our current 'organic' obsessed way to believe that 'nature is best'

whilst i don't have an issue with veganism, a child who is now hospitalised ith rickets will have been showing symptoms for a long time

and the 10 month old's parents were advised to do other stuff and ran away

I think its more than stupidity, I think it's almost cult-like in its extreme

If a breast fed ten month old, that was also fed fruit veg and nuts, can starve to death - surely the expression "food is for fun until you're one" is wrong?

ummm vegans eat a lot more than just fruit & vegetables!

My brother & I were brought up vegan, I started eating eggs & dairy in my teens - just because it was easier - my kids are vegetarian.

upwind - I don't think we're getting the whole story. From another link it seems to imply that the 10 month old was fed nothing but fruit and nuts, but it's very unclear.

Thanks Belgo, I just googled for it and it seems that the mother in that case was unable to come to terms with her baby's death and committed suicide

From here:

"When Areni died she was less than two thirds the correct weight for her age."

they must have limited breastmilk if indeed the child was being given breastmilk Upwind
I know several whopping babies who refused all food until well over a year and thrived on breastmilk - their mothers weren't exactly ecstatic about it but the babies were fine!

a sensible, varied, vegan diet is perfectly safe and healthy, yes, moopdaloop
if you're telling me that some nutritionists are not sure about this then I would say they may be a little confused
that would be the polite way of saying it

Very sad case. It would be interesting to hear the full story though.

I am just quoting what the article in the times linked below said tbh

i think a varied diet is all important personally

F&Z - I also know a very healthy child who refused all food except bm until about the age of 18 months.

My dd1 hardly ate any real food apart from bm until the age of 10 months or more. It was incredibly stressful weaning her, especially as she was so skinny. She's two and a half now though and absolutely thriving.

I agree moop
you can't restrict your diet hugely and expect to be healthy
leaving out meat and fish is fine, leaving out milk and eggs is fine
leaving out huge chunks like carbs or protein or whatever is going to end badly

breastmilk definitely enough to sustain child for over a year
mothers end up rather lean IME

I think the baby must have been given a very restricted diet indeed
it's NOT normal veganism
nothing like it

f&Z - yes I ended up getting back to my previous weight, but unfortunately, I never became lean! (too many cakes admittidly)

those poor, poor parents, though. i wonder if it was a ghastly collision of routine and veganism? horrific.