Source+4

Goldstein, Myrna C., and Mark A. Goldstein. //Food and Nutrition Controversies Today: A Reference Guide//. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2009. Print

Facts:
 * 1) during the 1990s increasing numbers of health professionals saw the value of vegetarian diets
 * 2) shortly before his death in 1998 at the age of 94, Benjamin Spock, probably the best-known pediatrician in the history of the United States, advocated vegetarian diets for children.
 * 3) a vegetarian-based diet for children is generally more healthful than a diet containing the cholesterol, saturated fat, and excessive protein found in meat and dairy products/
 * 4) The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine strongly agrees. "Children raised on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes grow up to be slimmer and healthier and even live longer that their meat-eating friends."
 * 5) It is much easier to build a nutritious diet from plant foods than from animal products, which contain saturated fat, cholesterol, and other substances that growing children can do without.
 * 6) an article in 2000 in Patient Care said that studies have found that vegetarian and nonvegetarian children grow at about the same rate
 * 7) "Researchers typically concluded that a vegan or broader vegetarian diet did not impair a child's growth and development if known pitfalls were avoided.... Pitfalls referred to potential inadequacies in calories, protein, vitamins... calcium, iron and zinc - problems using confined to the vegan diet."
 * 8) foods that contain vitamin C, such as citrus fruits, improve the absorption of nonheme iron [the type of iron in plant foods].
 * 9) adolescents who consider themselves vegetarians have higher rates of eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia)
 * 10) dieting is about twice as common among vegetarians as it is among nonvegetarians
 * 11) in some instances, a vegetarian diet may serve as a marker for a potentially life-threatening eating disorder
 * 12) although only rarely discussed, livestock have played a significant role in climate change
 * 13) Lindsay Allen, of the US Agriculture Research Service, has stated that, "there is absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents to bring up their child as strict vegans."
 * 14) According to Allen, studies conducted on poor school children in Africa found that when given small amounts of daily meat, they "grew more and performed better on problem-solving and intelligence tests."
 * 15) extra attention must be devoted to food planning
 * 16) vegetarianism has existed in cultures throughout history around the world
 * 17) vegetarianism was practiced in ancient Egypt around 3200 BC
 * 18) Hindu scriptures underscore the importance of nonviolence and following a vegetarian diet
 * 19) Famous vegetarians:
 * Pythagoras
 * Socrates
 * Plato
 * Aristotle
 * Newton
 * Leonardo de Vinci
 * Albert Schweitzer
 * Albert Einstein