I am a Registered Dietitian and I Oppose Vegan Diet in Public Schools. Here is Why.
Mr. Mayor, I commend you for making public schools’ meals a priority in NYC. I wholeheartedly agree that kids need good nutrition to be healthy and study well. Yet, a vegan diet is not the answer.
We have hungry kids in NYC. One too many. These kids are relying on school meals to nourish them because otherwise they get poor food or no food at home. These are the kids I am most concerned about with a vegan diet.
A vegan diet is lacking in vitamin D. You might say, that’s easy, we get it from the sun. Problem solved. Not exactly. Sadly, kids are spending more of their days indoors. On top of that, vitamin D deficiency is more prevalent among African-Americans and others with darker skin complexion. The very same melanin that makes their skin so beautifully darker, is the same one that decreases their ability to produce this vitamin. This vitamin is essential for bone and teeth health, but also for our immune system. Some studies show it helps with minor depression too. The main nutritional sources are seafood and milk.
Omega-3 fatty acids: An essential fatty acid that is extremely important for the brain’s growth and function. It has also been shown to have some effect on mood. This essential nutrient exists mostly in seafood. Vegan sources are walnuts and flaxseeds or its oil. To meet needs from vegan sources one needs to eat them in larger amounts, a handful of walnuts a day won’t suffice. From all the nuts, these are the least flavorful and kids are least likely to eat them. Flaxseeds are expensive and very sensitive to light, which can quickly render them rancid. Since we have an omnivore gastrointestinal (GI) system, we cannot consume whole seeds. We need to crush flax seeds to enjoy their nutrients. Crushing them in mass-production, serving it hours later is not feasible.
A vegan diet is also deficient in bioavailable iron and calcium. As kids grow up, they need more calcium to support bone growth, teeth health, and iron for the growing volume of their blood and to carry nutrients to their continually growing body and brain. Yes, there are vegan sources of these nutrients, but since our gastrointestinal system is not geared for plants only, we need much more of these sources to meet our daily needs. And I haven’t even started talking about vitamin B12. B12 is available ONLY from animal sources: Red meats, eggs, seafood. This is the reason the majority of vegans need an injection of B12 every five years. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause anemia. One of the symptoms of anemia is tiredness. A tired kid simply does not learn well.
Protein needs: We need protein to maintain our skeletal muscles, support growth, but also support the heart, the most important muscle. Studies show that you need to eat three times as much plant-based protein to meet daily protein needs. The best protein is eggs. It is a whole protein, meaning it contains all the essential amino-acids (the building-blocks of protein) we need. The only vegan equivalent is soy. Most of the soy in the USA is genetically modified. Non-GMO soy is available, but expensive. Eggs are cheaper, it is a whole protein and it has B12 and iron in the yolk. Legumes are cheap but are nutritionally incomplete, they are missing some of the amino acids and require a grain to compliment them. Nuts are also an incomplete source. Nuts allergy is the second leading allergy among kids in the USA. Allergic reactions could be fatal.
Mr. Mayor, I am thrilled that a vegan diet made you healthy. I am ecstatic that you want to improve public schools’ meals. However, I strongly disagree with you that a vegan diet is the solution. When you provide to the public, you must provide to the most nutritionally-vulnerable. Therefore, you need the least deficient diet, so kids from low-income families, the very ones you strive to help, can be nourished from every school meal. These are the kids who go home to an empty refrigerator. We cannot afford to provide them with a diet that is deficient in essential nutrients.
It is very easy to make a vegan diet incomplete and deficient. To ensure meals are not lacking nutrients, you need to be rich, you should buy produce frequently (and I haven’t started talking about food deserts in NYC), plan ahead your weekly menu (Department of Education does) and be mindful with every bite (will kids eat it?).
There are better, more affordable means to provide healthy school meals to our kids, all our kids. A vegan diet is not one of them.
