Most of today’s children are eating a diet that will eventually destroy their health - but not vegetarian kids.

What children eat
If you were a really odd person and wanted to feed your kids a diet so bad that it would lay them open to a string of killer diseases later in life, what would you give them? Pretty much what most kids eat at the moment!

Meat and dairy are the main ingredients - with all the artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol that entails - made worse by snacks, biscuits, chips, sweets and chocolate, white bread and convenience foods containing lots of salt and sugar. A huge government survey in 2000 discovered these grim facts and found that most of the things children should be eating, they aren’t.

The story gets worse. In the age range four to 18, they were not eating enough fibre so one-third didn’t go to the loo regularly, iron intake was as much as 40 per cent too low, calcium and zinc intakes were also down, as was magnesium - as much as 50 per cent. In some cases folate and vitamin A were too low and almost all kids ate too much protein. Never mind ‘five a day’, as many as three quarters hadn’t eaten any citrus fruits or green vegetables in the week of the survey. Not surprisingly, many were overweight and 10 per cent had unsafe cholesterol levels.

Does it matter? Yes - it’s a disaster. Today’s kids are beginning to develop adult diseases for the first time in our evolution and face much higher risks of a whole string of killer conditions as they grow up, including heart disease and cancer - both already at epidemic proportions. It’s made worse by the fact that eating habits developed in childhood tend to last for life.

What they should eat
The Cancer Research Campaign also did a survey of children and it gave a pretty hefty hint as to the answer. Vegetarian kids ate less animal and other fats, less cholesterol and salt and had a higher intake of essential nutrients such as potassium and vitamins A, C and E that protect against disease. Essentially, they ate more fruit and vegetables than the meat eaters and these are the key to healthy living. Unsurprisingly, veggie kids tend to get more fruit and veg and less of the nasties that cause disease, such as saturated fat, cholesterol and animal protein.

Double whammy
Children get hit hard in two ways by eating the diet they do - it threatens their health and life expectancy as they grow up but also risks making them ill while they’re still children. Most people cannot understand why so little is done to save our children. Huge industries such as tobacco, sugar and meat wield enormous political might – and use it mercilessly.

Diabetes to double
The government survey mentioned earlier found kids with unsafe cholesterol levels and these are one of the major markers for heart disease. Unbelievable and a national disgrace! Just as bad, diabetes (type 2) - otherwise known as adult-onset diabetes - is now being found in young teenagers. Type 1 diabetes is the kind that usually affects children and is where the body doesn’t produce any insulin (a hormone which helps the absorption of sugar). Even this has a link with diet as there is increasing evidence that cow’s milk plays a part in destroying the body’s ability to produce insulin.

The staggering facts are these - the number of diabetics is at record levels and is forecast to double in just 10 years. Something is seriously wrong. The good news is that vegetarians are about 45 per cent less at risk. That’s serious salvation.

Takes your breath away
Another increasing childhood problem is allergy, particularly asthma. Red, itchy flaky skin, a runny or congested nose, hay-fever and skin rashes are other signs that the immune system isn’t working properly - in fact it thinks it’s under attack and this is its response. It can sometimes be deadly, as in the case of peanut allergy, but the most common allergy of all is to cow’s milk, affecting up to 75 babies in every 1000. Excessive mucus resulting in a constant runny nose, blocked ears or a persistent sore throat are often the first signs of a problem.

Allergy to milk is also thought to be the most common cause of childhood anaemia. It can cause intestinal bleeding which frequently goes undiagnosed and can lead to anaemia.

Piling on the pounds
Another epidemic facing children is obesity and being overweight. Currently, about one-in-five children is overweight and one-in-25 is obese but the figures are galloping away and getting worse every year. Excess weight is the key to most of the big killer diseases so carrying extra pounds isn’t just about looks. Even mild obesity in childhood is linked to raised blood pressure and increased levels of insulin and obesity.

There’s no mystery about what causes obesity - diet and lack of activity. Meat and dairy come loaded with hefty amounts of fat while veggie diets contain more of the good things in life which is why vegetarians tend to be leaner and less prone to obesity than meat eaters.

What’s your poison?
About 40 per cent of our food contains pesticide residues and much of it is polluted with traces of highly toxic chemicals - PCBs and dioxins. These dreadful facts face every new parent and the first thing they want to know is how not to feed them to their children. Because animals eat so much plant food and poisons are easily absorbed by fat, concentrations tend to be much higher in meat and milk than they are in plant foods - and fish is probably worse. All fish, but particularly the oily fish we’re constantly being encouraged to feed to our children, are contaminated with these poisons but have added mercury as well. Toxic little time bombs! 

Sick and tired
With something like 95 per cent of all food poisoning being caught from contaminated meat and other animal products, it pays to be choosy in what you give your kids. With 5.5 million people in the UK feeling those dreadful pangs every year, it’s a widespread phenomenon and it’s little ones under a year old who are most at risk. Sadly, it kills hundreds of people.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the mass use of antibiotics in intensive factory farming has led to some strains of food poisoning bacteria such as salmonella, campylobacter and E. coli becoming drug resistant. Not only has it made them much more virulent but there are now almost no remaining antibiotics with which to treat the infections when they become life threatening. Vegetarians are obviously far less at risk of these worrying diseases.

Healthiest choice
A vegetarian diet easily provides all the nutrients a child needs - protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Not only is it a safe choice, it’s a healthier choice because it is lower in harmful saturated fat, cholesterol and animal protein. The science is now overwhelming; properly planned vegetarian diets actually protect children, reducing their risk of many killer diseases in later life, including obesity, coronary artery and heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, diabetes and some types of cancer. The British Medical Association has said so for years.

Want to find out more? Viva! produces colourful and informative guides:

Veggie Health For Kids: An in-depth, handy sized guide for parents showing why a vegetarian/vegan diet is the healthiest option for their children.

Vegetarian and Vegan Mother and Baby Guide: Invaluable guide by Rose Elliot, Britain’s best loved vegetarian cookery writer. Contains a wealth of practical information covering all aspects of vegetarian or vegan pregnancies and how to bring your baby up on a meat-free diet.

Snappy Veggie Cooking with The Mollster: Straight-talking illustrated veggie recipes guide for young people.

Read them free online at www.viva.org.uk, or buy hard copies from our online shop.