When a father and a mother have different lifestyles and parenting philosophies, raising kids can become a battleground for control, especially after divorce.

In a recent Reddit post, a father explained that he had been concerned over the health and growth of his three vegan sons. So after taking them to the doctor, he ultimately decided to introduce meat into their diets.

However, his ex-wife, a staunch vegan herself, was furious, accusing him of cruelty and threatening to change their custody arrangement.

This dad was concerned about the possible side effects his sons suffered from following a vegan diet

Image credits: freepik (not the actual photo)

So he took them to the doctor without telling his ex-wife about it

Image credits: namii9 (not the actual photo)

Image credits: ThrowRA-Vegan876

Generally, kids following a vegan diet are shorter but that doesn’t mean they won’t grow taller during their teenage years

A growing child needs specific nutrients for each developmental stage. The consequences can be dangerous if those are missed, especially for younger children. Their food needs to be particularly nutrient- and energy-dense because their portions are smaller.

In 2021, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared the health outcomes of vegan, vegetarian, and omnivorous diets in Polish children aged 5-10 years. The study recruited 63 vegetarians, 52 vegans, and 72 omnivores – the latter eating a diverse diet that included meat and dairy.

This is the largest study of its kind ever performed specifically in vegan children of this age; the first that recruited (over) 50 participants in each plant-based diet group and compared them to carefully matched omnivores.

The study identified both good and bad points for vegan kids. In comparison to their omnivore peers, the vegan children were leaner and had better markers of cardiovascular risk, such as lower blood cholesterol. This could contribute to their lowering of heart disease later in life. But they were, indeed, shorter and had lower bone mass than expected for their age.

While vegan kids were 3cm (1.2in) shorter on average, it didn’t mean that they were stunted in growth or would always stay short, says Jonathan Wells, professor of anthropology and pediatric nutrition at University College London’s Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and co-author of the study.

“Vegan kids had less fat mass, and tended to weigh less. It’s possible that they would reach puberty a little later. We’ve seen that children who reach puberty later actually extended their growing period because they grow for more years,” explains Wells. So there was a potential for these kids to grow taller as adults.

“The bone reaches its optimal density by the early 20s. And so, if you don’t build bone density at the time, you’re not going to be able to do that later,” Wells adds. People who have lower bone mineral density in adulthood will feel its impacts in older age, making them more vulnerable to diseases like osteoporosis as bones slowly grow more brittle.

“So vegan diets may have changed the profile of a disease that people are more at risk to as they age,” says Wells. “Instead of cardiovascular disease [heart disease], they may be prone to bone disease (weaker bones). But it’s not like they’re unhealthy now.”

Another interesting finding was that the vegetarian children tended to eat more junk food like pizza and soft drinks – a reminder that a vegetarian diet doesn’t in itself guarantee a healthy, balanced menu. As might be expected, omnivores had the highest estimated intake of protein, and vegans had the lowest – but vegetarians had the highest estimated intake of calcium. (Vegans, it turns out, had the lowest).

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in the US states that well-planned vegetarian and vegan diets are appropriate for all life stages, including pregnancy, infancy, and childhood. But it also adds that vegans need to ensure they take vitamin B12, be it in the form of supplements or fortified foods.

In the study, however, nearly a third of children on either vegetarian or vegan diets were not having any B12 supplements or B12–fortified foods.

The bottom line is that without having all the doctor’s reports and other details, it’s incredibly difficult to judge the dad’s decision. Hopefully, he and his ex will eventually find a way to provide their children with diets that will meet their personal needs.

As people reacted to the story, its author started answering their questions

Some said the father did nothing wrong

Others, however, accused him of overstepping and disregarding his ex-wife’s beliefs

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