http://www.ninaplanck.com/index.php?article=vegan_tragedy

On May 2, 2007, an Atlanta judge sentenced a vegan couple to life in prison (the mandatory sentence) after the death of their baby by starvation. The baby's diet, according to the Associated Press, consisted largely of soy milk and apple juice. He weighed 3 1/2 pounds - half the size of many newborns - when he died at six weeks old.

My heart goes out to the parents, who said they did their best. But the information they had was wrong. A vegan diet is simply not good enough for babies.

A baby fed soy milk and apple juice would have multiple deficiencies. He would lack vitamin B12, vitamins A and D, complete protein, quality fats (saturated and unsaturated), beneficial bacteria, and vital immune and growth factors found in breast milk. The saturated fat lauric acid (found almost exclusively in breast milk and coconut oil) is vital to prevent infections. Polyunsaturated omega-3 fats make up the baby's brain, and probably have something to do with why breast-fed babies are less likely to be obese and diabetic. The baby also needs to consume cholesterol (found only in animal foods) to build nerve cells. Thus breast milk is rich in cholesterol.

Those are merely the deficiencies of a soy-and-juice diet. Soy also inhibits growth (via its effects on the thyroid), which might explain why the baby couldn't gain weight and contains antinutrients, which reduce the absorption of protein and minerals. No baby should drink fruit juice (and no toddler should be drinking it in any more than very small quantities) which is a simple carbohydrate lacking vital fats, protein, vitamins, and fiber. The risks of juice include displacement of more nutrient-dense foods, tooth decay, and weight trouble.

Don't tell me the woman wasn't breast feeding because she thought her own milk was an animal product?

They baby was died because they were idiots, not because they were vegans.A vegan diet is simply not good enough for babies.This is a bald-faced lie. Babies will do fine with vegan foods, but they also need breast milk (duh). It's not as if you can replace breast milk with some animal product. Even an Atkins freak like you would have to give breast milk, or formula if breast milk weren't available.Don't tell me the woman wasn't breast feeding because she thought her own milk was an animal product?If they did, it was because they were idiots, not because they were vegans. See above.

Don't tell me the woman wasn't breast feeding because she thought her own milk was an animal product?
I was wondering about that too. But the article stated that vegan mothers often have a hard time breast feeding.

But the article stated that vegan mothers often have a hard time breast feeding.Utter bull****, vegans are generally health-conscious hippies who would insist on breastfeeding because it's the healthiest and most natural form of nutrition for the infant.

Though, I'm not surprised to see such baseless accusations on an Atkins zealot's blog. You really have to work hard at putting down all other diets in order to get people to swallow a diet as ridiculous and inherently stupid as Atkins. At least she gets paid to spread Atkins propaganda, but you?

Nina Planck is an Atkin's zealot?

Just curious but what are you basing that on? Sounds like she's a proponent of traditional diets, farmer's markets, etc.
http://www.ninaplanck.com/index.php?page=who_is_nina
In New York City, Nina was Director of the famous Greenmarket, the largest network of farmers' markets in the US. In 1999, Nina created the first farmers' markets in London, England. Today her company, London Farmers' Markets, runs 15 weekly farmers' markets year-round, serving 150 farmers and food producers whose market income is about $6 million per year.

In England, Nina also wrote The Farmers' Market Cookbook and hosted a 13-part series on farmers' markets for British television.
Nina's new company, Real Food, operates outdoor markets for regional and traditional foods in American cities. In 2003, Nina opened the Mount Pleasant Local Food Market in Washington, DC. In 2006 Nina opened unique markets in New York City: Real Food Markets for farmers and purveyors of regional and traditional foods.

Nina writes, speaks, and consults on best practice in farmers' market management and how to develop the market for local and traditional food beyond farmers' markets. She is an investor in Farm to Chef Express, which delivers local food to top New York City chefs.

In Loudoun County, Virginia, the Plancks are building a hamlet of seven houses to preserve the family farm. Nina lives with her son Julian in New York City. She was born in 1971.

Nina Planck is an Atkin's zealot?

Just curious but what are you basing that on?http://www.ninaplanck.com/index.php?page=real_food_bookIn Real Food: What to Eat and Why, I explain why traditional foods such as butter are healthy and industrial foods are not. You'll learn how butter, lard, beef, cheese, eggs, and other foods we've been eating for thousands of years got a bad rap - and why it's a bad rap.

The book is full of good news about foods we love to eat. Perhaps you will feel liberated, and resume eating raw milk, cream, butter, egg yolks, and coconut oil with impunity, as I do. Ironically, the people reading this message will go out and buy meat, butter, eggs, etc. from industrial farms. Because of their poor diets and the torturous conditions under which they're bred, as well as the discarding of much of the animal tissue in the case of meat, these products lack many of the nutrients that was contained in the meat that REAL hunter/gatherers ate long ago and are largely empty calories.

The very fact that she labels this incident a "vegan tragedy" -- implying that this is something normal vegans would do -- betrays her agenda. These people are idiots who didn't know how to care for their child, and it would have been just as disastrous had they fed the child raw cow's milk and bacon. It is simply a "tragedy," not a "vegan tragedy."

Also, her lies about how babies must be force-fed animal products to develop properly border on the ridiculous.

There's a whole "traditional foods" movement that has nothing to do with Atkins and a lot to do with sustainable farming practices, culturing food, raw dairy products, etc, etc. I'm not a major follower of it but I think they also encourage eating organ meat of properly raised animals. You'd most likely poison yourself with heavy metals if you ate liver from industrially raised animals these days.

Holy cow, is there nobody you haven't already labled and tossed out of the valid opinion pile?