Last Friday I blogged about an incompetently reported Daily Beast article that linked veganism to anorexia. In my blog entry, I quoted this excerpt:
Dr. Marcia Herrin, founder of the Dartmouth College Eating Disorders Prevention, Education and Treatment Program and now a dietician in private practice, takes a stricter (if potentially problematic) approach: Herrin tells parents not to let their kids be vegetarian until they go to college, echoing that the diet can create a “ruse” that loved ones can’t see through.
To which I responded:
So, nobody under college age should be allowed to go vegan or vegetarian because a tiny number of anorexics will use this diet as an excuse for why they’re avoiding food? I hope like hell this article has misstated Herrin’s position; I’m going to send her an email to find out.
I’ve since had an email exchange with Dr. Herrin, and she’s given me permission to publish it here. My questions are in italics, and her answers are in bold.
I blogged about the vegan anorexia article here and would be grateful to know if Friedman misstated your position. Do you really believe that every person under college age should be forbidden by their parents from becoming vegetarian or vegan?
I’d like to write a blog entry for Vegan.com that quotes your reply.
Erik, I was not misquoted, but I think you missed an important point. I said: “Most families don’t have the time to prepare vegetarian entrées.” In fact both of my children (now young adults) were vegetarians as teenagers. As a parent, I made sure that we offered high protein vegetarian entrees at every meal. In a lot of families, when one child goes vegetarian, all it means is that they don’t eat the meat, chicken or fish dishes, but no alternatives are provided. This is a child that could end up with a nutrient deficiency. Of note, my son is still a vegetarian, my daughter had to give it up when she had fainting spells due to low iron. Some people have no problem getting iron out of plant foods, others due to genetics need animal based iron to be healthy. I am the same way.
Thanks, Dr. Herrin, for the clarification. I guess I’ve got to ask whether you’re happy with how your opinion was represented by the article. Because I think it comes across that you think parents
should be discouraging if not outright prohibiting their pre-college aged children from becoming vegetarian or vegan.
I can live with it. I think parents are too relaxed about many nutritional issues that teens face. Most teens are too young and not skilled enough to take on preparing a healthy vegetarian diet for themselves. And as I said any kid who is at risk for an eating disorder can be at added risk by becoming a vegetarian. I did like the point you made that it is not that becoming a vegetarian puts one at risk for an eating disorder, but that if one already at risk for an eating disorder, vegetarianism is not a good idea. Don’t forget that eating disorders have a very high mortality risk, far higher than any other psychological disorder. Check out my blog for more about eating disorders.
You can’t say I didn’t give Herrin ample opportunity to walk back her position, which I find outrageous and indefensible.
Finally, a minor point: contrary to what Herrin wrote, I’ve expressed no opinion on whether vegetarianism is a good idea for children with eating disorders.
