Daily Dosage: The extreme risks of the vegan bandwagon

Vegan rolls. The stuff malnourishment is made of.

Veganism is just so trendy these days, isn’t it? Meat-free restaurants are popping up in cities large and small, Whole Foods is shilling dairy-free scones (they’re a human right, in my opinion) and mainstream news outlets are actually reporting on atrocities in factory farms – like yesterday’s chick-grinding melee.

On an anecdotal level, most people (grandparents excluded) don’t grit their teeth and ask about my protein intake when I say the V-Word out loud. But then again, I’m not a student at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where opinion columnist Afton Anderson might find his dormitory door covered in egg substitute this morning, after his column titled “Be Careful Before You Jump the Vegan Bandwagon” caught the attention of vegan students – and the blogosphere.

According to Anderson, vegans are pretty badass “extreme” selves. And should be consulting a medical professional, although he’s not clear on whether that’s for nutritional or psychiatric assessment. What Anderson is clear about is that he wants to see some science to back up the benefits of a vegan diet:

I am not convinced at all that everyone can be healthy without any animal flesh or animal byproducts in their diet. There are simply not enough long term studies on the effects of veganism to convince me otherwise.

A long-term study? Oh, wait. I found a few of those. I also found a couple on the long-term cancer risks of a mainstream American omnivorous diet, if Anderson wanted to check them out.

But Anderson also thinks that vegans tend to be dangerously extreme in psychology, as well as dietary risk. He cites the infamous 2007 incident of New York parents Joseph and Silva Swinton, vegans who were also mega crazy, and starved their baby to death.

I do see, however, the mounds of ethical debates on people being brought to suit for killing babies and children by limiting their diets to vegan foods only. This is even more inhumane than killing an animal for consumption in my opinion.

Starving your baby to death is definitely inhumane – it’s also absolutely insane. And not limited to vegan crazies, either. For example, consider Vanessa and Raymond Jackson, who fed their severely malnourished sons nothing but pancake batter and cereal until being arrested. Pancake batter? Not vegan.

I could go on, but I’ll wait for Anderson to publish his next op-ed and let the debate go from there. Usually, I appreciate being called Extreme – as long as it’s backed up by a well-researched, informed opinion on what I did to deserve the title. But while the vegan bandwagon might be bigger than it used to be, there’s nothing Extreme going on in here, Afton. We’re just hanging out as usual, listening to Bob Marley, eating tree bark, weaving beads into our dreadlocks, and planning our next starvation victim.