I normally don’t write angry or inflammatory posts; I like to stick with cooking, gardening, and the occasional book or restaurant review.  But this PETA pamphlet I was given the other week ticked me off so much that I can’t help myself.  Plus, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my site’s newly restored commenting capabilities, which have been broken for at least a month now, than by posting a controversial opinion.

I was in DC last week visiting some friends who are interning with the USDA and while I was there I took the opportunity to explore the Dupont Square Farmers Market.  I can never pass up a farmers market and here in Boston it’s been so cold and rainy that I just had to see what the farmers of Northern Virginia had managed with the help of warmth and sunlight.   What they had managed was magnificent.  They had beets and carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, summer squash and zucchini, and so much more.  Apparently DC market goers must not yet be used to purple cauliflower because the stand selling it had a rather adorable sign up stating, “Natural coloring.  Not Dyed!”

As Sam and I headed back to the Metro from the market we were stopped by one of those broke, idealistic college students who had gotten roped into giving out pamphlets for a cause during her summer vacation.  Normally I avoid these people at all costs because I figure that I’m already doing my concerned citizen duty by means of working full time for no money at a non-profit organization, but this girl was giving out a small booklet entitled, “Vegetarian Starter Kit,” and I was intrigued enough to take one as I passed by.

The Vegetarian Starter Kit is a PETA publication.  I discovered this on the train back to our hotel in Bethesda.  By the time I had read it for 2 minutes I was strongly disagreeing with it in my mind.  By 4 minutes I was disagreeing out loud (much to the chagrin of my fellow Metro passengers, I’m sure).  By 6 minutes Sam and I were dissecting the celebrity quotes, expert opinions, and nutritional “facts” in loud and derisive tones and I was planning this defensive (and I mean that in the sense of defending the truth) blog entry in the back of my mind.

Before I tell you about the pamphlet’s contents and why I find them so offensive, I would like to point out that I am very vegetarian friendly, if not a strict vegetarian myself. I am currently living with my fourth vegetarian roommate in a row and we frequently cook together and share vegetarian food.  There are only two foods that I insist on making with meat: collards with lard or bacon, and risotto with chicken broth. You can eat by your own opinions, but in my mind those two dishes can’t be made veggie.  However, despite my love for the taste of meat I still tend to only partake about once every week or two, and then in moderation.

Why do I avoid meat?  Part of it is economics.  I’m a poor grad student and meat is more expensive than beans, quinoa, or eggs.  Part of it is heath.  Many studies have shown that diets that are very meat heavy are correlated with higher risks for certain types of cancer.  Part of it is moral.  I hate the idea of animal cruelty and try on those occasions that I do buy meat to buy meat that has come from what I term, “happy” animals.  By this I mean animals that are as free range as possible and that are fed food as close to their natural diets possible.  For example, I approve of grass fed beef, lamb, and goat; I want my chickens to get about 30% of their calories from bugs; and I like pigs that have eaten slop and still have their tails.

So, I have no problem with vegetarians, I have no problem with eating vegetarian myself most of the time, what I do have a problem with is people who lie in order to convince others to become vegetarian.  And that is what PETA does in their Vegetarian Starter Kit.

There are so many things in this pamphlet that annoy me that I could rant for pages, but I won’t.  I’ll list the top four lies and contradict them with research and logic instead.

1. The Dalai Lama is vegetarian (based on the quote from pg. 3)
2. It’s safe to raise young children on a vegan diet (Raising Vegan Kids, pg. 6)
3. Milk increases the chance of osteoporosis (What’s Wrong With Milk and Eggs? pg. 5)
4. Chickens are as smart as primates (Amazing Animals: Chickens, pg. 9)

Let’s start with number 1, the idea that the Dalai Lama is vegetarian.  He’s not.  And he was never vegan.  Now, that doesn’t mean that you should give up vegetarianism, nor does it mean that he doesn’t approve of vegetarianism.  What it means is that PETA is attempting to mislead you with that quote on page 3.  The truth is, the Dalai Lama converted to vegetarianism in 1966 because he learned about it in India and felt that it was an ethically superior diet.  He continued to eat a vegetarian diet after he returned to Tibet, but supplemented his diet with milk and eggs.  However, in 1968 the Dalai Lama contracted hepatitis B and gave up vegetarianism for health reasons.  He now tries to consume meat in moderation and still encourages other Buddhists to live meat free lives.  The source for my information?  The Dalai Lama’s own autobiography: Freedom in Exile.

Number 2, the idea that it’s safe to put young children on a vegan diet, probably rankles me the most.  The thing is, KIDS NEED CALCIUM and if you don’t give it to them you can be screwing with their health for the rest of their lives.  Not to say that the issue isn’t a complicated one: Leafy greens due contain large amounts of calcium, but the calcium in plants is less bioavailable due to the fiber, oxalate, and phytates (basically, plant stuff) in the leaves.  Diets with milk, eggs, and cheese generally provide enough calcium for growing bones, but diets high in phosphate and sodium (which frequently accompany processed meats) can reduce the absorption of calcium in the body.  Clearly there are a lot of things to consider.  However, one of the things to consider is the research.

According to Weaver and Plawecki in their American Journal of Clinical Nutrition article, “It is a challenge for individuals who exclude or limit consumption of dairy products to meet the recommended intakes of calcium, at least from natural foods.”  Sanders and Reddy in a later article in the same journal note that, “Diets that have a high content of phytate and other modifiers of mineral absorption are associated with an increased prevalence of rickets and iron-deficiency anemia. Vitamin B-12 deficiency is a real hazard in unsupplemented or unfortified vegan and vegetarian diets.”  And last but not least Jacobs and Dwyer make the unequivocal statement that, “Vegan-like diets, fed early in infancy and childhood, pose special problems with respect to sufficiency of certain nutrients, energy, and bulk, especially if they are unplanned and unaccompanied by ongoing health supervision. Lactovegetarian, lactoovovegetarian, and semivegetarian patterns are more likely to be satisfactory.”  Basically, if you want to feed your young child a vegan diet then they are going to need lots of supplements, and if you want to try shoving several calcium pills the size of unshelled peanuts down a toddler’s throat, well, that’s your affair.

Moving on we come to lie number 3: milk causes osteoporosis.  Let’s start with looking at how bones become more and less dense.  To simplify and paraphrase the process of bone growth as described in the text Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease: bones are made of calcium and other minerals as well as some proteins.  During youth bones grown because cells called osteoblasts take calcium from the blood and deposit this calcium on the bone.  During adult years cells called osteoclasts, which remove calcium from bone and send it into the blood, begin to outnumber osteoblasts and bone density decreases.  This is why it is important for babies, children, and young adults to have a diet high in calcium: so they can build bones of sufficient density that they will last once the bone eating cells start to outnumber the bone building cells.

Now, here’s a piece of research that I’m sure PETA was aware of when it wrote that milk can cause osteoporosis, in 1987 JL Kelsey and S Hoffman published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, a very well respected journal, that showed that a high protein diet is a risk factor for hip fractures later in life.  This piece of research is now more than 20 years out of date.  I had to search far and wide to find it (which is why there’s no link to it, mine was a paper copy in the library).  Every time I searched for research on protein and osteoporosis I kept coming upon articles stating that there was either no correlation or a negative correlation, basically that protein can help reduce calcium loss.  When I looked for research on milk and osteoporosis I found many articles stating that high calcium intake early in life statistically reduced the risk of osteoporosis later.  I believe that the point is best stated by Sadler et al in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “This study indicates that the effects of milk consumption in childhood and adolescence on bone density may manifest as higher bone density decades later in menopause. The assumed mechanism of the reported effect is through augmentation of the [peak skeletal mass], and acquisition of favorable nutritional habits which may influence the extent of [adult bone loss].”

The last straw for me with the Vegetarian Starter Kit was number 4, the quote from one Dr. Lesley Rogers that,”It is now clear that birds have cognitive capacities equivalent to those of mammals, even primates.”  First of all, I would like to point out that Dr. Rogers is talking about birds, not chickens specifically.  Secondly I would like to point out that this is clearly crazy talk.  I’ve dealt with chickens and have many farmer friends who currently deal with chickens.  While they are not as dumb as turkeys, they are not smart animals.  People who raise chickens frequently have to save them from themselves as they create large chicken piles to keep warm but instead just suffocate, or when they begin to cannibalize a fellow chicken who has gotten injured while pecking in the yard, or when they eat their own eggs and feces.  However, if my own experiences and those of the small farmers of North Carolina and Massachusetts aren’t enough to convince you, then check out this New York Times article by William Grimes written to refute a previous PETA statement that chickens are as smart as cats and dogs.

Whew.  I’ve made it through all four of the most egregious errors/lies in the pamphlet and I feel better now.  I think maybe now it’s time to whip up a vegetarian lasagna full of leafy greens and then enjoy it with a nice tall glass of milk.