Government Estimates 1 in 200 U.S. Kids are Vegetarian
For the first time ever, the government wants to know how many children are vegetarian. The recent federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study on kids that choose not to consume meat estimated that about 367,000, or 1 in 200, American children follow a meat-free diet. Other surveys suggest that those numbers may be even higher among teens and older children that have more control over what they eat. Previous surveys have found that vegetarians are most often female, from higher-income families, and living on the East or West coasts.
The CDC’s method included asking about 9,000 parents and other adults speaking on the behalf of those under 18 about their children’s eating habits.
Nicole Nightingale, 14, says she went online to read about chicken, but instead came across a video showing chickens being slaughtered. From there she visited PETA.org, and then decided to become vegan.
The Associated Press speculates that “adolescent vegetarianism seems to be rising, thanks in part to YouTube animal slaughter videos that shock the developing sensibilities of many U.S. children.”
“Compassion for animals is the major, major reason,” said Richard Schwartz, president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America, an organization with a newsletter mailing list of about 800. “When kids find out the things they are eating are living animals — and if they have a pet….”
The AP wrote up a great article about veggie kids which provided the information for this post: First U.S. Count Finds 1 in 200 Kids are Vegetarian. Here’s my favorite excerpt:
Eating vegetarian can be very healthy — nutritionists often push kids to eat more fruits and vegetables, of course. For growing children, however, it’s important to get sufficient amounts of protein, vitamins B12 and D, iron, calcium and other important nutrients that most people get from meat, eggs and dairy.
Also, vegetarian diets are not necessarily slimming. Some vegetarian kids cut out meat but fill up on doughnuts, french fries, soda or potato chips, experts said.
March 4th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
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