Claim: There are organizations that do not recommend vegan diets

Details

A several organizations have come out "against" vegan diets:

  • Swiss Federal Commission for Nutrition
  • European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition (ESPGHAN)
  • German Nutrition Society (DGE)
  • French Pediatric Hepatology/Gastroenterology/Nutrition Group
  • Sundhedsstyrelsen (Danish Health Authority)
  • Académie Royale de Médecine de Belgique (Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium)
  • Spanish Paediatric Association
  • Argentinian Hospital Nacional de Pediatría SAMIC
  • The Dutch national nutritional institute, Stichting Voedingscentrum Nederland

As pointed out in the famous anti-vegan copypasta

Problems With This Argument

1. This is a fundamentally a shifting of the burden of proof

The Sentient Darkness Comprehensive Debunk has a thorough examination of each of their positions. To summarize, all of the organizations essentially say the same thing:

  • You can be vegan and have a nutritionally adequate diet
  • If you do, you should consult experts and make sure you have good vitamin levels
  • Vegans that don't supplement or eat fortified foods are at risk for nutrient deficiencies
  • Some people come up with silly diet plans without consulting a professional, so therefore we can't officially recommend it

Which makes sense especially given that in Western countries vegans are (or have the perception of) disproportionately only eating raw foods and being into woo-woo and healing crystals. So no organization is going to stick their neck out and hope that people are planning their diets well.

None of this matters because the first bullet point is all you need. It's useful to remember that the burden of demonstrating necessity is on the carnist. So unless you can demonstrate that it's necessary to eat meat, just make sure you go to the doctor and follow up on your vitamin levels. This is good advice for anyone, regardless of their diet.


Markdown - (copy 📋)
Rich Text
[Claim: There are organizations that do not recommend vegan diets](http://www.carnist.cc/orgs)