Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
healthful, often without even looking into the overwhelming evi-
dence that proves otherwise. While we are not physicians (though
Sara studied nutrition before opening MooShoes), Dr. Benjamin
Spock, the most famous pediatrician of all time, was. And what did
the world's leading authority on child care have to say about feed-
ing meat, eggs, and dairy to kids? Before he died at ninety-four, the
good doctor embraced veganism. In his final edition of
Dr. Benja-
min Spock's Baby and Child Care
, one of the bestselling topics in
history (second only to the Bible), Dr. Spock wrote that “children
who grow up getting their nutrition from plant foods rather than
meats have a tremendous health advantage. They are less likely to
develop weight problems, diabetes, high blood pressure and some
forms of cancer.”
Dr. Spock also recommended against children—or adults for
that matter—drinking milk, which he said “causes intestinal blood
loss, allergies, indigestion and contributes to some cases of child-
hood diabetes.” Before Leo was born, we knew we wouldn't feed
him milk-based formulas for ethical reasons, and Dr. Spock's con-
demnation of dairy consumption confirmed for us that we were
right in choosing to breastfeed our son. In fact, cow's milk is well-
recognized as the leading cause of iron-deficiency anemia in in-
fants and children in the United States. The inflammation milk can
cause in the maturing gut of babies can cause tiny bleeds in the
intestinal lining, leading to blood loss and anemia. Leo had trouble
latching in his first weeks, but we kept trying because we knew
that human breast milk is perfectly designed for baby humans, just
as cow's milk is perfectly designed for baby calves.
Cow's milk is also the leading cause of pediatric digestive com-
plaints and is the single leading cause of food allergies in children.
We aren't only talking sniffles and tummy aches. Type 1 diabetes
has been linked to dairy consumption during infancy. Just as we
were never meant to drink a dog's milk or a donkey's milk, we, as
