Raising A Vegan Kid Could Soon Be Illegal In Italy. Here's What We Should Really Be Talking About

The American Dietetic Association clearly states that "well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes." And yet the poor judgment by just a handful of vegan parents in Italy received enormous and inappropriate amounts of attention in the news.

This is not what the media should be focused on. There's a much bigger problem, of far more concern than the unfortunate health of one Italian child: the rate of obesity and poor nutrition in millions of children in the United States. This shocking problem should be the news that's making headlines everywhere. These are just some of the sobering statistics from the CDC that should slap us awake as a nation:

Plus, a new report about kids' heart health should further shock us into action, far more than the news from Italy. The American Heart Association measured ideal health in children by their adherence to seven key factors:

In response to the headlines from Italy, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Neal Barnard, M.D., highlighted four advantages of plant-based diets for children, in the world of escalating childhood obesity. These include:

Fortunately, the drama in Italy will die down, and already more rational voices are responding. Clearly, feeding children large amounts of whole fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes is a goal we should strive for — not punish. While all parents have a responsibility to provide diverse and nutritious meals to children, the all-too-frequent feeding of hyperprocessed fast food to children is a far greater, but apparently not newsworthy, offense.