Religious vegans are not "nutritional vegetarians"

In her book, The Vegetarian Myth, Lierre Keith divides vegetarians into three categories, with a lengthy chapter dedicated to each group. They are:

* Moral Vegetarians,
* Political Vegetarians, and
* Nutritional Vegetarians

On page 241, in the "Nutritional Vegetarians" chapter, Keith waxes lyrical about how harmful veganism (not vegetarianism) is for babies and children. I've already addressed the disgraceful and misleading nature of one reference that Keith uses to support her claims.

Another anti-vegan reference that Keith digs up is this one:

"In one small community of vegans, twenty-five infants had protein and frank calorie deficiencies, anemia from a lack of both iron and B12, rickets, zinc deficiencies, and retarded growth. One baby died, weighing at five months less than when she was born. 292"

The relevant reference, as provided in The Vegetarian Myth, is as follows:

Brody, Jane. "Personal Health." The New York Times. March 15, 1987

Keith's citation is actually incorrect - the correct date is March 25. Nevertheless, you can read the entire article here.

There is a highly relevant fact in the quoted case of malnourished infants, which Brody points out, but which Lierre Keith fails to mention. The relevant fact I'm referring to is that the "community" in question was (and, indeed, still is) a religious community, known as the Black Hebrews, also known as the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem.

According to their own website, the Black Hebrews are vegan because of a "Biblical law", described in Genesis 1:29, which reads:

"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." 

The Black Hebrews reportedly refuse to take crucial vitamin B12 supplements because:

"If the organism of the cow subsists by eating plant foods only, why should the human organism need artificial vitamins, animal foods, and drugs?"

There's a very clear scientific answer to the Black Hebrews' alleged question: plants do not produce vitamin B12. Rather, B12 is produced by many different species of bacteria. However, cows can subsist on plant foods because cows have a specialised ruminant digestive system which (among many other things) hosts the bacteria that produce vitamin B12. Humans have a very different digestive system, which is why we need to eat B12.

Most Westerners who choose a vegan diet are well aware of the importance - and sources - of vitamin B12. For example, the UK Vegan Society states that:

"The only reliable vegan sources of B12 are foods fortified with B12 (including some plant milks, some soy products and some breakfast cereals) and B12 supplements." 

It seems abundantly clear that the Black Hebrews are not (as Lierre Keith claims) "Nutritional Vegetarians". On the contrary, they are anti-scientific religious vegans.

If Lierre Keith wants to address the myths in the Bible, then I wish her luck. But I take exception to her lumping religious fundamentalists in with "nutritional vegetarians", when these two groups of people are as different as chalk and cheese.