***KnEeKo’S aRt ExPeDiTiOn***

In 1997, Kelley Scanlon, an Epidemiologist, and her colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control received a call from Georgia health authorities with disturbing news. The parents of two infants had weaned their babies onto soy- and rice-based milk substitutes, even though both can lack crucial nutrients found in fortified cow’s milk and formula. As a result, the children were suffering from diseases that had all but disappeared in the United States: rickets (a severe deficiency of vitamin D) and kwashiorkor (protein deficiency). Without intervention, the infants could have grown up with bone or brain damage.

Soy and rice drinks continue to grow in popularity because they’re safe for adults and low in fat and cholesterol. But what some parents don’t know is that the drinks, if given to infants as primary sources of nutrition, can lead to health problems associated with kids in Third World countries. While national numbers aren’t available, doctors are reporting nutrition-deficiency cases?many linked to rice and soy milk?in otherwise healthy kids in the United States and Canada.

The problems associated with rice and soy milk are most pressing in kids younger than 2 because they don’t eat as wide a variety of food as older toddlers. (The American Academy of Pediatrics says infants younger than 6 months should get 210mg of calcium, mostly from breast milk, each day.) “We’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg,” says Scanlon of the CDC, who estimates that up to 80 percent of kids with milder cases of malnutrition may not be properly diagnosed.

Rice milk is chiefly made from brown rice and sweetener. The drink is often fortified with calcium, iron and B vitamins, but it’s usually low in protein. Without enough protein, says Albert Yan, a pediatric dermatologist at the University of Pennsylvania, babies’ skin becomes like “flaky paint” and their hair, lacking enough melanin, gets lighter. More seriously, they develop tissue swelling (edema) and their bodies fail to produce crucial immune factors.

Soy milk, by comparison, contains about the same amount of protein as cow’s milk, but not all brands are fortified with vitamin D. Unfortified brands have been implicated in cases of rickets, which drastically slows bone growth. Parents who feed infants a soy product should either pick a heavily fortified brand or give a vitamin D supplement along with it, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Breast-feeding moms are sometimes advised to use supplements; too, since breast milk doesn’t contain much D. And vegan moms’ milk can be low in another vitamin, B12.

The good news is the nutritional problems are often reversible. Those feeding rice- or soy-based beverages to children younger than 5 should see their pediatrician if their kids exhibit bowleggedness and delayed crawling and walking (symptoms of rickets) or distended bellies, lethargy and growth failure (kwashiorkor). Talk to your pediatrician and check your child’s diet against the AAP recommendations ). After all, it’s your job to do their body good.

Source: TheTipSheetNewsweek

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