Page 10 - Special Issue: Healthy Baby

Caustic Commentary

Sally Fallon Morell and Mary Enig take on the Diet Dictocrats

PRECOCIOUS PUBERTY adulthood, the process of adding new cells slows down but
“There has been much speculation about why earlier matura- does not stop. Mature brain circuits appear to be maintained by
tion may be occurring in girls, especially because there has new cell growth well into old age (New York Times, January 4,
been no apparent advance. . . in the onset of puberty in boys.” 2000). Unfortunately, current lowfat dietary recommendations
So writes Jane E. Brody in The New York Times (December for children are predicated on the belief that the brain does
12, 1999). More than any other writer, Jane Brody has pushed not grow or develop after the age of two. The new discoveries
Americans into the lowfat, mostly vegetarian diet that has sent reveal why growing children need foods rich in animal fats
sales of soy foods soaring and, as a corollary, resulted in 25 and cholesterol throughout their growing years. These foods
percent of American bottle-fed babies getting estrogen-loaded are essential for development of the brain and nervous system.
soy-based infant formula. Could this trend to early matura- Parents who want their children to grow into adults who can
tion be due to increased obesity or exposure to plastics and reason and think creatively must ignore the dietary advice of
insecticides? she wonders, carefully avoiding mention of the the “experts” and provide their growing children with rich
dreaded S word. And how shall parents cope with the tragic traditional foods.
truncation of girlhood, not to mention the other problems that
often accompany premature puberty—stunted growth, central MORE ON BRAIN FOOD
nervous system disorders including headaches and seizures, Brain function in baby rats was enhanced by feeding extra cho-
reproductive complaints and behavioral problems? Not to line during the equivalent of the third trimester of pregnancy,
worry. Researchers suggest that we should just redefine the according to a study at Duke University Medical Center. The
ages at which puberty is considered precocious. “The onset offspring performed significantly better on memory tests than
of breast development between 7 and 8 years of age in white those of mothers with the normal intake of choline. Research-
girls and between 6 and 8 years in African-American girls may ers found that choline enhanced a brain function responsible
be part of the normal broad variation in the timing of puberty for paving the path between nerve cells, allowing electrical
and not, in most cases, a pathological state,” say members of messages to travel more easily. The improved brain wiring
the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society. This will persisted in the rats through early adulthood. (Neurophysiol-
be reassuring to one group of 33 early-maturing girls whom ogy, April 1998) Choline is an animo acid found in egg yolks,
researchers found to be more depressed, socially withdrawn, milk, nuts, liver and other meats—that is, in all those high-fat
aggressive and moody than a comparable group of girls who items the Diet Dictocrats want us to avoid.
had not yet entered puberty. Perhaps these girls sense what
is in store—a shrinking pool of fully developed males, due IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE
to the fact that failure to mature is becoming increasingly A case reported recently underlines the dangers of a strict
common in boys. vegan diet, one that excludes all animal products. It involved
a 33-year-old patient who had been a vegan since the age of
WRONG PREMISES, WRONG DIET 20. He did not eat meat, eggs, dairy products or fish. He had
The traditional view of human brain development is that babies no history of alcohol abuse, did not smoke cigarettes and
are born with all the brain cells they will ever have, and that was not taking any supplements. The patient was diagnosed
neurological development occurs through the connection of with severe optic neuropathy in both eyes with poor vision of
these cells in the early years. But new research indicates that 20/400 in each eye. There was no evidence for an infectious
from birth through late adolescence, the brain adds billions of cause of this severe vision loss, but blood samples revealed
new cells, constructing its circuits out of freshly made neurons deficiencies in B , B , A, C, D, E, zinc and selenium. The
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as children and teenagers interact with their environments. In patient was treated with intramuscular and oral multivitamins
8 Wise Traditions