TOPICS:NutritionObesityPediatricsSt. Michael’s Hospital

By ST. MICHAEL’S HOSPITAL MAY 3, 2022

A new research study finds children with a vegetarian diet have similar growth and nutrition compared to children who eat meat.

However, children with a vegetarian diet had increased odds of underweight weight status.

A study of almost 9,000 children revealed that those who eat a vegetarian diet had similar measures of growth and nutrition compared to kid’s who eat meat. The research also found that children with a vegetarian diet had increased odds of underweight weight status, emphasizing the need for special care when planning the diets of vegetarian kids. The study was published on May 2, 2022, in the journal Pediatrics and led by researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto.

The findings come as a shift to consuming a plant-based diet accelerates in Canada. In 2019, updates to Canada’s Food Guide urged Canadians to embrace plant-based proteins, such as beans, nuts, and tofu, instead of meat.

Dr. Jonathon Maguire, pediatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto and a scientist at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital. Credit: Unity Health Toronto

“Over the last 20 years we have seen growing popularity of plant-based diets and a changing food environment with more access to plant-based alternatives, however we have not seen research into the nutritional outcomes of children following vegetarian diets in Canada,” said Dr. Jonathon Maguire, lead author of the study and a pediatrician at St. Michael’s Hospital of Unity Health Toronto.

“This study demonstrates that Canadian children following vegetarian diets had similar growth and biochemical measures of nutrition compared to children consuming non-vegetarian diets. A vegetarian diet was associated with higher odds of underweight weight status, underscoring the need for careful dietary planning for children with underweight when considering vegetarian diets.”

Researchers evaluated 8,907 children aged six months to eight years. The children were all participants of the TARGet Kids! cohort study and data was collected between 2008 and 2019. Participants were categorized by vegetarian status – defined as a dietary pattern that excludes meat – or non-vegetarian status.

Researchers found children who had a vegetarian diet had similar mean body mass index (BMI), height, iron, vitamin D, and cholesterol levels compared to those who consumed meat. The findings showed evidence that children with a vegetarian diet had almost two-fold higher odds of having underweight, which is defined as below the third percentile for BMI. There was no evidence of an association with overweight or obesity.

Underweight is an indicator of undernutrition, and may be a sign that the quality of the child’s diet is not meeting the child’s nutritional needs to support normal growth. For children who eat a vegetarian diet, the researchers emphasized access to healthcare providers who can provide growth monitoring, education and guidance to support their growth and nutrition.

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International guidelines about vegetarian diet in infancy and childhood have differing recommendations, and past studies that have evaluated the relationship between vegetarian diet and childhood growth and nutritional status have had conflicting findings.

“Plant-based dietary patterns are recognized as a healthy eating pattern due to increased intake of fruits, vegetables, fiber, whole grains, and reduced saturated fat; however, few studies have evaluated the impact of vegetarian diets on childhood growth and nutritional status. Vegetarian diets appear to be appropriate for most children,” said Dr. Maguire, who is also a scientist at MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital.

A limitation of the study is that researchers did not assess the quality of the vegetarian diets. The researchers note that vegetarian diets come in many forms and the quality of the individual diet may be quite important to growth and nutritional outcomes. The authors say further research is needed to examine the quality of vegetarian diets in childhood, as well as growth and nutrition outcomes among children following a vegan diet, which excludes meat and animal-derived products such as dairy, egg, and honey.

Reference: “Vegetarian diet, growth, and nutrition in early childhood: A longitudinal cohort study” by Laura J. Elliott, RD, MSc; Charles D.G. Keown-Stoneman, PhD; Catherine S. Birken, MD, MSc, FRCPC; David J.A. Jenkins, MD, PhD, DSc, FRSC, FRCP, FRCPC; Cornelia M. Borkhoff, MSc, PhD; Jonathon L. Maguire, MD, MSc, FRCPC on behalf of the TARGet KIDS! COLLABORATION, 2 May 2022, Pediatrics.
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2021-052598

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The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation and SickKids Foundation.

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• https://www.npr.org/2022/05/03/1096085028/climate-scientists-say-south-asias-heat-wave-120f-is-a-sign-of-whats-to-come

May 3, 20228:34 AM ET

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People rest in the shade of a tree on a hot summer afternoon in Lucknow in the central Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday. Severe heat wave conditions are sweeping north and western parts of India.

Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

MUMBAI, India — Summer has arrived in South Asia WAY too early.

A punishing heat wave has pushed temperatures past 120F (50C) in some areas. Some schools have closed early for the summer. Dozens of people have people have died of heat stroke.

The region is already hard-hit by climate change. Extreme heat is common in May. But not in April and March, both of which were the hottest across much of India for more than a century.

“It’s smoldering hot! It’s also humid, which is making it very difficult,” Chrisell Rebello, 37, told NPR in line outside a Mumbai ice cream parlor at 11 p.m. “We need a lot of cold drinks, air conditioning – and multiple baths a day.”

Only a fraction of Indians — mostly, the wealthy — have air conditioning. Instead people soak rags in water and hang them in doors and windows.

Still, electric fans and AC have pushed India’s electricity demand to a record high.

The problem is that 70% of India’s electricity comes from coal. So the government is converting passenger trains to cargo service, to rush coal supplies to beleaguered power plants, and also importing more coal from abroad.

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And rolling blackouts are hurting industrial output.

In the short term, experts say India has no choice but to burn coal to keep fans and ACs on. But in the long term, it must transition to renewables, to avoid a vicious circle of warming, says Ulka Kelkar, a Bengaluru-based economist and climate change expert with the World Resources Institute.

“[With] heat plus humidity, at some stage [it] becomes almost impossible for the human body’s organs to function normally,” Kelkar explains. “Basically the body just cannot cool itself, and a large fraction of our population in India still works outside in the fields, on building construction, in factories which are not cooled.”

More than a billion people are at risk of heat-related illness across South Asia. Hospitals are preparing special wards.

This heat wave has also hit at a critical time for the region’s wheat harvest. In the Indian state of Punjab — the country’s breadbasket — farmers complain of reduced crop yields, and lower profits.

“Due to intense heat, the grain we’re harvesting is shriveled,” a Punjabi farmer named Major Singh told local TV.

This is exactly when India was hoping to boost wheat exports to help make up for a shortfall in global grain supplies, from the war in Ukraine.

Suruchi Bhadwal, director of earth science and climate change at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), says the disappointing wheat harvest may be an omen of what’s to come, if countries don’t do everything within their power to cut carbon emissions and limit warming to below 2-degrees Celsius, in line with United Nations recommendations.

“India is already giving us a warning bell,” Bhadwal says. “And each country needs to realize that the warning signs will not be given to us forever.”

Published: May. 02, 2022, 9:38 a.m.

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2022/05/feds-file-to-appeal-re-listing-of-gray-wolves-as-endangered.html

Gray wolves

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By Sheri McWhirter | smcwhirter@mlive.com

The Biden administration appealed the federal court ruling that sent gray wolves back onto the endangered species list, emphasizing the unsettled protection status of the iconic apex predator across the United States.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed a notice of appeal to the decision of a federal judge in California who, in February, ordered the gray wolf back under the safeguards of the Endangered Species Act. Animal welfare advocates and hunting proponents reacted to the news with uncertainty – neither camp is sure what this means for the future of America’s largest wild canine.

Meanwhile, Michigan wildlife regulators are in the final stages of writing a plan to care for the state’s 700-some wolves should the responsibility ever shift away from federal authorities.

The gray wolf has steadily recovered from extirpation across the Upper Peninsula during the last 20 years. The species has repeatedly been shielded – and not shielded – by endangered species protections either because of policy changes or court orders. The status has changed half a dozen times.

Most recently, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted wolves in the last days of the Trump administration officials failed to show wolf populations could be sustained in the Midwest and parts of the West without federal protections. The agency also failed to adequately consider threats to the species outside those core areas, White said.

The flip-flopping status and constant legal fights make for shifting legal sands beneath the feet of what is for many a beloved top predator, but which can sometimes be hated by those who have lost pets or livestock to wolf predation.

Nichole Biber, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians citizen and Wolf Preservation Team leader for the Anishinaabek Caucus, said it is “difficult and disturbing to see the continual politicization of wolf protection and conservation,” given the species’ existence remains so closely tied to environmental stewardship and restoration.

“Going back and forth on the question of whether to sanction killing the few packs that remain only undermines the long-overdue necessity of pursuing the myriad benefits of coexistence. For tribal people who adhere to our traditional teachings, the wolf is a sacred animal whose spiritual guidance and important caretaking role cannot be replaced,” Biber said.

Animal rights groups balked at the legal development.

The president of nonprofit organization Defenders of Wildlife, a plaintiff organization to the legal case, said the federal government filing to appeal the judge’s order “marks a stunning and supremely disappointing reversal” by the administration.

“Despite President Biden’s warnings about the looming threat of biodiversity loss, his administration is attempting to quash a significant ecological victory,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark.

The Michigan state director for the Humane Society of the United States said the nonprofit considered the order by the U.S. District Court judge a major victory for wolves across the country.

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“We’d be extremely disappointed if the federal government chose to align itself with trophy hunting interest groups by doubling down in defense of the prior administration’s unlawful, unpopular delisting. There is still time to change course and we hope the administration will do so,” said Molly Tamulevich.

All of Michigan’s wolves live in the Upper Peninsula, where residents began to have more negative interactions with them as the number of animals grew through the years. State officials have documented both pet and livestock losses to wolf attacks.

Many Yoopers are tired of the back-and-forth legal pattern.

“I don’t know, how many times has the wolf been delisted and relisted? I mean, five, six times? I mean, we’re really making a mockery of the Endangered Species Act,” said Gary Gorniak, president of the Straits Area Sportsman’s Club.

His group supports state wildlife officials with the Department of Natural Resources setting regulations for an annual wolf hunt to help keep the population in check. The Upper Peninsula is “overrun” with wolves and a science-based wolf hunt should be a tool available to state regulators since the species’ recovery has been so successful, Gorniak said.

A statewide hunting organization echoed his sentiments.

Amy Trotter, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, said while they are pleased the administration is taking this step to continue assessing legal options, they remain unsure whether it indicates anything about a decision to back up biologists at the federal Fish and Wildlife Service who recommended de-listing wolves.

“Limiting state management of wolves continues to place an undue burden on U.P. residents and removes tools from the Michigan DNR to manage ecosystems holistically,” she said.

Trotter argued the Endangered Species Act served its intended purpose for wolves in the Great Lakes region, but that without reform of the delisting process, MUCC has little hope the law “will cease to be weaponized against its own victories.”

State officials are amid a wolf management plan update; the next Michigan Wolf Management Advisory Council meeting is set for May 16-17 in Marquette, when that group’s final recommendations to state wildlife regulators will be wrapped.

“Our intent is to have an updated wolf management plan in place regardless of what happens at the federal level,” said Ed Golder, DNR spokesman.

Michigan officials are legally responsible to oversee control of wolves when they are delisted, and to protect the species under federal law when under endangered species safeguards.

Related articles:

Federal judge restores wolf protections, derails Michigan’s hunting talks

Wolves are endangered again, but pressure for a Michigan hunt remains

U.S. wildlife officials aim to remove gray wolf endangered species protections in 2020

DNR calls first Michigan wolf hunt a ‘success;’ issue to continue to 2014 ballot