CDC's Suspicious Survey
By Paul Shapiro
Just how many kids are vegetarian? A recent CDC survey won’t tell you.
Contrary to what dozens of media stories have suggested recently, there isn’t much news about childhood vegetarianism based on the Centers for Disease Control study on the foods American children are consuming. Countless articles have appeared on the topic, nearly all of them alleging that the CDC found that one in 200 American children, or 367,000 kids, are vegetarian. But earlier surveys found between two and six percent of American youth are forgoing meat in their diet, which equates to more than a million eight-to-18-year-olds.
Which survey do we believe? This isn’t just a matter of margin of error. For anyone who takes the time to read the actual wording of the surveys, it’s clear we’re talking apples and oranges, or perhaps, apples and hamburgers.
The earlier surveys actually asked about what kids are eating, while the CDC survey barely touches on it. As some experts point out, including Jack Norris, RD, the CDC survey is in no way a reliable estimate of how many kids are vegetarian.
Designed to estimate the number of Americans who use complementary or alternative medicine, the CDC only asked two questions about vegetarianism—whether or not the child had followed a “special diet” for health reasons (definitions of “special diets” included vegetarian, macrobiotic, Atkins, Ornish, Zone, and South Beach), and if the child had tried to “treat a specific health problem or condition other than weight control or weight loss” by adhering to any of those diets.
In other words, a large number of vegetarian kids would never be counted in such a survey because they’re not likely abstaining from meat-eating for health or medical reasons. While there are many health benefits associated with being vegetarian, it certainly isn’t the only reason people opt to leave animals off their plates. Many kids choose vegetarianism for a whole host of other reasons such as animal welfare, environmental, spiritual, and social. The largest study of vegetarian teens ever published, which surveyed nearly 5,000 adolescents from 31 Minnesota public middle schools and high schools, found that the number-one reason given for consuming a vegetarian diet was not wanting to kill animals.
While it certainly would be more helpful to have more accurate and thorough surveys, there’s an enormous amount of anecdotal evidence that a vegetarian lifestyle is catching on, and not just with kids. Whether it’s social icons such as Oprah and Ellen touting the benefits of a plant-based diet, food magazines like Gourmet adding monthly vegetarian columns, the exploding popularity of meat alternatives, or the ever-growing number of blogs, websites, and online forums dedicated to the lifestyle, it’s clear that society’s trajectory is toward more meat-free eating.
If one in 200 American children are choosing vegetarian diets for health or medical reasons, surely there must be many more who choose plant-based eating for any of the other myriad reasons kids embrace such a lifestyle. We don’t know how many American children may be vegetarian, but we can say that the recent stories asserting the one in 200 number should be taken with a healthy dose of salt, and, perhaps, a veggie burger, too.
Guest writer Paul Shapiro is the senior director of The Humane Society of the United States’ factory-farming campaign.
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Posted: Feb 09 2009 09:06AM By maggie
Great article! and it's encouraging to read about kids leaving animals off their plates. there is certainly a growing interest among the younger generations -- i've even seen veg cookbooks for kids BY kids!
Posted: Feb 09 2009 09:13AM By MaryF
More good news: "In response to the demand, 52 percent of U.S. school districts now offer vegetarian meals, and 15 percent offer vegan meals, according to the School Nutrition Association." from: MAINE SCHOOLS EXPAND MEATLESS OPTIONS Portland Press Herald, Kelley Bouchard, February 3, 2009 http://www.bangornews.com/detail/98698.html
Posted: Feb 10 2009 15:24PM By Stacey
Great article, Paul. Thank you so much for all that you do!! www.KindnessNotCruelty.org
Posted: Feb 14 2009 12:01PM By Dina Kourda
Thanks for the information in this article. One in 200 is great.
Posted: Feb 14 2009 14:06PM By Judy
I taught middle school students for three decades. In general, I find that children are very compassionate, and many make smart decisions in their dietary choices. Bad habits are learned behavior, given a choice, kids get it and often choose compassion.
Posted: Feb 14 2009 14:18PM By Melissa
Love it.
Posted: Feb 14 2009 15:30PM By BP
The author points out an important detail on the CDC's survey. Modern polling/surveys are very accurate and reliable, but it really does matter what question you ask.
Posted: Feb 14 2009 19:56PM By Keira
Great to hear. I'm a vegan teen, and I think that loads of kids are waking up to the fact that meat-eating does not have to be the norm. The main irritation with regards to school is that- as you say- 15% of schools offer vegan meals, and frankly that's not enough. My school offers ten meals, ONE of which is lacto-ovo-vegetarian, and I can't even eat if because it contains egg.Really, how many hot dogs and beef pies do we honestly need?
Posted: Feb 15 2009 10:45AM By veggivet
Paul, thanks for digging deeper into this issue and for all you do. Sometimes the questions asked are more important than the answers given.
Posted: Mar 02 2009 22:12PM By Heather
As a mother its nice to know that schools are making an effort to give veg options, my only question is why dont they just stop serving meat at school? people are always complaining about Weight issues and health yet they feed the kids Nasty greasy Burgers, Fried Chicken Patties and Fat ladden Peparoni pizza....Why Not make schools veg? The "meat eaters" arent loosing anything they can still eat meat at home!
Posted: Mar 05 2009 16:33PM By Kristen Riley Owen
Love the article. I'd be interested to know how to get more schools to offer vegetarian options. The cheese sandwich in place of the main course isn't cutting it for me at my son's school. In fact, I'd rather him not eat cheese either. I love the article. The more I talk to people the more vegetarians I find. Most people I've talked to that have given it any sort of thought are excited that my son is vegetarian. We need this type of study and we need it to be accurate!
Posted: Mar 28 2009 18:09PM By Hot Teacher
As a teacher, I always have 1, 2, or 3 vegetarians kids (around age 7) in my classroom.
Posted: Mar 28 2009 18:11PM By Hot Teacher
Sorry for any typing errors! (I'm typing in the dark.)
Posted: Apr 25 2009 11:34AM By Marleah
I'm a little late coming to this discussion, but http://www.vegadvantage.com has tips and resources for working with schools to get more vegetarian and vegan options in the schools. Hope this helps!
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