I'd love to see a source demonstrating that vegan diets are more destructive to children than candy and pop. As to your assertions around protein and iron, thi

I'd love to see a source demonstrating that vegan diets are more destructive to children than candy and pop. As to your assertions around protein and iron, this is a commonly-held belief that is partially correct, but based on a fundamental misconception about how diet works. Your body doesn't make protein directly using dietary protein. It digests protein in the diet into amino acids, which are transported through the bloodstream and used those amino acids to make protein. As long as you have a balance of all the essential amino acids in your diet it doesn't matter where they come from. Animal protein sources are "complete proteins" (ie they contain all essential amino acids). Although there are complete protein sources that are vegan (eg soy), most vegan protein sources are incomplete (they contain some essential amino acids but not others), so vegans need to be more careful than non-vegans. However as long as they have some grains and some legumes they are getting all the amino acids and will be fine from a developmental standpoint. For example, see https://www.verywellfit.com/vegan-protein-combinations-2506396 https://www.verywellfit.com/vegan-protein-combinations-25063... Likewise, there's also no reason for a vegan diet to be deficient in iron or anything else, but again, it's necessary for vegans to be a little more thoughtful than meat-eaters to ensure this. See for example https://www.everydayhealth.com/anemia/anemia-risk-for-vegans-and-vegetarians.aspx https://www.everydayhealth.com/anemia/anemia-risk-for-vegans...