One in 12 parents are raising their children vegan
Eight percent of UK parents are bringing up their children as vegans, new research shows. Half of these parents confessed that their children had expressed a desire to eat meat or animal products before, with the majority stating that ‘health benefits’ associated with the vegan diet was the driving force behind their decision.
The team behind VoucherCodesPro.co.uk carried out the study for Veganuary following an increase in the number of searches on-site for discounts relating to vegan and vegetarian products.
According to the study of 2,177 parents of children aged 0-12 in the UK, 13% of parents have vegetarian children with the majority of these being raised vegetarian, rather than eating a meat-free diet through personal choice.
Respondents were asked questions relating to their children and specifically what type of diet and nutrition they provided for their youngsters.
When asked to state what type of diet their children were being raised on, 8% said ‘vegan’ and 13% said ‘vegetarian’, while the remaining 79% said their child ate meat; 22% of the total respondents said that their child was on a particular diet due to allergies, such as gluten-free (coeliac) and dairy- or lactose-free.
Any respondents who said that their children were being raised on a vegan diet were asked if it had been their own personal choice, or their child’s. The overwhelming majority (97%) confessed that they had made the decision to give their children a vegan diet. When asked why, 61% said that it was due to the ‘health benefits’ of a diet that was free from any animal products such as meat and dairy. A further 36% said it was due to their opinion on animal welfare/cruelty.
All of the parents who were raising their children on a vegan diet said that they themselves were vegan, compared to 87% of the parents of vegetarian children being vegetarian too.
George Charles, spokesperson for VoucherCodesPro.co.uk, said “We wanted to find out if any parents were raising their children on these meat free and vegan diets. The figures were higher than we expected and I personally was shocked to find that, for the most part, it’s the parent’s decision rather than the child’s.”
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