Sir, - This is no doubt one of many responses you will receive to Anne Dempsey's unnecessarily alarmist article on anaemia in young girls resulting from food fads and the growth of vegetarianism" (July 8th). True, 10 paragraphs into the story Dempsey does admit that "the problem is neither the philosophy nor practice of properly interpreted vegetarianism," but a casual reader would probably miss that point altogether, especially as it is in direct contradiction to the view put forward in the headline and lead paragraph.
I am 30 years old and have been a vegetarian for 15 years. When I was 17 a routine blood test indicated that my system was unusually high in iron. The doctor who performed the test asked me about my diet and attributed the good results to the fact that I eat porridge with raisins for breakfast every morning and lots of dark green leafy vegetables with my lunch and dinner all of which are high in iron. Contrary to what your reporter says in the article, plant proteins from grains, nuts, seeds and pulses do in fact contain all the essential amino acids when eaten in the right combinations (it's not difficult or complicated, either just eat grains with nuts and seeds or grains with pulses to obtain complete protein).
I'm all for "fighting the tyranny of thinness," but vegetarianism has nothing to do with it. Neither I nor any vegetarian I know stopped eating meat in order to lose weight. Poor nutrition can be a problem for meat eaters and non meat eaters alike a steady diet of hamburgers is no better than a steady died of, say, pasta.
I buy The Irish Times because I want to read a newspaper that presents a balanced, straightforward explanation of facts rather than grabbing attention with sensational headlines. I hope that this article was a temporary aberration rather than an indication of a change in policy. Yours, etc.,
Clonskeagh, Dublin 14.