Elvira Savino, of the Forza Italia party, has proposed legislation under which parents who provide their children with an ‘inadequate’ diet face up to four years in prison. Ms Savino writes that vegan diets leave children potentially lacking in iron, zinc and B12, which can lead to neurological problems and anaemia, reports Repubblica.
The proposed legislation, nicknamed the ‘Savino Law’, follows a number of high-profile cases in which children malnourished on account of a poorly-constructed vegan diet imposed on them by their parents have been removed from their care.
‘For some years the belief has been spreading in Italy that a vegetarian diet, even in the rigid form of a vegan diet, results in significant health benefits,’