A 12-YEAR-OLD Scottish girl brought up on a strict vegan diet has been admitted to hospital with a degenerative bone condition said to have left her with the spine of an 80-year-old woman.

Doctors are under pressure to report her parents to police and social workers amid concerns that her health and welfare may have been neglected in pursuit of their dietary beliefs.

The girl, who has been fed on a strict meat- and dairy-free diet from birth, is said to have a severe form of rickets and to have suffered a number of fractured bones, London's Sunday Times reported.

The condition is caused by a lack of vitamin D, which is needed to absorb calcium and is found in liver, oily fish and dairy produce. Decalcification leads to the bones becoming brittle and can cause curvature of the spine.

Dr Faisal Ahmed, the consultant paediatrician treating the child at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow, declined to discuss the specific case, but said he believed the dangers of forcing children to follow a strict vegan diet needed to be highlighted.