What if the answer to why Lindsay Clancy murdered her three children wasn’t just postpartum psychosis, but something more metabolic—something that might have been caught with a simple blood test? That’s the question posed by a new analysis in American Thinker, which argues that a crucial piece of the puzzle was overlooked during the trial.
Clancy, a Duxbury, Massachusetts nurse, strangled her three children in January 2024 and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity, blaming postpartum psychosis. But according to the piece by Jeannie DeAngelis, no one ever asked about Clancy’s diet, her metabolic panel, or whether her quest to be “healthy” may have contributed to her mental state.
The Diet Clues
The trial revealed several telling details, the article notes. On the night of the killings, Clancy ordered a Mediterranean Power Bowl from a local restaurant—a plant-heavy dish—and when asked if she wanted protein added, she politely declined. The nanny, Elaine Rossi, testified that Clancy left detailed daily food-prep notes, instructing her to feed the children sweet potatoes. Closing arguments even mentioned beets.
The nanny also said Clancy appeared “overly concerned” with weight, fitness, food, and health. Clancy’s own symptoms included loss of appetite, “crazy brain fog,” disconnection, severe insomnia, and anxiety—all while she was reportedly preoccupied with food and sleep schedules for herself and her children.
DeAngelis draws a comparison to Jordan Younger, the “Blonde Vegan” blogger, who experienced severe anxiety, insomnia, loss of menses, nutritional deficiencies, and food-related OCD during her vegan years. The implication: diet could be a factor.
The Medical Oversight
The article points out that Mass General Brigham, where Clancy worked as a nurse, required employees to comply with a COVID-19 vaccination mandate by October 2021. Fifteen months later, her children were dead. Published case reports and observational studies have described psychiatric symptoms following COVID-19 vaccination, including anxiety, mania, depression, and psychosis. Whether vaccination played a role in Clancy’s symptoms “cannot be verified,” but DeAngelis notes the similarities are “noteworthy.”
More glaring, she argues, is the absence of metabolic testing. The article cites testimony from Dr. Donald Condie, a clinical and forensic psychiatrist, who stated that neither psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Tufts nor nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta conducted blood tests on Clancy before the murders. Condie called it an oversight, noting that blood tests could have screened for thyroid and hormonal changes associated with pregnancy.
Meanwhile, after the killings, extensive forensic toxicology testing was done—but only to determine which psychiatric drugs were in Clancy’s system and their concentrations. No nutritional or metabolic testing appears to have been conducted for B vitamins, iron, zinc, magnesium, or other markers.
Nutritional Depletion in Pregnancy
Pregnancy depletes a woman’s nutrients, the article notes, and the effects can be more pronounced with closely spaced pregnancies, restricted diets, or low nutrient stores before conception. Common deficiencies during pregnancy include iron, folate, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, iodine, vitamin D, calcium, zinc, magnesium, choline, and omega-3 fatty acids.
DeAngelis cites a published case of a woman initially diagnosed with postpartum psychosis whose symptoms were ultimately traced to a late-onset urea-cycle disorder—a metabolic condition whose symptoms include extreme tiredness, confusion, hallucinations, and delusions. One striking feature of that disorder is “auto-selective vegetarianism,” a self-imposed avoidance of high-protein foods. This resonates with Clancy’s declining protein on her power bowl.
The article also brings up “vitamin D winter.” Researchers studying Boston at approximately 42°N found that from November through February, sunlight does not produce measurable pre-vitamin D3 due to inadequate winter UVB. A 2025 systematic review of 19 studies found that 9 of 13 vitamin-D studies reported a significant association between lower vitamin-D levels and postpartum depression symptoms. Clancy’s symptoms culminated on January 24th—deep in a Boston winter.
A Cultural Context
DeAngelis places the diet question in a cultural frame, noting that plant-rich eating was rapidly increasing among younger Americans from 2019 to 2022, and Clancy was a health-conscious Millennial mother during that period. Historically, vegetarians struggle with low B12, and a 1981 review in Biological Psychiatry recommended B12 testing when patients present with psychiatric symptoms.
Vitamin B6 deficiency, the article adds, has been linked to insomnia, irritability, depression, confusion, and neurological symptoms. B6 helps the body process glyoxylate, which can convert to oxalate. High-oxalate foods like sweet potatoes, beets, and spinach might have been staples in Clancy’s plant-heavy diet.
“If Lindsay also ate a plant-heavy diet that included significant amounts of high-oxalate foods… and if, in turn, her vitamin and nutrient status was compromised, could oxalate metabolism have been just another physiological variable worth examining?” the article asks.
Not an Excuse
DeAngelis is careful to say the piece is not about making excuses for a mother who murdered her children. Nor does it attempt to prove that diet caused Clancy’s actions. Rather, it argues that the forensic science failed to consider food choices and metabolic conditions—and that this failure may have missed a preventable warning sign.
The article concedes that none of this establishes whether Clancy was vegetarian or vegan, whether she was nutritionally deficient, or whether food deprivation drove her to such horror. But it insists that in a murder trial where postpartum psychosis was the central defense, the absence of metabolic testing is a glaring omission.
“Tests were performed to determine the levels of drugs Clancy was taking to address a problem that might have been revealed by blood tests that were never performed,” DeAngelis writes.
For all the testimony about mental state, the unanswered question remains: What was in her blood—and what was missing from it?
Source: www.americanthinker.com — https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/09/what-about-calncy-s-diet/