Are We Natural Vegetarians?

A cat or dog salivates with anticipated pleasure at the sight and smell of raw meat, but very few humans exhibit this behaviour. For most meat eaters, their chosen cut needs to be cooked before it becomes attractive. This is just one factor that might make us wonder whether eating meat is natural for us.

Other clues can be found by comparing the anatomy and physiology of humans with different types of animal. It emerges that humans are far more similar to fruit and nut eating animals, such as monkeys and apes, and to leaf and grass eating animals such as sheep, cattle, elephants and koala bears, than to the carnivores.

The following two lists show the characteristics, first of carnivores, and then of non-carnivores.

Carnivores generally:

1. Have very short digestive tracts (three times their body length) to excrete decaying meat waste rapidly.

2. Produce very strong stomach acid - typically 20 times stronger than that of a non-carnivore - to digest bone, sinews and large quantities of meat.

3. Produce small amounts of saliva because digestion does not begin in the mouth with carnivores.

4. Tend to have jaws that can only move up and down, which means that they cannot grind their food and can hardly chew at all. Meat is torn off with their long, sharp incisors and canine teeth, and is swallowed in large chunks. The teeth are also shaped and angled to move with a shearing motion to cut through bone and tough sinews.

5. Show great agility in catching prey, and have sharp claws and strong jaws to bring down, kill and consume prey.

However, non-carnivorous animals and humans generally:

1. Have long digestive tracts that are about the same proportion to body length as in grass-eating animals (12 times). The great length allows the longer period of time that is needed for fruit and vegetables to be digested completely.

2. Have weak stomach acid, which is all that is necessary for the slow digestion of grasses, grains and vegetable matter.

3. Produce a larger quantity of saliva, which also contains the enzyme ptyalin. The plentiful saliva and the ptyalin begin the digestion of grains, fruit and vegetables in the mouth. Carnivores neither eat these kinds of food nor do they chew their food, which means that digestive enzymes in their saliva are absent.

4. Have jaws that move with a grinding motion. This grinding together of the relatively flat teeth reduces the particle size of the food and exposes it to the saliva and ptyalin in the mouth. Human canine and incisor teeth are small compared to those of a carnivore and are, perhaps, better suited to biting tough vegetables rather than animal skin and bone.

5. Have no claws, relatively weak jaws and not a great deal of agility. For example, if a chicken is placed in an open space it would be extremely difficult for a human to catch it; we don't appear to be designed for that sort of activity.

The evidence seems clear that humans have evolved to eat little or no meat.

Meat Actually Harmful?

Many people eat meat and appear to survive reasonably well. So why shouldn't humans eat meat if they want to? There is the moral objection that animals should not be killed for the benefit of humans. This argument is complex because, for example, few people go so far as avoiding shoes and gloves made from leather - and most of the arguments that apply to leather also apply to meat. However, leaving the moral argument aside, there is a very strong reason not to eat meat - it is bad for our health.

Meat Makes Disease More Likely.

Clearly, humans have not evolved to live primarily on a diet base on animals. Dogs, for example, can eat solid blocks of butter and still keep their blood cholesterol levels stable despite the massively increased intake. If humans markedly increase animal fat consumption, such as butter, the level of cholesterol in the blood rises. In the long term, cholesterol makes artery and heart diseases almost certain, and death from one of these causes is highly likely.

Chemical Contaminants

Cholesterol consumption is not the only factor making degenerative disease more likely. Another factor that contributes to cancer development may be the presence of chemicals in meat. It is generally accepted that when pesticides and other chemicals are consumed they become concentrated in the body's fatty tissue. This happens in animals as well as in humans.

If food animals eat vegetation that is contaminated with pesticides or chemical fertilizers, or with industrial toxins such as cancer-causing dioxins, traces of these chemicals are deposited in their fat and throughout their muscles, which are partly fat as well. If we then eat meat from these animals, we also eat these chemicals - and in a relatively concentrated form. This argument also applies to the consumption of fish, much of which has been exposed to industrial waste which pollutes river and the seas. For example, contamination of fish with the deadly poison mercury is widely reported in research.

The New England Journal of Medicine reported a study in which mothers' milk was tested for chemical residues. The highest levels of residues were found in the milk of meat eaters, and the lowest levels in vegetarians. More significantly, the least contaminated breast milk from a meat-eater still contained more contaminants than the most polluted milk from a vegetarian mother.

Testing has established that industrial toxins are present in only small amounts in vegetables, fruit and grains, and are found at much higher levels in meat and dairy foods (cheese, milk and eggs).

Conclusion.

There is strong evidence to suggest that we humans have not evolved to eat high proportions of meat in our diets, and that doing so significantly increases the likelihood of developing cancer and heart disease. If you are not a vegetarian, you will be healthier and probably live longer if you ate less meat. Therefore it is recommended that meat intake is reduced to help ensure long-term health.

The extensive China-Cornell-Oxford study of cancer incidence, which began in the early 1980s, found that the average meat-eater in the US is 17 times more likely to die from heart disease than a person getting only 5% of their protein from meat sources. Furthermore, women in the former category are five times more likely to develop breast cancer.

Taken from "wisdom trust" website 6/7/2006 - www.wisdom4all.com

Research shows that vegetarians have a lower risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, haemorrhoids, cancer, obesity, gallstones, bowel disorders, food poisoning and appendicitis.

Hardly a week goes by without more evidence emerging of the links between meat eating and ill health. Recent headlines speak of deaths from CJD (the human form of BSE) end E.coli, and about the increased evidence of salmonella food poisoning.The UK government's Chief Medical Officer admits "there is a relationship between eating red meat and cancer" and research constantly shows that meat-eaters are at far greaters risk than vegetarians off suffering from cancer, heart disease and early death from all causes.

CHOOSE LIFE!

According to a report by the World Cancer Research Fund, which was based on the best evidence from around the world, "vegetarian groups have been shown to have lower overall mortallity, lower risk of of cardiovascular disease, lower rates of obesity and longer life expectancy and decreased incidence of cancers in general, as well as cancers of specific sites."

KICK THE MEAT HABIT

Every year, more than 850 million animals are slaughtered for food in the UK.Most will have been reared in stinking, overcrowded factory farms, never feeling fresh air or seeing natural daylight. Transport and slaughter conditions are bloody and barbaric. Many animals are still conscious when their throats are cut in the slaughter-house. Just say 'no' - kick the meat habit. It causes more than two million animal deaths every day ... and it might be killing you.

• A diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the most effective ways to ward off cancer. -The Lancet. Vegetarians suffer 40% less cancer deaths than meat eaters.- British Medical Journal.
• A low fat vegetarian diet can reverse coronary heart disease. -The Lancet.
• Vegetarians are less likely to suffer strokes. -British Medical Association.
• Plant food should be the focal point of our dinner plate, not meat and dairy. -World Cancer Research Fund.
• Vegetarian diets show nutritional benefits from lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol and animal protein. -American Dietetic association.
• Vegetarians have lower rates of obesity, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, large bowel disorders, cancers and gallstones. -British Medical Association.
• Vegetarians have a 25% less chance of dying from heart disease. -Journal of Public Health Nutrition.
• Vegetarians have excellent health.Protein is not a limiting factor. -US Government.
• Vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the lifecycle - pregnancy, lactation, infacy, childhood and adolescence. -British Medical Association.
• Vegetarians are no more likely to suffer anaemia than meat eaters.-British Medical Association.
• Vegetarians and vegans have higher intakes of folic acid than meat eaters.-British Medical Association.
• Antioxidants protect against many diseases. Found mostly in fruit and vegetables, they destroy "free radicals"
• Cell damage by free radicals causes many diseases. Cooked meat contains many, plants contain few.

Information provided by Viva! (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals)

The following sports people are all vegetarian or vegan. Would you like to kick sand in their faces?

• Andreas Cahling - "Mr International" bodybuilder.
• Ruth Heidrich - Ironman triathlete,age group record holder.
• Martina Navratilova - tennis champion.
• Stan Price - world record holder in bench press.
• Debbi Lawrence - olympic racewalking champion.
• Carl Lewis - olympic medalist in track.
• Bill Manetti - powerlifting champion.
• Bill Pearl - four time Mr. universe.
• Billie Jean King - tennis champion.
• Al Oerter - discus thrower and winner of four olympic gold medals.
• Keith Holmes - WBC world middleweight champion.
• Edwin Moses - double gold olympic medalist in hurdles.
• Dave Scott - six times ironman triathlon winner.

You would probably be horrified if you found out that your children were smoking but the truth is that more of today's children will die prematurely from ill health due to their mcjunk food lifestyle. Feeding your children a vegetarian or vegan diet is the safest way to provide all the nutrients they need. By establishing it early on, the effects will be felt throughout life. It's the way to cut the risk of killer diseases and improve your kids' chances of a long and healthy future.

How a meat-free diet improves children's heath,

Arresting allergies;

One of the major causes of childhood allergies is cow's milk. Vegan diets avoid milk.

Foiling food poisoning;

Children are at high risk. Animal products are responsibly for 95% of all cases.

Healing hearts;

Heart disease begins in childhood. Vegetarians have a 25% lower risk of dying from heart disease.

Tackling toxins;

Half of under-five's may be exceeding safety limits for toxins in food - and it's meat, dairy, eggs, and fish that are worst effected.

Obesity;

One in ten kids are overweight - but veggies and vegans are leaner and healthier than meat eaters.

        The study was based on a survey of cancer deaths in 59 countries. It corroborated the results of earlier investigations into the role of a meat-based diet in cardiovascular disease and cancer.

        A higher intake of cereals, nuts and oil seeds, on the other hand, has a protective effect. Thus the plant-based diets found in many less-advanced societies are the healthiest - as long as people get enough to eat.

         "For prostate cancer and cancers of other sites that are sensitive to serum (blood) hormone levels, animal fat may influence the risk for cancer by raising adult's sex hormone levels", the report notes.

        The third-biggest cancer killer in the United States is colon cancer - another thoroughly nasty disease. Colon cancer, too, has been strongly linked with a diet high in animal fat and low in fruits, vegetables and whole-grain products.

BRITISH MEAT
and
BSE

        Prion-based diseases have long incubation periods. These may extend two decades or more. The likely toll of future human victims of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD), the human variant of BSE, is unknown.

        Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) has been dubbed "Mad Cow Disease". This is because of the signs of extreme distress and disordered gait which its victims display before death. BSE is a neuro-degenerative disease of cattle. BSE is invariably fatal. Its immediate cause lies in mysterious infectious proteins called prions.

        Prions behave as infectious agents. Yet they are 100 times smaller than viruses. Their mechanism of replication is still unclear. All the prion diseases - new-variant-CJD is only the most notorious - are associated with the accumulation in the brain of an abnormal and protease-resistant isoform of the prion protein, PrP.

        The British outbreak of BSE struck down around 160,000 cows in 1980s and 1990s. Long before conclusive proof became available, strong circumstantial evidence pointed to the macabre cost-saving practice of mixing the remains of sheep - including brains and bones - into cows' feed as the cause of the deadly syndrome.

        In collusion with the British meat industry, however, the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) and the Government continued to deny the possibility of species-to-species inoculation posing a threat to humans. Official denials and smear-tactics against opponents persisted long after the potential danger of eating the remains of infected animals became known to researchers.

 By mid-2003, disturbing but not conclusive scientific evidence was emerging that BSE has crossed the species barrier to sheep.