Roughly over 20% of 121,000 middle-aged men and women died over a period of 28 years during a study of red meat effects on the body (Harding). Beef, pork, lamb, mutton, and veal are all red meats. While these meats are rich in vitamins and protein, they can lose much of their benefits through cooking and processing. Limiting how much red meat an individual eats could add years to their life by avoiding heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes. By simply replacing one meal weekly, that consists of red meat, for a meal that is poultry, fish, nuts, or vegetable based could reduce the risk of dying in middle aged years by 7 to 9% (Harding). There are many different types of nutrients in red meat that usually work together to make the body healthy. Too much of certain nutrients can cause more harm to the body than good. The following vitamins are found in red meat: · Vitamin A · Vitamin B1 · Vitamin B2 · Vitamin B3 · Vitamin B4 · Vitamin B4 · Vitamin B5 · Vitamin B6 · Vitamin B12 · Vitamin D Vitamin A and B1 through B6, which are found in most red meats, can cause harmful effects in the body. Vitamin A helps the development of healthy skin, bones, and eyes. If too much vitamin A is ingested, there is an increased risk of liver cancer and high cholesterol. Vitamins B1 through B6 helps the body produce energy and maintain heart health. However, an over abundance of these vitamins can cause high numbers of red blood cells and anemia. Vitamin B12 also helps with energy; however, when too much is ingested in the body an individual can develop a rare eye disease that causes blindness and severe amounts of blood clots throughout the body. Vita... ... middle of paper ... ...ing, Anne. "Study: Too Much Red Meat May Shorten Lifespan." CNN. Cable News Network, 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Lee, Elizabeth WebMD. "Is Eating Red Meat Bad for Your Health?" WebMD. Ed. Jonathan L. Gelfand, MD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. Roizen, Mike, MD. "More Reasons to Avoid Red Meat." The Oz Blog. Harpo Co., 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014 Sifferlin, Alexandra. "It’s Not Just the Fat: There’s Another Way Red Meat May Harm the Heart." Time. Time, 8 Apr. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. "The Nutrition of Red Meat." Healthy Eating. Internet Brands, Inc, 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Wein, Harrison, Ph.D. "Risk in Red Meat? - National Institutes of Health" U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 26 Mar. 2012.Web.25 Apr. 2014. "What Is Colorectal Cancer?" What Is Colorectal Cancer? American Cancer Society, 15 Aug. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
I will first show the lack of validity and soundness to Howard’s claim that A) a vegan lifestyle is a healthier choice and B) his claim that one must switch to that lifestyle to enjoy these said benefits. To the claim made in A, Howard uses his own health problems he endured on his meat diet, and uses it as a constant variable comparing it to his now relative healthy lifestyle as a vegan. On first glance anyone who eats a calorie-laden, unbalanced diet and ends up weighing 300 pounds, as Lyman himself admitted, will have health problems regardless of his orientation to meat or vegetables. With this said his comparing analogy is inertly flawed and must be disregarded from the argument he presents. On march 8 before the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, Mary K Young, MS.,R.D,NCBA Director of Nutrition Research and Information, presented the benefits of eating meat. Using Data from the 1995 USDA Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSI) she confirms that red meat enhances one overall diet quality. Young goes on to point out that red meat is the number one source for protein, B12, and zinc, number 2 source for B6 and third greatest source for iron, niacin and potassium. She also pointed out that red meat alone has the greatest concentrates of iron and zinc together. Also included cited in Young’s report was the research recently published in the Journal of the American...
Rail, Kevin. "Nutritional Values of Venison vs. Beef." Healthy Eating. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr.
Krizmanic, J., (1995). “The Best of Both Worlds” Vegetarian Times Nov. 1995: 96-101. Retrieved: February 13, 2011, from:
Most of us do not think twice about the foods we pick up from the supermarket. Many Americans have a preconceived belief that the food being sold to us is safe, and withholds the highest standard of quality. Certainly, compared to many places in the world, this is true. But is the United States sincerely trying to carry out these standards, or have we begun to see a reverse in the health and safety of our food- and more explicitly in our meat? Jonathan Foer, author of “Eating Animals” argues for reform within the food industry- not only for the humane treatment of animals but moreover for our own health. Although Foer exposes the ills within the food industries in order to persuade readers to change their diets for the better, his “vegetarianism or die” assessment may be too extreme for most Americans. The true ills do not start with the meat, but with industrialized production of it through methods practiced by factory farming.
Due to the use of Anthropophagy for leisure purposes, it is evident that cannibalism is a topic of much interest among humans, aside from its label as a social taboo. Technically, a human’s eating of another human has a chemical effect on the blood. Too much human meat causes a build up of vitamin A and amino acids such as homocysteine in the bloodstream, which could cause congenital defects in future offspring. However, if human organs which are rich in B vitamins and folic acid are eaten along with the human meat, homocysteine is not able to metabolize in the bloodstream. This means that cannibalism could hypothetically be the basis of a healthy diet (“Natural Food”).
On a daily basis, a majority of people across the world consumes meat products in their diet, yet a small percent of people have chosen the unique lifestyle of being a vegetarian. Although everyone has to make their decision on whether to follow a meat based or vegetarian based diet, there have been continuous debates on the benefits that come from being a vegetarian versus eating meat. According to nutritionists, it was concluded that eating a more vegetarian based diet has greater positive values to the health of the body than consuming meat. The benefits of a vegetarian diet over the meat diet are determined by the nutrients that an individual may gain from being a vegetarian. There are numerous organizations and societies that continually educate people about the best ways of living a healthy lifestyle. The main objective of this paper is to assess the importance of the vegetarian diet compared to the meat based diet.
The people they used for the big stories in this film had some sort of health issues already. They picked from ones that had high risks for heart disease or type two diabetes. They didn’t use people who aren’t at a high risk and don’t need to switch their diet. They failed at showing a direct link between how someone’s health is increased from eliminating meat. It only used people whose diets were full of junk food, not just meat. HB (1991), “Canadians are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of nutrition in their long-term health prospects. With this increased awareness, however, has come an abundance of misconceptions including the notion that meat is "bad" for you. In their haste to avoid saturated fat, physicians and the public alike have lost sight of the fact that lean meat in reasonable serving sizes poses no threat to health and is an extremely important source of many nutrients.” We heard plenty of stories of people who were on the verge of getting a heart disease, or had even had a heart attack or two. No one they used was on a normal diet who ate meat. Forks Over Knives (2011), “On my way over I drank these two red bulls, I also had a twelve-ounce coke and another half of a twelve-ounce coke. I haven’t always lived the healthiest life style, and I’ve eaten more than my share of fast food.” But one thing that stood out to me was the people they showed the results
as You Avoid Pitfalls.” Better Nutrition 6 June 2009: 42. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Apr.
What the American culture is used to is eating three meals with a few snacks in between a day, and two out of the three meals usually involve eating meat. Most people don’t realize the risks of eating meat. Today’s medical experts say that avoiding meat helps you avoid saturated fat. They have found out from studies that women who eat meat daily have a fifty percent greater risk of developing heart disease than vegetarian women and a sixty-eight percent greater risk in men (staff writer). People may not know about serious diseases meat can obtain such as, mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease. In the September 1999 issue of the Emerging Infectious Diseases, approximately 76 million food borne illnesses- resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths occur in the United States each year from improperly cooked or diseased meat (Licher). That is a lot! You can also get salmonella poisoning from meat. People think that the problems come from eating red meat and are opting for fish over steak, but new evidence proves that fish can cause health problems too, risks that can’t be cooked away. This is a growing problem called histamine poisoning (Peck). Children are learning at a younger age that they don’t like meat, maybe because they don’t like the taste, or maybe it’s because they have a fear of eating their favorite cartoon or movie hero. For example, the pig from the movie “babe”.
Most people in America live on an omnivorous diet, but with the new vegetarian diet trend, there has become much controversy over if a vegetarian diet is truly as healthy as vegetarians believe. Because both sides make strong arguments, neither side wants to back down and claim defeat, but do they have to? There is a large amount of people who claim there is nothing wrong with the standard western diet, even though there is evidence showing it is quite unealthy, however, many studies show that a low-meat-intake diet can ,along with a vegetarian diet, reduce risk of premature death, as well as show positive impacts on common chronic diseases, reduces risk of certain cancers, and even provides essential amino acids.
Meat is a coroner stone to the majority of American’s diets. I would venture to say the majority of American’s eat meat for their three meals a day. Eating meat isn’t all bad, it actually brings a good source of protein to one’s diet, in a moderate amount. In 2012 a study was done and found that the U.S. total meat consumption was 52.1 billion pounds. That comes out to be 270.7 pounds per person. We still eat more meat than just about any other country, besides Luxembourg (A Nation of Meat Eaters). Eating red meat is bad for humans because of the negative health effects, the environmental issues it causes, and the inhumane treatment of the animals.
The health benefits of a vegetarian diet are hard to ignore. Vegetarians have a lower chance of developing many diseases, such as cancer and diabetes. Women who eat meat daily are more likely to develop breast cancer. According to an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, “consumption of well-done meats and, thus, exposures to heterocyclic amines (or other compounds) formed during high-temperature cooking may play an important role in the risk of breast cancer.” Men are also more than almost more likely to develop prostate cancer than those who do not include meat in their everyday diets. “Up to 80 percent of prostate cancer is attributed to dietary practices, and international comparisons show strong positive associations with meat consumption” (Alexander, 2010). Vegetarians have also shown to have lower blood pressure, better digestion, and more energy than humans with a meat based diet. The effects of a vegetarian life style ...
“According to the American Dietetic Association, a vegetarian diet can meet protein requirements, provide all the essential amino-acids (the building blocks of protein), and improve health” (Vegetarian). In another aspect, vegetarians show the sign of decreasing the kidney stones and gallstone in the human body. People who consume animal flesh will obtain animal protein, which is the main component of making kidney stones and gallstones. “A diet high in animal protein is responsible for the high rates (15% of men and 7% of women) of kidney stones in the United States” (Vegetarian). Furthermore, many studies had proven that meat consumption is linked to colon and rectal cancer. As people consume a small amount of animal product everyday they will obtain a higher amount of heme iron, which causes an increased risk of colon and rectal cancer. Heme iron in red meats is much more harmful to health than in vegetables. “Vegetarian sources of iron like leafy greens and beans contain non-heme iron” (Vegetarian). In addition, vegetarians usually live longer. “A study of 121,342 people found that eating red meat was associated with an increased risk of death from cancer and cardiovascular disease” (Vegetarian). Since red
Numerous people believe that a vegetarian diet is unhealthy for the reason that one is not consuming enough protein since there is a decrease in the consumption of meat. However, meat is not the only source of protein. Nuts and grains contain great amounts of protein, and by eating these in the place of meat, one not only gets protein, but avoids the harmful carbohydrates and fats that are in animal meats. Consuming supplements can also help gain nutrients if the diet is not providing enough. There are countless amounts of nutritional supplements that one can purchase, including fish oil and omega 3s. These can be fairly cheap if purchased at the right place, and easily give bodies the nutrients they crave to function.
Going through life as carnivores, most people do not feel as though it is immoral due to the food chain. They are simply eating what is right to maintain proper nutrition and remain healthy. It is understandable that people do not eat meat due to animal cruelty, love of animals, morals, and ethical reasoning, but in reality, they are just robbing themselves of the proper nutrients. Vegetarians are likely to come across many negative health risks that meat eaters are less likely to come across. By not eating meat, vegetarians are prone to pernicious anemia due to vitamin B deficiency, which can seriously interfere with the production or red blood cells within bone marrow. Other health problems include iron deficiency, animal-protein deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency, as well as having lo...