Myths
of
Vegetarianism:
Myth #1: Vegetarians
don't get enough protein
Debunk: Plants have
incredible amounts of protein. Plants can be from 10% to 50% protein by
weight. Plant protein is also in simple form: amino acids. These are
the forms that the human body digests. The human body digests amino
acids or small amino acid combinations called polypeptides. Once
assimilated, the body will combine these into its own unique protein
combinations.
Proteins are
made of complex combinations of amino acids--hundreds, in fact. This means that animal proteins must
first be broken down into their simpler amino acid forms before we can
digest them. While meat typically has higher levels of protein by
weight, animal proteins are extremely complex, with hundreds (and up to
hundreds of thousands) of amino acids bound tightly into complex and
lengthy molecules.
When we compare animal proteins to vegetable proteins, we find a vast
difference in terms of digestive affinity. The amino acid composition
in plants is far easier for humans to assimilate. Our peptidase enzymes
easily break down the various peptide combinations available from
plants. A healthy vegetarian diet will easily supply every essential
and non-essential amino acid. Contrary to nutrition information
presented several decades ago, the body does not require every amino
acid present in each meal to form the appropriate proteins. The body
does store the eight essential amino acids from the diet, and forms the
other 12 amino acids from those eight essential aminos. As long as all
eight are available in the diet over a few days the body can make its
appropriate protein molecules just fine. There are a variety of plant
foods that contain all eight essential amino acids, but it is safer to
eat a variety of plant foods. A salad with a mix of vegetables with
some poppy seed or sunflower seeds will supply every essential, and
even most of the non-essential amino acids in one meal.
In comparison, the
digestive system
must work extra hard to break apart all the necessary amino acids from
animal-derived protein combinations. This
significantly slows down and stresses the digestive process. As a
result, a meat
meal takes about twice the amount of time to digest than a vegetarian
meal.
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Myth #2: The human
body was designed to eat meat.
Debunk: The proposal that
the human body has a genetic disposition towards meat eating is
drastically short sighted. Quite simply, if the human body was
genetically disposed for hunting and eating meat, our bodies would have
claws for ripping and tearing rather than fingers and nails able to
accurately and precisely unpeel fruits, crack nuts and open plant
fibers. Operations human hands and feet are most equipped for include
gathering and preparing roots; picking and prying open vegetables;
cracking apart nutshells and pulling out nut meats; and climbing up
trees to harvest seeds or honey. Certainly if we were meat eaters, we
would have legs that could run at faster speeds. Our legs cannot even
keep up with a rabbit or squirrel let alone catch an antelope or other
larger “game.” As opposed to carnivores, our mouths would be full of
incisors instead of mostly bicuspids and molars. Our teeth are
primarily designed for grinding. Our two incisors are perfectly
positioned to tear apart fleshy fruits and vegetables. To propose these
two dull incisors positioned in the middle of grinding teeth make a
case for humans being carnivores is quite a reach. Meanwhile tigers,
sharks, wolves and other hunters have a mouth full of razor-sharp
ripping teeth and incredibly strong jaws. Seriously, can we really
expect to rip apart and fully chop up an animal’s flesh and organs into
small enough pieces to eat with our two rounded incisors and our weak
jaws?
Furthermore, if we were carnivores, our feet would have claws for
tearing apart our victims instead of soft toes to run and balance on
while we reach or climb into the trees for our fruits and berries. Our
eyes would be equipped with night-vision, allowing us to track the
majority of animals that roam the earth after sunset. Rather, we have
day-only vision with retinal cells equipped to distinguish bright
colors of ripening fruits and vegetables. This vision allows us not
only to find those fruits and vegetables ready to eat, but to
distinguish between poisonous ones. We have ears that pick up the
medium spectrum of sounds, focused on our own voices and the sounds of
more dangerous animals like wolves and tigers. Our ears are not
equipped to listen to the very high- and very-low pitched rhythms of
the animals we are able to catch and beat up with our blunt fingers and
toes, such as squirrels, mice, moles, deer and rabbits. Because of our
narrow auditory skills, we have great difficulty tracking these animals.
As hunters, humans are poorly equipped all over. Humans have longer and
slower muscles. Our leg muscles make us one of the slowest specimens on
the planet. What kind of creature could we catch? Almost every creature
can outrun us, from squirrels to birds to fish to wolves, tigers,
horses, etc. On foot, it would be difficult for us to even catch one of
the largest vegetarians, the elephant.
If we consider the physical characteristics of species that hunt, we
can easily see other drastic differences. Hunters can travel at
tremendous speeds. They either are equipped to fly and swoop; jump and
leap; run and snatch; or sneak up and pounce on their prey. They
usually have sharp ripping claws, night vision, very quick
coordination, and response, allowing them to out-maneuver or surprise
other creatures during the hunt. The human body is slow; dull; soft;
gangly; rounded; obvious; and stupid when it comes to the element of
surprise. Our muscles are inflexible in comparison. We have little
ability to quickly leap or jump. In comparing the length and width of
our appendages, we are quite weak and slow. About the only thing we
have going for us besides our problem-solving nature is a misplaced
sense of pride, thinking we are so smart that we can control nature and
do whatever we want without restriction.
When it comes to digestion, we can hardly eat meat without cooking it.
Even if when we cook it we can hardly digest it. If we examine and
compare the intestinal tract of hunters, tigers or other meat-eating
animals, we find they have short, fat colons to move the unfibrous meat
through faster. Most herbivores have long digestive tracts, ranging
from ten to twelve times our body length. Meat eating animals typically
have shorter tracts, averaging only about three times their body
length. We also find meat eating animals secrete incredibly strong
hydrochloric acid to enable the break down of the more complex proteins
and peptides of meat. Humans and other herbivores have hydrochloric
acid strengths about twenty times weaker than meat eaters have. Humans,
like most herbivores, have developed salivary glands that produce
amylase, which facilitates the digestion of plant starches. Meat eating
animals do not have salivary glands.
The human body was equipped with the perfect tools for harvesting
fruits, vegetables, roots and nuts. We can eat them raw or they can
easily be dried in the sun without difficulty. We have the fingers and
thumb to pull the husks or peels off, or crack the hulls. Then we can
just pop them into our mouths and move on. We do not have to cook
vegetables, fruits and nuts. We have the digestive tools to handle
these foods without any complications. Can you imagine a tiger trying
to peel an orange? Certainly not. The tiger’s body is not equipped for
eating fruits. Its claws would shred the fruit into a mangled juicy
lump.
In order to logically assess our genetic eating traits, the focus
should be on our physical traits. There are obvious foods the body can
handle without advanced or complex preparation. These are the foods we
were genetically designed to eat. Meat would naturally fall off of this
list, because raw meat will make most human bodies ill. Our teeth are
not sharp enough to tear raw meat (reason why we need steak knives).
Our digestive tracts are too long for meat. Our digestive enzymes are
too weak and not designed for meat. Our nails are too soft to kill an
animal with. Our legs are too weak to catch most animals. Our vision is
too daylight oriented to see most animals.
The famous physician and botanist Dr. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778),
considered the “father of taxonomy,” once stated that, "Man's structure, external and internal,
compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent
vegetables constitute his natural food."
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Myth #3: Vegetarians
do not get enough Essential Fatty Acids without eating fish.
Debunk: Essential fatty
acids—or EFA’s—are fats necessary for adequate health. EFA’s are
long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids—longer than the linolenic,
linoleic and oleic acids. The major EFAs are omega-3s—primarily alpha
linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and eicohexanoic acid
(EPA); and omega-6s—primarily linoleic acid, (LA), gamma-linoleic acid
(GLA), palmitoleic acid (PA) and arachidonic acid (AA). The term
essential was originally given with the assumption that these types of
fats could not be assembled or produced by the body—they had to be
taken directly from our food supply.
This assumption, however, is not fully correct. While it is true that
we need some of these from our diet, our bodies readily convert
linoleic acid to arachidonic acid, and ALA to DHA and EPA using the delta-6 desaturase enzyme produced in
the liver. Therefore, these
fats can be considered essential in some sense, but a plant-based diet
will fulfill our AA and DHA/EPA requirements quite satisfactory with
enough ALA in our diet.
Excellent food
sources of ALA
include chia seeds, seed, hempseed, grapeseed, pumpkin seeds, sunflower
seeds, safflower seeds, soybeans, olives, pine nuts, pistachio nuts,
peanuts, almonds, cashews, chestnuts, and their respective oils.
Alpha linolenic
acid (ALA) is the
primary omega-3 fatty acid the body can most easily assimilate. Once
assimilated, the healthy body will convert ALA to eicosapentaenoic acid
(EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) at a rate of about 7-15%,
depending upon the health of the liver. One study of six women
performed at England’s University of Southampton (Burdge et al. 2002)
published in 2002 in the British Journal of Nutrition showed a
conversion rate of 36% from ALA to omega-3 fatty acids (EPA, DHA and
other omega-3). A follow-up study of men at Southhampton showed ALA
conver-sion to EPA and other n-3 fatty acids occurred at levels of 16%.
For those who may have liver impairment (impaired livers are caused by
excessive alcohol, smoking and poor diets), they may produce lower
levels of delta-6
desaturase enzyme. In these cases, we can supplement with the purest
form of DHA available: Algal DHA. Certain algae produce
significant amounts of DHA. They are in fact the foundation for the DHA
molecule all the way up the food chain, including fish. This is how
fish come to have DHA, in other words. Three algae species—Crypthecodinium cohnii, Nitzschia laevis and Schizochytrium spp. —are now in
commercial production and available in oil and capsule form.
Microalgae-derived DHA is preferable to fish or fish oils. Fish and
fish oils typically contain saturated fats and may also—depending upon
their origin—contain toxins such as mercury and PCBs.
Research has illustrated that like fish oils, DHA algal oils have
illustrated significant therapeutic and anti-inflammatory effects. One
study (Aterburn et al. 2007) measured pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid
levels after a dosage of algal DHA. It was found that arachidonic acid
levels decreased by 20% following a dose of 100 milligrams. In a
randomized open-label study (Aterburn et al. 2007), researchers gave 32
healthy men and women either algal DHA oil or cooked salmon for two
weeks. After the two weeks, plasma levels of circulating DHA were
bioequivalent. In a study by researchers from The Netherlands’
Wageningen University Toxicology Research Center (van Beelan et al.
2007), all three species of commercially produced algal oil showed
equivalency with fish oil in their inhibi-tion of cancer cell growth.
Another study (Lloyd-Still et al. 2007) of twenty cystic fibrosis
patients concluded that 50 milligrams of algal DHA was readily
absorbed, maintained DHA bioavailability immediately, and increased
circulating DHA levels by four to five times.
DHA readily converts to EPA by the body, or is produced directly from
ALA. Although fish contain both EPA and DHA, EPA degrades quickly if
unused in the body anyway. It is easily converted from DHA on demand as
needed. Our bodies store DHA and not EPA.
Note also that ALA also produces anti-inflammatory activity. In studies
at Wake Forest University (Chilton et
al. 2008), for example, flaxseed oil also produced
anti-inflammatory effects, along with borage oil and echium oil (both
also containing GLA).
Omega-6 fatty
acids are the most
available form of fat in the plant kingdom. Linoleic acid is the
primary omega-6 fatty acid and it is found in most grains and seeds. A
healthy body will convert linoleic acid into GLA readily, utilizing the
same delta-6 desaturase enzyme used for ALA to DHA conversion. From
GLA, the body produces dihomo-gamma linoleic acid, which cycles through
the body as an eicosinoid. GLA aids in skin health, assists in joint
movement and healthy synovial fluid, and is critically important to
nerve conduction. GLA can be also obtained from the
oils of borage seeds, evening primrose seed, hemp seed, and from
spirulina.
Monounsaturated
oils are high in omega 9 fatty acids like oleic acid. A monounsaturated
fatty acid has one double carbon-hydrogen bonding chain. Oils from
seeds, nuts and other plant-based sources have the largest quantities
of monounsaturates. Oils that have large proportions of monounsaturates
such as olive oil are known to lower heart disease when replacing high
saturated fat in diets. Monounsaturates also aid in skin cell
maintenance; improve glycemic tolerance by increasing the glucagon-like
peptide GLP-1; and moderate insulin levels as needed.
Healthy sources of saturated fats, or fats with high levels of fatty
acids without double bonds (the hydrogens “saturate” the carbons), are
found from tropical oils such as coconut and palm. Milk products such
as butter and whole milk also contain saturated fats, along with a
special type of healthy linoleic fatty acid called CLA or conjugated
linoleic acid.
The saturated fats from coconuts and palm differ from animal saturates
in that they have shorter chains. This actually gives them—unlike
animal saturates—antimicrobial qualities.
Omega-9 fatty acids are technically not “essential,” as the body
manufactures a limited amount. However, monounsaturated fatty acids
like oleic acid have been shown in studies to lower heart attack risk,
aid blood vessel health, and offer anti-carcinogenic potential. The
best sources of omega-9s are olives, sesame seeds, avocados, almonds,
peanuts, pecans, pistachio nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts,
several other nuts and their respective oils.
The proportion between omega-6s and omega-3s is recommended to be about
one or two to one (1-2:1). The current western American diet has been
estimated to be about twenty to thirty to one (20-30:1) for the
proportion between omega-6 and omega-3. This imbalance (of too much
omega-6 and too little omega-3) has been associated with a number of
inflammatory diseases, including arthritis, heart disease, ulcerative
colitis, Crohn’s disease, and others. When fat consumption is out of
balance, the body’s metabolism will trend towards inflammation. This is
because omega-6 oils convert more easily to arachidonic acid than do
omega-3s. AA seems to push the body toward the processes of
inflammation (Simopoulos 1999).
The stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase 1 (inhibits inflammation) is
produced by a healthy liver; and NF-kappaB activity (pro-inflammatory)
is stimulated in the presence of a weak liver. Saturated fatty acids
burden the liver, as they elevate LDL cholesterol and total
cholesterol, and increase the incidence of diabetes, artery
inflammation, and high blood pressure. Research has shown that reducing
dietary saturated fats and increasing omega-6 polyunsaturated fats
reduces inflammation, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol and
diabetes (Ros and Mataix 2008). This relationship appears to lie not in
the inflammatory cascade, but the ability of the liver to properly
modulate lipid content and enzyme content. Increased LDL cholesterol,
of course, is associated with an increase in free radical species that
damage arteries, cartilage and many other tissue systems.
This relationship was confirmed in a study performed at Sydney’s Heart
Research Institute (Nicholls et al. 2008). Here fourteen adults
consumed meals either rich in saturated fats or omega-6 polyunsaturated
fats. They were tested following each meal for various inflammation and
cholesterol markers. The results showed that the high saturated fat
meal blocked the anti-inflammatory capacity of the liver’s production
of HDL cholesterol, whereas HDL’s anti-inflammatory capacity was
increased after the omega-6 meals.
What this tells us is that the omega-3/omega-6 story is complicated by
the saturated fat content of the diet and subsequent liver function.
High saturated fat diets increase (bad) LDL content and reduce the
anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacities of the liver. Diets lower
in saturated fat and higher in omega-6 and omega-3 fats encourage
antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.
Diets high in animal products (including fish) are also high in
saturated fats.
We also know that diets high in monounsaturated fats—such as the famous
Mediterranean Diet—are also associated with significant
anti-inflammatory effects. Mediterranean diets contain higher levels of
monounsaturated fats like oleic acids (omega-9) as well as higher
proportions of fruits and vegetables, and lower proportions of
saturated fats (Basu et al. 2006).
High saturated fat diets are also associated with increased obesity,
and a number of studies have shown that obesity is directly related to
inflammatory diseases. High saturated fat diets and diets high in trans
fatty acids have also been clearly shown to accompany higher levels of
inflammation and in-flammatory factors such as IL-6 and CRP (Basu et
al. 2006).
The proposal that
the human body requires fish to be healthy is far from correct.
Overfishing now endangers our ocean populations. Fish now contain many
toxins such as mercury and DDT. Microalgae that produce DHA are farmed
in sterile tanks with no risk of toxicity or stress on the environment.
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Myth #4: Mad Cow
Disease is contained.
Debunk: Mad cow disease or
BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy) has occured amongst cow herds in
most countries in Western Europe, and also Canada, U.S, and
Japan. It was initially thought that it was contained in England,
but shortly after the mass epidemic in the U.K., it has spread to other
countries in Western Europe, and to North America. The disease occurs when cows are fed meat in their meal.
Cows are by nature, herbivores, so feeding them meat is completely
outside of their innate immune system.
The disease causes massive brain and nervous system collapse, resulting
in death. The disease also is known to incubate without symptoms for
many years.
Humans who eat meat from infected cows will suffer the same fate. It
has killed 166 people in Britain and 44 people in other countries as of
late 2009. In humans, the disease is called varient Creutzfeldt–Jakob
disease. Its prion protein eat away at the brain and spinal cords,
turning them both into a spongy pulp.
While the U.S. has now banned feeding animal byproducts to cows, it is
widely thought the practice continues, and the FDA or USDA only does
spot testing for BSE. Canadian food officials are more serious about
BSE, and have thus uncovered 15 cases of BSE among their herds (which
are much smaller than herds in the U.S.). There have been 3 known cases
of BSE among U.S. herds.
Scientists estimate that over 400,000 cows infected with BSE entered
the food system in the 1980s. The incubation period for BSE has been
known to be decades. It is unknown how many people may be carrying the
incubating CJD disease.
Noting many recent cases among herds throughout Europe and North
America, it is unknown how much BSE may be circulating among current
herds as well.
Charles Weissman from the Scripps Institute, has found that BSE prions
are mutating as they have been assimilated into the food chain and been
exposed to new environments and new species. BSE is extremely difficult
to purge. Even burning a carcus will leave infective BSE proteins in
the remains.
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