Eating Meat Is Not Natural: For Humans

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Eating Meat Is Not Natural

By Kathy Freston, AlterNet. Posted June 15, 2009.

 

Source > http://www.alternet.org/story/140643/eating_meat_is_not_natural/?page=1

 

Eating meat is a relatively recent phenomenon in human evolution. And our bodies

have never adapted to it.

 

Going through the reader feedback on some of my recent articles, I noticed the

frequently stated notion that eating meat was an essential step in human

evolution. While this notion may comfort the meat industry, it’s simply not

true, scientifically.

 

Dr. T. Colin Campbell, professor emeritus at Cornell University and author of

The China Study (please check out the link), explains that in fact, we only

recently (historically speaking) began eating meat, and that the inclusion of

meat in our diet came well after we became who we are today. He explains that

“the birth of agriculture only started about 10,000 years ago at a time when

it became considerably more convenient to herd animals. This is not nearly as

long as the time [that] fashioned our basic biochemical functionality (at least

tens of millions of years) and which functionality depends on the nutrient

composition of plant-based foods.â€Â 

 

That jibes with what Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine President Dr.

Neal Barnard says in his book, The Power of Your Plate, in which he explains

that “early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is to say

a largely plant-based diet, drawing on foods we can pick with our hands.

Research suggests that meat-eating probably began by scavenging -- eating the

leftovers that carnivores had left behind. However, our bodies have never

adapted to it. To this day, meat-eaters have a higher incidence of heart

disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems.â€

 

There is no more authoritative source on anthropological issues than

paleontologist Dr. Richard Leakey, who explains what anyone who has taken an

introductory physiology course might have discerned intuitively -- that humans

are herbivores. Leakey notes that “[y]ou can’t tear flesh by hand, you

can’t tear hide by hand ... We wouldn’t have been able to deal with food

source that required those large canines†(although we have teeth that are

called “canines,†they bear little resemblance to the canines of

carnivores).

  

In fact, our hands are perfect for grabbing and picking fruits and vegetables.

Similarly, like the intestines of other herbivores, ours are very long

(carnivores have short intestines so they can quickly get rid of all that

rotting flesh they eat).  We don’t have sharp claws to seize and hold down

prey.  And most of us (hopefully) lack the instinct that would drive us to

chase and then kill animals and devour their raw carcasses. Dr. Milton Mills

builds on these points and offers dozens more in his essay, “A Comparative

Anatomy of Eating.† 

 

The point is this: Thousands of years ago when we were hunter-gatherers, we may

have needed a bit of meat in our diets in times of scarcity, but we don’t need

it now.  Says Dr. William C. Roberts, editor of the American Journal of

Cardiology, “Although we think we are, and we act as if we are, human beings

are not natural carnivores.  When we kill animals to eat them, they end up

killing us, because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat,

was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores.â€Â 

 

Sure, most of us are “behavioral omnivores†-- that is, we eat meat, so that

defines us as omnivorous. But our evolution and physiology are herbivorous, and

ample science proves that when we choose to eat meat, that causes problems, from

decreased energy and a need for more sleep up to increased risk for obesity,

diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.  

Old habits die hard, and it’s convenient for people who like to eat meat to

think that there is evidence to support their belief that eating meat is

“natural†or the cause of our evolution. For many years, I too, clung to the

idea that meat and dairy were good for me; I realize now that I was probably

comforted to have justification for my continued attachment to the traditions I

grew up with. 

  

But in fact top nutritional and anthropological scientists from the most

reputable institutions imaginable say categorically that humans are natural

herbivores, and that we will be healthier today if we stick with our herbivorous

roots. It may be inconvenient, but it alas, it is the truth.

  

Click here for great-tasting recipes and meal plans, and here for tips on eating

more vegetarian foods.