Are humans supposed to be Vegetarian?

Question

I want to know if human beings are supposed to be vegetarian, and that through evolution have evolved to eat meat- like how we developed the need to consume salt.

Or at least, I'd like proof that humans are supposed to eat a diet consisting mainly plants and vegetables.

Please have scientific evidence to back up your explanation (ex. it is the reason teeth are mostly flat)

Thank you!

Acablue, I'd love to hear how vegetarianism is a religion. Quite honestly, it's just a lifestyle. Religion is a set of beliefs. So back it up with scientific evidence, my opinionated friend.

Thank you, silverbirch. That's the sort of answer I'm looking for.

Emucompboy, I am vegetarian. I understand getting complete proteins. But with the complementary foods that create a complete protein, one can attain more complete proteins than from beef and other meat sources. Therefore, is that not proof that humans are supposed to eat these complementary foods?

Oh, silverbirch- sodium can be attained in natural foods, and that is what we need. Then came the usage of salt for added flavor on foods, and after thousands of years eating this salt, humans became dependent on it; more than what they should have been due to excess. So to rephrase my incorrect statement: "...the way humans became dependent on more salt than what was originally needed."

Answer 1

humans are suoppesed to eat meat, thats why we can break it down easier than veggies

Answer 2

No humans don't have to be vegetarians. It is not easy to live a truly vegetarian lifestyle, (and I don't, I eat fish, chicken and turkey), but it can and is being done successfully all over the country.
people think being a vegetarian means only Eating salad, most people in thee world would die if th they thought about not eating meat for a week.

It can be done believe it or not.
So no humans are not supposed to be vegetarians, its really their choice weather they want to be healthy.

It is said that some vegetarians die earlier than meat eaters because the foods they eat are not enough to cling hold to their bones.

Answer 3

No, we don't have the teeth or digestive systems for eating the quantities of raw, course vegetation it would take to sustain us without large scale agriculture. An insoluble catch 22 for any vegetarian hypothesis.

We can elect to be vegetarian, but only because we have bred plants that can feed us entirely. Plants that did not exist as such prior to the evolution of behaviorally modern humans. Ones that would die out or revert to their less consumable natural states in our absence.

Dietary overspecialization in large animals is an evolutionary death warrant. We live because we are descended from generalists who gathered their food from a wide variety of sources.

All the great apes partake of flesh on occasion. Our ancestors were only exceptional in likely eating a little more. They didn't originate the behaviors that allowed it, only expanded on them a bit.

Answer 4

There is only physiological evidence that we are meant to be omnivorous. The teeth and digestive system all suggest this.

Our teeth are certainly not designed to eat coarse vegetation, but rather things like fruits. This is not surprising when you consider primates evolved in forests.

However, the meat we are best designed to eat would be grubs and insects, perhaps small mammals. We do not have the large canines and shearing incisors of a true carnivore, nor the molars to deal with bone.

Of course, our inventive and inquiring minds learned how to us fire, which made a huge difference.

So, science will not "prove" we should all be veggies.

A lot of animals consume salt, and salt licks are a good place to view them. Sodium and potassium are vital in cellular pumps.

Answer 5

If humans were supposed to be vegetarians, I would like to know why we have those canine teeth in front like all the meat eaters do. I doubt very much they are entended to masticate tofu. Also we have the digestive systems to handle meat, and we are not alone in our need for salt.

Vegetarianism is more a religion that a scientific tenet. If you are looking for justification for a religion, you will be looking for a very long time!

Answer 6

Certainly the vegetarian diet is the one that provides a person with the most energy with the least intake of food. That said, the human body has clearly evolved to be omnivorous. Look at our teeth, for example, we have different teeth that are designed to tear meat, and others that are best suited at crushing greens. Our digestive system works the same way, with different areas specialized to digest meat, while others are clearly designed to digest vegetables. No matter what one's politics are, it is clear that the human body was designed to eat both vegetables and meat, as is shown through our digestive tract, as well as the types of nutrients we need and where those can come from.

Answer 7

No, humans aren't supposed to be Vegetarian. It's a preferrence thing.

Answer 8

At one point in pre-history when early hominids lived mostly among the trees, we were herbivorous creatures. This is why many people believe we were equipped with an appendix. The appendix is thought to have, at that time, allowed us to digest cellulose, which is carbohydrate storage within plants. After humans descended from the trees and began to hunt and eat meat, our bodies evolved to digest and utilize meat INSTEAD of plants, because it is a much more effective energy source for our bodies, making us much more efficient on a metabolic level. At this point, the appendix lost its function and became vestigial. Our bodies no longer wanted to break down cellulose for energy; thus the appendix ceased to do so. Now, cellulose is completely indigestible for humans and it just passes directly through our system (we call it "fiber" or "roughage"). Thus, our bodies have evolved away from using plants as a primary energy source.

You mention that we developed a need to consume salt...I'm pretty certain that humans always had such a need for salt, but perhaps consumed it in different manners. Our proton pumps in our bodies, especially those within our nervous system require ions from salts in order to work appropriately and maintain homeostasis. So I wouldn't look toward a need for salt for evolutionary evidence.

We seem to have teeth built for eating both plants and meat, which is consistent with our recent needs, as humans are primarily omnivores at this point in time. Our teeth in the back are more flat and better for grinding, while the teeth in front, like the canines and incisors are perfectly constructed for cutting and tearing through meat. Our teeth don't point in either direction in particular.

I don't personally believe humans are meant to be vegetarians at this point in history. Many, many years ago we most likely were, but that was when we were still only in the very earliest of hominid stages. I believe we have evolved away from that, as upholded by the appendix theories and the sheer metabolic effectiveness of meat over plants. It would take a lot more energy (if we still could) to break down cellulose into usable materials than it does to break down meat. It's not worth the energy expense to use plants over meats. We have evolved to use the more efficient energy source. However, eating plants is still very important to supply us with essential vitamins which we cannot produce ourselves and must consume from our environment. We could not survive on only meat, because we would be subject to severe vitamin deficiencies.

Humans are not meant to be exclusively vegetarian, but are not meant to be exclusively carnivorous either. We are omnivores and need a healthy balance between the two extremes,

Answer 9

No, and I'll back it up too! Humans are omnivores, meaning (most of us) eat a combo of veggies and meats. The reason you are is because you have teeth called canines, found in carniverous animals, and molars, found in herbivorous animals. A combination of these teeth, found in a few animals, allow scientists to classify them as omnivors. Thus, we are omnivors.

Answer 10

No.
Consider the essential amino acids. "Essential" means we don't synthesize them ourselves. We need to get them in our diets.

Most edible plant material will have proteins that are deficient in one or more amino acids. This is why you hear vegetarians talking about eating complementary foods to get "complete proteins."

Most meat, however, will already be complete.