What are factual reasons why it's better to eat meat then to be a vegetarian?

Question

I have to do a paper if it's better to be a vegetarian or to eat meat. i know alot of reasons why you shouldn't eat meat, but i can't find any why you should. They have to be facts, not opinions like, "It tastes good." Or anything like that.Please give me some ideas. Thanks!

Answer 1

There are many benefits to a diet containing meat. Many vegetarians claim that meat is unhealthy. This is a blatant fallacy.
It is well established that eating meat improves the quality of nutrition, strengthens the immune system, promotes normal growth and development, is beneficial for day-to-day health, energy and well-being, and helps ensure optimal learning and academic performance.
A long term study found that children who eat more meat are less likely to have deficiencies than those who eat little or no meat. Kids who don’t eat meat — and especially if they restrict other foods, as many girls are doing — are more likely to feel tired, apathetic, unable to concentrate, are sick more often, more frequently depressed, and are the most likely to be malnourished and have stunted growth. Meat and other animal-source foods are the building blocks of healthy growth that have made America’s and Europe's youngsters the tallest, strongest and healthiest in the world.
Meat is an important source of quality nutrients, heme iron, protein, zinc and B-complex vitamins. It provides high-quality protein important for kids’ healthy growth and development.
The iron in meat (heme iron) is of high quality and well absorbed by the body, unlike nonheme iron from plants which is not well absorbed. More than 90 percent of iron consumed may be wasted when taken without some heme iron from animal sources. Substances found to inhibit nonheme iron absorption include phytates in cereals, nuts and legumes, and polyphenolics in vegetables. Symptoms of iron deficiency include fatigue, headache, irritability and decreased work performance. For young children, it can lead to impairment in general intelligence, language, motor performance and school readiness. Girls especially need iron after puberty due to blood losses, or if pregnant. Yet studies show 75 percent of teenage girls get less iron than recommended.
Meat, poultry and eggs are also good sources of absorbable zinc, a trace mineral vital for strengthening the immune system and normal growth. Deficiencies link to decreased attention, poorer problem solving and short-term memory, weakened immune system, and the inability to fight infection. While nuts and legumes contain zinc, plant fibre contains phytates that bind it into a nonabsorbable compound.
Found almost exclusively in animal products, Vitamin B12 is necessary for forming new cells. A deficiency can cause anaemia and permanent nerve damage and paralysis. The Vitimin B12 in plants isn't even bioavailable, meaning our body can't use it.
Why not buy food supplements to replace missing vitamins and minerals? Some people believe they can fill those gaps with pills, but they may be fooling themselves. Research consistently shows that real foods in a balanced diet are far superior to trying to make up deficiencies with supplements.

Some people claim that meat is unhealthy because it contains saturated fat. So does margarine and olive oil, and they're vegan suitable (in fact the hydrogenated fats in Marge can be very bad, but that's another story). Besides, any excess calories in your diet, any excess sugar, starch or carbohydrates are stored in your body for later use. This is done by turning them into saturated fats.
Cholesterol too. Your body on average creates four to five times more cholesterol than the average person consumes, and compensates by creating more when less is consumed. Cholesterol isn't evil, it is essential; it makes up the waterproof linings of all our cells and without it we would die. Too much can be bad, but as with saturated fats there are more healthy ways of disposing of it, like regular exercise. Anyway, it isn't so much how much cholesterol you eat, but how well yur body handles it. A person who eats loads of dietary cholesterol and leads an unhealthy lifestyle can still have low cholesterol, and vice versa. Most people's bodies are able to take a large amount of cholesterol without getting atherosclerosis. For this reason that eating meat gives you heart disease is very misleading, and for the most part untrue. Of course, if you do have a problem eating loads isn't a good idea, but for most people there is nothing at all to worry about.

No sensible vegans can contest that we were deigned to eat meat. Even most vegan scientists agree that human's are designed to eat meat, that is not in question.
That we do not have claws, talons, or incisors to hunt proves nothing. When early hominids ate meat they scavenged it, as vultures do, using their fingers to get the sinews and meat other animals couldn't. It was only after that that they began to hunt the meat themselves, and only much later they began to cook it. It is interesting that even now if someone was brought up eating raw meat he would have no problem with it.
The last few million years of human evolution have revolved completely around tools. We used advanced stone tools long before we began to hunt our own meat, and as such there was no need for evolution to bestow us with large claws or teeth to kill prey.

Simple research into human biology reveals how we are meant to eat meat. For one thing, our body produces hydrochloric acid and meat splitting enzymes that herbivores don't produce and are solely used for the digestion of meat. There are adaptations to our teeth (not incisors, rather the size of the jaw), stomach and intestines which have made a human being very adept at meat digestion. There is nothing wrong with the way our body digests meat, and we are so adept at eating it no scientists are of any doubt we've evolved to eat it.

In contrast, there are many reasons we aren't naturally herbivores. We cannot naturally get all the nutrients we need without animal products naturally. Vitamin B12 cannot be got, even now, without animal products or supplements, and a lack of it can cause anaemia and impending death. 60% of vegans even now have some level of B12 deficiency, as opposed to no meat eaters, which says something about how well adapted we are to a vegan diet.
All other nutriets can be got natually. That owes to that vegtables can now be sold all year round, even out of season, and can be flown into the country from all over the world. In bygone times people could only eat the relatively small range of plants that grew in their ecosytem, and only when they were in season. Thus many more nutrients would have been unavailable and still more unavaillable for most of he year. Until very recently it would have been impossible for a vegan human to live naturally without dying very quickly.

Now, meat makes up for all these lost nutrients very nicely, and it really shows how we aren't naturally vegans, as until very recently it was impossible to live like that.

The fact is Humans are omnivores, with the ability to eat nearly everything. By preference, prehistoric people ate a high-protein, high-mineral diet based on meat and animal sources, whenever available. Their foods came mainly from three of the five food groups: meat, vegetables and fruits. As a result, big game mammoth hunters were tall and strong with massive bones. They grew six inches taller than their farming descendants in Europe, who ate mostly plant foods, and only in recent times regained most of this height upon again eating more meat, eggs and dairy foods. We are adapted to eat meat, and it is just as natural as eating plants.
Some also claim that the digestion of meat releases harmful byproducts into our system. This is true, however such are our adaptations to eating meat that our bodies are quite able to dispose of said products without any adverse effects.

So, in summary: it isn't healthier to avoid meat. You can be healthy without meat, but likely not as healthy as if you did, assuming you kept things like the wide range of fruit and veg that a veggie diet usually entails. Too much meat can be bad, but normal amounts are no problem at all. Any health benefits that come from a veggie diet come from a wide range of fruit and veg, and being health conscious, as veggies often are; that doesn't require you to not eat meat."

I don't think a veggie diet benefits anyone in any way better than a better meat eating diet could at all. If you have no ethical qualms, it's quite pointless. PETA will tell you otherwise, but they have very strong ethical opinions, and mould their 'evidence' around it. There is, for example, some evidence that vegans live longer and are at less risk from cancer and heart disease; however those studies show only a very marginal and insignificant difference and none of those studies have yet managed to identify meat as the only variable. Veggies are less likely to smoke, drink or eat junk food, and eat a wider range of fruit and veg, making the test results inaccurate and unreliable.

Answer 2

It's an excellent method of controlling human over-population.

Eating meat slows the rate of total human population growth since it's a factor in heart attacks, cancer and food poisoning which all serve to directly reduce human lifespan.

Another way meat helps to slow human overpopulation is through disease mutation! E.coli wouldn't be an issue if our Bovine friends wouldn't breed new and more virulent strains in their digestive system. How about a nice dose of Swine or bird flu which wouldn't exist in a form infectious to humans without the meat trade. Ptomaine anyone? I almost forgot all those wonderful tapeworms and other parasites that keep the number of "useless eaters" in check!

Meat animals eat over 70% of all the grains that humans raise. By reducing the total amount of food available to "third world breeders" meat consumption is an important method of global human starvation; the most important non-war method of population control.

Note: The quotes listed above are from Henry Kissinger and do not reflect the views of this author!
Facts and figures are obtainable from the United Nations.

Answer 3

Population Control –

The planet is quickly becoming overpopulated. Meat eaters don’t live as long - providing necessary relief. May I recommend a Marlboro with that juicy bloody steak!

Eating meat (cholesterol) decreases vascular flow which negatively affects male sexual prowess. If he can’t become aroused – he can’t procreate.

Economic –

The medical community has become dependent on Meat eaters health problems. Do vegetarians ever get a quadruple bypass?

The pharmaceutical industry also needs meat eaters. Pfizer would never profit selling Lipitor to Vegetarians.


Global Warming –

It is suspected that cow flatulence contributes to global warming. By eating cows, meat eaters help reduce cow farts – thereby reducing global warming. (Please ignore the fact that cows are raised primarily for meat eater’s consumption).

Answer 4

There are certain element you can get from meat that you can NOT get from being a vegetarian.

Please research the following:

Protein - 9 amino acids are needed and all are available in one serving of animal meat. You can get them from eating various vegetarian foods, but not from one singular food source other than animal meat. Personally, I'd prefer not to eat 9 different things every day just to make sure I'm getting all my Amino Acids.
Iron
Vitamin B-12 is ONLY found in animal products
Calcium is also typically lacking in vegetarians who limit dairy products
Omega 3 (fish) is also pretty important.

To be a vegetarian, one must be very knowledgeable about the foods they are eating to make sure that they are getting the proper amount of nutrients. The more varied a diet, the greater chance of getting the nutrition you need.

Of course, vegetarians can take supplements (vitamin pills). However, the vitamin industry is NOT regulated in the US. This means that the amount of vitamin and/or mineral that is on the label may or may NOT be the same amount that is in the pill in the bottle.

Is being a vegetarian the same as eating a healthy diet? Not always, if a vegetarian replaces the meat with high fat cheeses and oil, they’re not helping matters much. It’s also important to remember that there’s no meat in ice cream, potato chips, and fudge brownies. It’s certainly possible to be a vegetarian and still consume large quantities of high-fat empty calories. Vegetarian or not, a healthy diet is low in cholesterol and saturated fat and is based around fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. Eliminating the meat doesn’t automatically make for a healthy diet.

Answer 5

Factually, meat does provide protein. Vegetarians can get enough protein in their diets without the meat, but they have to be knowledgable about the correct combinations of rice and beans, as well as other foods, in order to do that.
Lean meat is an excellent source of good cholesterol, provided it is not laden with butter or oil for cooking.
Meat also provides fiber in a diet, which is a good thing, although vegetarians usually do not have a lack of this.

Hope this gives you some stuff to look into further. I think there are tons of other positives on meat, but you'll have to do a little research on the net.

Good Luck with your paper.

Answer 6

Wow, what a lot of ignorance! Please ignore all answer previous to Matt H's - they are all based on false assumptions or just outright wrong. There are no reasons why you should eat meat, but every reason why you shouldn't. If you are interested in the topic, I suggest you read The China Study (excerpt linked below).

Answer 7

Well, maybe there's a REASON that you can't find the answer. Such as, it IS much healthier to not eat meat.

Answer 8

Meat has fats that sometimes you need. Not a lot of it is healthy but you still need some. Sometimes vegetarians lack protein and meat is sometimes an easy dose of that. However, they eat almonds and nuts and other protein rich food and fruit. Humans were basically evolved from being omnivores, so we have adapted to getting the nutrition from the all the things we kept eating.

Answer 9

There aren't any. Vegetarians get plenty of protein and other nutrients without consuming high amounts of cholesterol and saturated fats.

Answer 10

"meat gives you proteins that vegetables and friuts can't offer."

-False, plant proteins are perfectly adequate. Read below.

"Protein quality is usually defined according to the amino acid pattern of egg protein, which is regarded as the ideal. As such, it is not surprising that animal proteins, such as meat, milk and cheese tend to be of a higher protein quality than plant proteins. This is why plant proteins are sometimes referred to as low quality proteins. Many plant proteins are low in one of the essential amino acids. For instance, grains tend to be short of lysine whilst pulses are short of methionine. This does not mean that vegetarians or vegans go short on essential amino acids. Combining plant proteins, such as a grain with a pulse, leads to a high quality protein which is just as good, and in some cases better, than protein from animal foods. Soya is a high quality protein on its own which can be regarded as equal to meat protein. " -http://www.vegsoc.org/info/protein.html

"vegetarians often don't get enough protein or iron in their diets"

"Being vegetarian does not mean your diet will be lacking in protein. Most plant foods contain protein and in fact it would be very difficult to design a vegetarian diet that is short on protein." -http://www.vegsoc.org/info/protein.html

"Contrary to what we are told in the expensive advertising campaigns by the meat industry, an appropriately planned, well-balanced vegetarian diet is compatible with an adequate iron status. Although the iron stores of vegetarians are sometimes reduced, the incidence of iron-deficiency anaemia in vegetarians is not significantly different from that in the general population. " -http://www.vnv.org.au/Nutrition/Iron.htm

"because humans are naturally omnivores, and that's a fact!"

- this website is interesting, http://www.ecologos.org/mcardle.htm , regarding that.

And this next person needed to be answered on his or her own:

@ imoffmynut:

"Factually, meat does provide protein."

- Uh huh.

"Vegetarians can get enough protein in their diets without the meat, but they have to be knowledgeable about the correct combinations of rice and beans, as well as other foods, in order to do that."

- The necessity for food combining was disproved along time ago. This myth was started in a book called Diet for a Small Planet. The author apologized for this saying it was being overly careful.

"Lean meat is an excellent source of good cholesterol, provided it is not laden with butter or oil for cooking."

-Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs. Besides that, animal products are the only source of cholesterol, "good" or "bad". Heart attack anyone?

"Meat also provides fiber in a diet, which is a good thing, although vegetarians usually do not have a lack of this."

- This was funny, do you know what fiber is? Fiber is indigestible carbohydrates, from plants. Meat has exactly 0 grams of fiber per serving.

I'm sorry the answers you have gotten so far have been lacking, hopefully tomorrow will bring something useful. Good night.

Answer 11

look at the diet of most of our cousins, and look at our teeth, we're designed to eat meat, just not a big amount, and yes, we do need proteins, but since I dont like meat I eat fish and insects (no, not flies and roaches, I eat insects raised for human consumption) and yeah......our cousins eat insects too, alot of them