From: oak@mwilliams.eche.ualberta.ca (Nilesh Oak)
Subject: Health and Meatless Diet
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:06:51 GMT


HEALTH AND A MEATLESS DIET
Today, with increasing evidence of diet's critical effects on good 
health and longevity, more and more people are investigating this
question: Is the human body better suited to a vegetarian diet or
one that includes meat?
In the search for answers, two areas should be considered- the 
anatomical structure of the human body, and the physical effects 
of meat consumption.
Since eating begins with the hands and the mouth, what can the 
anatomy of these bodily parts tell us?  Human teeth, like those 
of the herbivorous creatures, are designed for grinding and 
chewing vegetable matter. Human lack the sharp front teeth for 
tearing flesh that are characteristic of carnivores.  Meat-eating
animals generally swallow their food without chewing it and 
therefore donot require molars or a jaw capalable of moving sideways
Also, the human hand, with no sharp claws and with its opposable 
thumb, is better suited to harvesting fruits and vegetables than 
to killing prey.
Once within the stomach, meat requires digestive juices high in 
hydrochloric acid.  The stomachs of humans and herbivores produce
acid less than the one-twentieth the strength of that found in 
carnivores.
Another crucial difference between the meat-eater and the vegeterian
is found in the intestinal tract, where the food is further digested
and nutrients are passed into the blood. A piece of meat is just 
part of a corpse, and its putrefaction creates poisonous wastes
within the body.  Therefore meat must be quickly eliminated.  For
this purpose, carnivores possess alimentary canals only three times
the length of their bodies. Since man, like other non-flesh-eating
animals, has an alimentary canal twelve times his body length, 
rapidly decaying flesh is retained for a much longer time, producing
a number of undesirable toxic effects.
One body organ adversely affected by these toxins is the kidney.
This vital organ, which extracts waste from the blood, is strained
by the overload of poisons introduced by meat consumption.  Even 
moderate meat-eaters demand three times more work from their kidneys
than do vegeterians.  The kidneys of a young person may be able to 
cope with this stress, but as one grows older the risk of kidney
disease and failure greatly increases.
HEART DISEASE
The inability of human body to deal with excessive animal fats in 
the diet is another indication of the unnaturalness of meat-eating.
Carnivorous animals can metabolize almost unlimited amounts of 
cholesterol and fats without any adverse effects.  In experiments 
with dogs, up to one half pound of butterfat was added to their 
daily diet over a period of two years, producing absolutely no 
change in their serum cholesterol level.
On the other hand, the vegeterian species have a very limited 
ability to deal with any level of cholesterol or saturated fats
beyond the amount required by the body.  When over a period of 
many years an excess is consumed, fatty deposits (plaque) accumulate
on the inner walls of the arteries, producing a condition known as 
arteriosclerosis, hardening of the arteries. Because the plaque 
deposits constrict the flow of blood to the heart, the potential 
for heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots is tremendously
increased.
As early as 1961, the Journal of the American Medical Association
stated that ninety to ninety-seven percent of heart disease, the 
cause of more than one half of the deaths in the united states,
could be prevented by a vegeterian diet.  These findings are 
supported by an American Heart Association report that states,
"In well documented population studies using standard methods of 
diet and coronary disease assessment... evidence suggests that a 
high-saturated-fat  diet is an essential factor for a high incidence
of coronary heart disease."  The National Academy of Sciences also 
reported recently that the high serum cholesterol level found in 
most Americans is a major factor in the coronary heart disease 
"epidemic" in the United States.
CANCER
Further evidence of the unsuitability of the human intestinal tract 
for digestion of flesh is the relationship, established by numerous 
studies, between colon cancer and meat-eating.  One reason for the
incidence of cancer is the high-fat, low-fiber content of the meat
centered diet.  This results in slow transit time through the colon,
allowing toxic wastes to do their damage.  States Dr. Sharon Fleming
of the Department of Nutrirional Sciences at the University of 
California at Berkeley,"Dietary fiber appears to aid in reducing...
colon and rectal cancer.  Moreover, while being digested, meat is 
known to generate steroid metabolites possessing carcinogenic
(cancer-producing) properties.
As research continues, evidence linking meat-eating  to other forms
of cancer is building up at an alarming rate.  The National Academy
of Sciences reported that"people may be able to prevent many common 
cancers by eating less more fatty meats and more vegetables and 
grains."  And in his Notes on the Causation of Cancer, Rollo Russel
writes,"I have found of twenty-five nations eating flesh largely, 
nineteen had a high cancer rate and only one had a low rate, and
that of thirty-five nations eating little or no flesh, none had a 
high rate."
Some of the most shocking results in cancer research have come from 
exploration of the effects of nitrosamines.  Nitrosamines are formed
when secondary amines, prevalent in beer, wine, tea, and tobacco, 
for example, react with chemical preservatives in meat.  The Food 
and Drug Administration has labeled nitrosamines "one of the most
formidable and versatile groups of carcinogens yet discovered, and
their role... in the etiology of human cancer has caused growing
apprehension among experts."  Dr. William Liginsky of Oak Ridge 
National Laboratory conducted experiments in which nitrosamines
were fed to test animals.  Within six months he found malignant 
tumors in one hundred percent of the animals.  "The cancers,"
he said,"are all over the place; in the brain, lungs, pancreas,
liver, stomach, adrenals, and intestines.  The animals are a bloody
mess."
DANGEROUS CHEMICALS IN MEAT
Numerous other potentially hazardous chemicals, of which consumers
are generally unaware, are present in meat and meat products. In 
their book 'Poisons in Your Body', Gary and Steven Null give us an 
inside look at the latest gimmicks used in the corporate-owned 
animal factories.  "The animals are kept alive and fattened by the 
continuous administration of tranquilizers, harmones, antibiotics, 
and 2,700 other drugs," they write.  "The process starts even before
birth and continues long after death.  Although these drugs will
still be present in the meat when you eat it, the law does not 
require that thay be listed on the package."
One of these chemicals is dietylstilbestrol (DES), a growth harmone
that has been used in the U.S. for the last twenty years despite
studies that have shown it to be carcinogenic.  Banned as a serious 
health hazard in thirty-two countries, it continues to be used by 
the U.S. meat industry, possibly because the FDA estimates it saves 
meat producers more than $500 million annually.
Another popular growth stimulant is arsenic. In 1972 this well known
poison was found by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to 
exceed the legal limit in fifteen percent of the nation's poultry.
Sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite, chemicals used as preservatives 
to slow down putrefaction in cured meat and meat products, including
ham, bacon, bologna, salami, frankfurters, and fish, also endanger 
health.  These chemicals give meat its bright-red appearance by 
reacting with pigments in the blood and muscle.  Without them, the
natural gray-brown color of dead meat would turn off many 
prospective consumers.
Unfortunately, these chemicals donot distinguish between the blood
of a corpse and the blood of a living human, and many persons 
accidentally subjected to excessive amounts have died of poisoning.
Even smaller quantities can prove hazardous, especially for young
children or babies, and therefore the United Nations' joint
FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives warned,"Nitrate should
on no account be added to baby food."  A.J. Lehman of the FDA 
pointed out that "only a small margin of safety exists between the 
amount of nitrate that is safe and that which may be dangerous."
Because of the filthy, overcrowded conditions forced upon animals by
the livestock industry, vast amounts of antibiotics must be used. 
But such rampant use of antibiotics naturally creates antibiotic-
resistant bacteria that are passed on to those who eat the meat. 
The FDA estmates that penicillin and tetracycline save the meat 
industry $1.9 billion a year, giving them sufficient reason  to 
overlook the potential health hazards. 
The trauma of being slaughtered also adds"pain poisons"(such as 
powerful stimulants) into the meat.  These join with uneliminated
wastes in the animal's blood, such as urea and uric acid, to further
contaminate the flesh consumers eat.
DISEASES IN MEAT
In addition to dangerous chemicals, meat often carries diseases from
the animals themselves.  Crammed together in unclean conditions, 
force-fed, and inhumanely treated, animals destined for slaughter 
contract many more diseases than they ordinarily would.  Meat 
inspectors attempt to filter out unacceptable meats, but because of 
pressures from the industry and lack of sufficient time for 
examination, much of what passes is far less wholesome than the meat
purchaser realizes.
USDA report lists carcasses that passed inspection after the 
diseased parts were removed.  Examples included nearly 100,000 cows
with eye cancer and 3,596,302 cases of abscessed liver.  The 
government also permits the sale of chickens with airsacculitis, a
pneumonialike disease that causes pus-laden mucus to collect in the 
lungs.  In order to meet the federal standards, the chicken's chest 
cavities are cleaned out with air-suction guns.  But during this 
process diseased air sacs burst and pus seeps into the meat.
The USDA has even been found to be lax in enforcing its own low 
standards.  In its capacity of overseeing federal regulatory
agencies, the U.S. General Acconting Office cited the USDA for 
failure to correct various violations by slaughterhouses.  Carcasses
contaminated with rodent feces, cockroaches, and rust were found in 
meat-packing companies such as Swift, Armour, and Carnation.  Some
inspectors rationalize the laxity, explaining that if regulations 
were enforced, no meat-packers would remain open for business.
NUTRITION WITHOUT MEAT
Many times the mention of vegetarianism elicits the predictable 
reaction, "What about protein?" To this the vegetarian might reply,
"What about the elephant? And the bull? And the rhinoceros?"  The 
ideas that meat has a monopoly on protein and that large amounts of 
proteins are required for energy and strength are both myths. 
While it is being digested, most protein breaks down into its 
constituent amino acids, which are reconverted and used by the body 
for growth and tissue replacement.  Of these twenty-two amino acids,
all but eight can be synthesized by the body itself, and these eight
"essential amino acids" exist in abundance in nonflesh foods.  Dairy
products, grains, beans, and nuts are all concentrated sources of
protein.  Cheese, peanuts, and lentils, for instance, contain more
protein per ounce than hamburger, pork, or porterhouse steak. A
study by Dr. Fred Stare of Harvard and Dr. Mervyn Hardinge of Loma
Linda University made extensive comparisons between the protein 
intake of vegetarians and flesh eaters.  They concluded that "each
group exceeded twice its requirement for every essential amino acid 
and surpassed this amount by large margins for most of them."
For many Americans, protein makes up more than twenty percent of 
their diet, nearly twice the quantity recommended by the World
Health Organization.  Although inadequate amounts of protein will 
cause loss of strength, excess protein can not utilized by the body;
rather, it is converted into nitrogenous wastes that burden the 
kidneys.  The primary energy source for the body is carbohydrates.
Only as a last resort is the body's protein utilized for energy
production.  Too much protein intake actually reduces the body's 
energy capacity. In a series of comparative endurance tests 
conducted by Dr. Irving Fisher of Yale, vegetarians performed twice
as well as meat-eaters.  By reducing the nonvegetarians' protein
consumption by twenty percent, Dr. Fisher found their efficiency 
increased by thirty-three percent.  Numerous other studies have 
shown that a proper vegetarian diet provides more nutritional energy
than meat.  Furthermore a study by Dr. J. Iotekyo and V. Kipani at 
Brussels University showed that vegetarians were able to perform 
physical tests two to three times longer than meat-eaters before 
exhaustion and were fully recovered from fatigue in one fifth the 
time needed by meat-eaters.