Re: The True Cost Of Meat

From: Hugh (mightyhugh_at_yahoo.co.uk)
Date: 08/22/04 

Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 22:02:26 +0000 (UTC)

On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 23:55:16 +0100, "pearl" <tea@signguestbook.ie>
wrote:

>>> ATKINS is not the authority. 20,000,000 years of teeth evolution has
>> identified that the diet has changed many times on the road to modern
>> human teeth, which include now both molars and incisors.
>
>'Most "nutritionists" assert that we have definite carnivorous leanings,
>and some have even termed our incisor teeth "fangs" in defense of
>their erroneous position that humans are natural meat-eaters!
...
> The "canine" teeth of humans are short, stout,
>and slightly triangular. They are less pronounced and developed
>than the orangutan's, who rarely kills and eats raw flesh in its natural
>environment. Human canines in no way resemble the long, round,
>slender canines of the true carnivore. ... It would be extremely
>difficult, if not impossible, for humans to eat raw flesh without the
>aid of fork and knife.

Precisely - we use weapons and tools for killing our prey and cutting
it up, not our teeth (and have done throughout our existence as a
species). Plus we usually cook our food as well, which makes it softer
and even easier to chew. So our teeth have to do far less work than
those of most other carnivores, which is why they are smaller.

>> Humans are
>> OMNIVORES, capable of eating a large assortment of foods including
>> meats, vegetables, seeds, berries, fish, grubs, and ice cream.
>
We are not omnivores. Our digestive tract is that of a typical
carnivore, it is much shorter than that of herbivores and is
completely unable to digest cellulose. Herbivores and true omnivores
(such as the rat) have a digesive system that allows fermentative
bacteria to break down cellulose. They derive energy and nutrients
from these fermentative bacteria, which allows them to survive on a
diet of fibrous plant matter alone if need be. We don't have this
capability, which means that most vegetative matter is completely
indigestible for us. It also means that even the limited plant foods
we can eat don't give us all the nutrients we need, people who are
forced to live on vegetarian foods alone without animal protein become
severely malnourished.

Just because we can eat fruit, nuts, and starchy vegetables (after
they've been cooked!) doesn't make us omnivores. Even highly
carnivorous animals such as hyenas and wolves will eat fruit when they
come across it. If we were true omnivores we would be able to digest
ordinary plant materials like grass and tree leaves.