Vegetarianism

For plant-eating, non-human animals, see Herbivore.

Vegetarianism is the practice of not consuming meat, with or without the use of other animal derivatives, such as dairy products or eggs. Some people choose to refrain from wearing clothing derived from animals, such as leather and fur. Veganism, in particular, excludes all animal products from diet and attire, whether or not this involves the actual death of an animal (dairy, eggs, honey, down feathers and silk). Vegetarians are found in countries across the world with varied motivations including religious, ethical, environmental, and health concerns.

File:Gnocchi 2 by salsachica.jpg

Gnocchi with mushrooms and tomatoes, a vegetarian dish in the Western world.

Terminology and varieties of vegetarianism

There are many different practices of vegetarianism. The following table lists the diet's name along with the food that the diet permits.

Main Varieties

Foods allowed in the main vegetarian diets

Diet Name	Meat	Fish	Eggs	Dairy
Lacto-ovo vegetarianism	No	No	Yes	Yes
Lacto vegetarianism	No	No	No	Yes
Ovo vegetarianism	No	No	Yes	No
Veganism	No	No	No	No

Other dietary practices often associated with vegetarianism

• Raw food diet practitioners don't eat food heated above 46.7 °C (116 °F).
• Macrobiotic diet is a diet of mostly whole grains and beans.
• Natural Hygiene in its classic form, recommends a diet principally of raw vegan foods.
• Fruitarianism is a diet of only fruit, nuts, seeds, and other plant matter that can be gathered without harming the plant.

Mock Vegetarian Varieties

The following similarly named diets are not considered true vegetarianism:

• Pesco/pollo vegetarianism (semi-vegetarianism, poultratarianism) — These people will only eat some certain of meats depending on the particular diet.
• Flexitarianism — Flexitarians neither want to eat the meat of animals that lived or died in cruel conditions, nor are they fulltime vegetarians. They sometimes will eat meat and other non-dairy animal products.
• Freeganism — Freegans want to only consume things that have been produced without harming any living thing or the environment.

Vegetarian cuisine

Main article: Vegetarian cuisine

In terms of lacto-ovo vegetarianism, this generally means food which excludes ingredients under which an animal must have died, such as meat, meat broth, cheeses that use animal rennet, gelatin (from animal skin and connective tissue), and for the strictest, even some sugars that are whitened with bone char (e.g. cane sugar, but not beet sugar) and alcohol clarified with gelatin or crushed shellfish and sturgeon.

History

Vegetarianism has been common in the Indian subcontinent, since possibly the 2nd millennium BC. Hinduism preaches that it is the ideal diet for spiritual progress and Jainism enjoins all its followers to be vegetarian.

• Vegetarians in Europe used to be called "Pythagoreans", after the philosopher Pythagoras and his followers, who abstained from meat in the 6th century BC. These people followed a vegetarian diet for nutritional and ethical reasons. According to the Roman poet Ovid, Pythagoras said: "As long as Man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."

• In looking for parallels in Jewish and Christian antiquity for these practices, some vegetarians feel a kinship with Nazirite, Essene, and Ebionite practices.

• Gnostics were also primarily vegetarians for spiritual reasons. They believed by eating animals a person would be grounding themselves to this world and their body, which they believed was an evil created by the Demiurge, because they would be consuming divine sparks thus sinning according to their version of God.

• Buddhist monks of the Mahayana school (100CE) have also historically practiced vegetarianism.

• Many Hindu scriptures advocate vegetarian diet. The secular literature of Tirukural (circa. 100-300 AD) advocates vegetarianism.

• In 1847, the first Vegetarian Society invented the term "vegetarian" — from the Latin vegetus "lively", and suggestive of the English word "vegetable" — was a person who refuses to consume flesh of any kind. Vegetarianism in the 19th century was associated with many cultural reform movements, such as temperance and anti-vivisection. Many "new women" feminists at the end of the century were vegetarians.

• Seventh-day Adventists and Rastafarians, denominations founded in the 19th and 20th centuries, are also frequently vegetarian.

• Vegetarian societies (apart from India) were first formed in majority meat eating European countries both as a means to promote the diet and to gather together vegetarians for mutual support. By 2000, most western and developing nations had functioning vegetarian societies. The countries that were first to establish societies are still the ones most likely to have the greatest proportion of vegetarians within their populations.

• The International Vegetarian Union, a union of all the national societies, was founded in 1908.

• In the Western world, the popularity of vegetarianism steadily grew over the 20th century as a result of nutritional, ethical, and more recently, environmental and economic concerns.

• Today, Indian vegetarians, primarily lacto vegetarians, are estimated to make up more than 70% of the world's vegetarians. They make up 20 to 30% of the population in India, while occasional meat-eaters make up another 30%.

• Surveys in the U.S. have found that roughly 1% to 2.8% of adults eat neither meat, poultry, nor fish.

Famous vegetarians

See also: Category:Vegetarians

The list of famous vegetarians is very long and some have changed the course of global history, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Leonardo Da Vinci, and possibly Adolf Hitler, though the latter's distinction as such has never been fully substantiated and remains hotly controversial among vegetarians who want no association with him. See also: Vegetarianism of Adolf Hitler.

Motivation

Religious and spiritual

Main article: Vegetarianism and religion

The majority of the world's vegetarians, according to the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians, follow the practice for religious reasons. Many religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, the Bahá'í Faith, Sikhism, and Jainism teach that ideally life should always be valued and not willfully destroyed for unnecessary human gratification. Denominations that advocate a fully vegetarian diet include the Seventh Day Adventists, the Rastafari movement and the Hare Krishnas.

Spirituality

Some adherents of Eastern religions, such as Mahatma Gandhi, claim that spiritual awareness and experiences are greatly enhanced on a vegetarian diet. In the Western world there are also individuals like James Redfield who, independent from any specific religious beliefs, share the same sentiment. In the West this Spirituality motivation is regarded by many as a New Age reason for being vegetarian. These people believe that vegetarianism helps an individual to explore deeper levels of consciousness, find inner peace and establish a connection with the Divine, through such practices as meditation, yoga or whirling.

Hinduism and Jainism

Hinduism and Jainism hold vegetarianism as the ideal, this is for a variety of reasons based on different beliefs. For many Hindus, it is a textually-advocated belief in ahimsa (nonviolence), to avoid indulgences (as meat was considered an indulgence), and to reduce bad karmic influences. For others (especially within Vaishnavism and the bhakti movements), it is because their chosen deity does not accept offerings of non vegetarian foods, which the follower then accepts as prasad. Generally there is the belief, based on scriptures such as Bhagavad Gita that one's food shapes the personality, mood and mind . Meat is said to promote sloth and ignorance and a mental state known as tamas while a vegetarian diet is considered to promote satvic qualities, calm the mind, and be essential for spiritual progress. They believe that animals have souls and killing animals have karmic repercussions that are bound to be reaped later by oneself. Also, the principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) compels one to refrain from injuring any living creature, physically, mentally or emotionally without good reason. Most of the secular motivations for vegetarianism such as ethical considerations and nutrition apply to Hindu & Jain motivations as well.

If, one observe nature, there are two kind of animals. One who drink water by lips and another by tounge. Animals like horse, cow etc. drink water by lips and these kind of animals do not consume flesh. Humans too drink water by lips and so humans should not consume any king of flesh like their kind horse and cow.

It is believed that taking someone else's belonging without permission is a stealing. Obviously, the prey would never consent to it's life being taken away, so it would be im-moral to kill an animal and eat it's flesh.

Jains are not supposed to consume onions, potatoes, garlic, honey and so many other things. Honey is forbidden as flies vomit the juice of flowers collected by them which makes honey. Potatoes are forbidden to consume as it does not add to body and the body has to take pain to digest potatoes which has no nutrition value. Even efforts to digest product with no nutrition value was considered as wrong.

It is believed that once famine lasted for 7 years and people were moving from place to place for foods. One Rishi (Sage) came in contact of garlic plant and consumed garlic which made him young and developed sexual desire in him, so garlic is catagorised as "Tamsik or Tamas food" and forbidden to be consumed. It is believed that the people who want to sublimate their spiritual life should abstain from use of forbidden food.

Buddhism

Different schools of Buddhism have differing opinions on vegetarianism: Chinese Mahayana Buddhists oppose the consumption of meat, and Chinese Mahayana monks observe vegetarianism. The Mahayana schools of Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism do not consider a vegetarian diet to be essential, nor do Theravadin Buddhists, although Theravadin Buddhists will refuse meat if the animal has been killed specifically for them (see Vegetarianism in Buddhism).

Many practitioners of the Buddha's teachings are vegetarian in order to cultivate the quality of lovingkindness, or metta (Pali word). By choosing to refrain from killing other beings out of compassion for those beings' lives, the heart is inclined toward metta. Cultivation of metta is considered to increase one's own well-being, as well as the well-being of others one comes into contact with.

Christianity

While vegetarianism is not common in Christian thought, some Christian leaders, such as the Reverend Andrew Linzey, have supported the view that Jesus was a vegetarian. A heretical text known as the Gospel of the Ebionites, emphasises that Jesus advocated vegetarianism, abolished the Jewish meat sacrifice system, and never ate meat. In contemporary Christianity, the Seventh Day Adventist Church promotes vegetarianism among its followers (see Christian vegetarianism).

Islam

Islam allows some consumption of meat, this meat is known as "Halal", and this meat is sacrificed by the Islamic standards, and disallowed meat is "Haram", which is non permitted meat or meat not sacrificed due to Islam's standards.

Sikhism

Followers of the Sikh religion are divided in their opinion on whether their religion opposes meat consumption for non-Khalsa Sikhs (non-baptized). Although many non-Khalsa Sikhs eat meat and drink alcohol, the Sikh Scriptures appears to oppose the consumption of both. In the case of meat, the Sikh Gurus have indicated their preference for a simple vegetarian diet. Guru Angad Dev, the second Sikh Guru say in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib the following: "They do not place their feet in sin, but do good deeds and live righteously in Dharma. They burn away the bonds of the world, and eat a simple diet of grain and water." (SGGS page 467). Further, Bhagat Kabir expands on this by saying: "Kabeer, they oppress living beings and kill them, and call it proper. When the Lord calls for their account, what will their condition be? (199)" (SGGS page 1375)

Nutritional

Main article: Vegetarian nutrition

A fruit stall in Barcelona

The American Dietetic Association, the largest organization of nutrition professionals, states on its website "Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals."

Studies show that a vegetarian mother's breast milk has significantly lower levels of pesticide residue than a non-vegetarian's.

Some vegetable protein sources lack in one or more essential amino acids. While everyone should eat a variety of foods to ensure a balanced nutrition, the body's requirement for essential amino acids now appears to be less important than researchers once believed. Vegetarians taken broadly do not suffer malnutrition, and so must receive at least most of the protein and amino acids important to humans from eating a variety of incomplete complementary plant proteins. If ideal nutrition is possible, intake of such foods must be larger since the protein percentages in these foods are comparatively lower than in a similar serving of meat. Attaining sufficient protein intake is rarely a problem in developed countries, and vegetarianism advocates have alleged that possible lower protein intake of vegetarians may cause some of the health benefits below.

A vegetarian diet does not include fish - a major source of Omega 3, though some plant-based sources of it exist such as soy, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, canola oil and, especially, hempseed and flaxseed.

Some suggest that vegetarians have higher rates of deficiencies in those nutrients which are found in high concentrations in meat. However, studies endorsed by the ADA found that this was not the case for either iron or calcium. Vitamin B₁₂ and zinc from vegetarian sources other than dairy products and eggs are not readily absorbed by the body and a vegan diet usually needs supplements. Nonetheless, these nutrients are now commonly supplemented in milks and cereals in the western world, and are not necessarily a problem in a vegetarian diet.

Ethical/Moral

Main article: Ethics of vegetarianism

Many vegetarians consider the production, subsequent slaughtering and consumption of meat or animal products as unethical. Reasons for believing this are varied, and may include a belief in animal rights, or an aversion to inflicting pain or harm on other living creatures. The belief also exists among vegetarians that other lives should not have to end in order for theirs to continue. In developed countries, ethical vegetarianism has become popular particularly after the spread of factory farming, which has reduced the sense of husbandry that used to exist in farming and led to animals being treated as commodities. Many believe that the treatment which animals undergo in the production of meat and animal products obliges them to never eat meat or use animal products, this could perhaps be summed up in the phrase "Not in my name".

It is believed that consciously taking someone else's belonging without consent is stealing and wrong. Since prey do not consent to its life being taken away, so it would be immoral to consciously kill an animal and eat it's flesh. Alastair Norcross, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Rice University, lays out the case for ethical vegetariansm and animal suffering with a clever metaphor of puppies and chocolote in "Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases" .

Even in the West, numerous social justice leaders, such as Cesar Chavez, have adopted a vegan/vegetarian diet in order to communicate an agenda of social harmony and fellowship.

Environmental

Main article: Environmental vegetarianism

Environmental vegetarianism is the belief that the production of meat and animal products at current and likely future levels is environmentally unsustainable. Industrialization has lead to intensive farming practices and diets high in animal protein, primarily in developed nations and mainly the United States. According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) "Most of the world's population today subsists on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets for reasons that are economic, philosophical, religious, cultural, or ecological." Thus, the main protest of environmental vegetarians is primarily of intensive farming in developed nations.

According to the United Nations Population Fund "Each U.S. citizen consumes an average of 260 lb. of meat per year, the world's highest rate. That is about 1.5 times the industrial world average, three times the East Asian average, and 40 times the average in Bangladesh."

All modern, intensive farming practices consume large amounts of fossil fuel and water resources and lead to emissions of harmful gases and chemicals. The habitat for wildlife provided by large industrial monoculture farms is very poor, and modern industrial agriculture is a threat to biodiversity compared with farming practices such as organic farming, permaculture, arable, pastoral, and rainfed agriculture.

Animals fed on grain, and also those which rely on grazing, need far more water than grain crops . According to the USDA growing the crops necessary to feed farmed animals requires nearly half of the United States' water supply and 80% of its agricultural land. Additionally, animals raised for food in the U.S. consume 90% of the soy crop, 80% of the corn crop, and a total of 70% of its grain. . In tracking food animal production from the feed trough to the dinner table, the inefficiencies of meat, milk and egg production range from 4:1 energy input to protein output ratio up to 54:1. The result is that producing animal based food is typically much less efficient than the harvesting of grains, vegetables, legumes, seeds and fruits. This criticism could not be applied to animals that are grazed rather than fed, especially those grazed on land that could not be used for other purposes. However, this type of grazing is becoming less common worldwide, being substituted with intense farming, and in some cases leads to topsoil loss.

Environmental vegetarianism can be compared with economic vegetarianism. An economic vegetarian is someone who practises vegetarianism from either the philosophical viewpoint concerning issues such as public health and curbing world starvation, the belief that the consumption of meat is economically unsound, part of a conscious simple living strategy or just out of necessity. According to the WorldWatch Institute "Massive reductions in meat consumption in industrial nations will ease the health care burden while improving public health; declining livestock herds will take pressure off of rangelands and grainlands, allowing the agricultural resource base to rejuvenate. As populations grow, lowering meat consumption worldwide will allow more efficient use of declining per capita land and water resources, while at the same time making grain more affordable to the world's chronically hungry."

Physiological

There is considerable debate over whether humans are physiologically better suited to a herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore diet. However, the existence of parasites such as Taenia saginata and Taenia solium, which rely on humans as their unique end host and can only be transmitted through eating meat indicates that human beings and their ancestors have consumed meat through important lengths of their evolution (i.e. millions of years).

Some, such as Albert Einstein, regard an evolution to a vegetarian diet as part of our human evolution, with each new generation moving slowly away from the necessity of eating meat. Others study statistical information, such as comparing life expectancy with regional areas and local diets. Examples include looking within countries themselves. For instance, life expectancy is considerably greater in southern France where a semi-vegetarian Mediterranean diet is common (fresh fruit, vegetables, olive oil, goats cheese and fish), than northern France where an omnivore diet is more common (also including pork, beef, butter, cows cheese and cream) . It must be noted that many other influences come into life expectancy, such as clean water, sunshine, pollution, genetics, exercise and lifestyle (alcohol, smoking, stress etc), making it difficult to scientifically prove any correlation between regional diets and life expectancy. These studies assume food is available and no malnutrition, an overriding life expectancy influence in some parts of the world.

Some vegetarian beliefs (such as Hare Krishna) suggest that human beings have evolved to consume vegetable matter rather than meat. The reasons they cite are mainly associated with the differences between predators and plant-eating animals. Predators usually have sharp teeth or claws to tear fresh meat. Dogs, cats or lions are examples, while plant-eating animals (such as horse and deer) have no sharp teeth or claws to tear meat. Humans occupy a middle ground between the two having no claws and mostly blunt teeth (molars) but also a pair of sharp canine teeth designed for tearing which would be useless in a purely herbivorous animal. Plant eating animals like cow, horse drink water by lips unlike lions, dogs, cat who drink water by tounge, humans drink water by lips and so it is considered that humans are vegetarians by nature.

The intestines of predators are relatively short compared with those of plant-eating animals. Since meat is more easily digested than plant matter, the elaborate digestive system found in plant eaters in unnecessary. Herbivores need a much longer intestine to allow sufficient time for the digestion of vegetable fibers.

The way in which predators and plant eating mammals drink is another reason that is suggested. Predators like dogs, cats or lions use their tongue to drink water as digesting meat does not consume as much water compared with digesting vegetables. Plant-eating animals like horses, deer or sheep, suck water as do humans. However, many people fail to see the relevance between the water drinking habit and diet.

According to The Straight Dope, humans have evolved to be omnivores. Human intestinal length is, taken as a ratio, half way between carnivores (such as cats and dogs) and herbivores (such as cows and horses).

Psychological

Many vegetarians choose to be so in part because they find meat and meat products aesthetically unappetizing. Proponents assert that human beings are not instinctively attracted to eating live or dead meat in nature. For example, the carcass of a cow lying in a forest would attract a real carnivore like a wolf or leopard, but would disgust most human beings. The metaphor by Douglas Dunn is that if one gives a young child an apple and a live chicken, the child would instinctively play with the chicken and eat the apple, whereas if a cat was presented with the same choices, its natural impulse would be the opposite. In a similar assertion, Scott Adams once humorously wrote that a human, presented with a live cow, would more likely try to moo at it than attempt to eat its backside.

Moreover, research on the psychology of meat consumption suggests that consumers of meat may need to use defense mechanisms such as psychological numbing to distance themselves from the notion that they are eating animals.

Food safety

Various animal food safety scares over recent years have led people towards semi-vegetarianism or vegetarianism. These scares have included BSE in cows, foot-and-mouth in sheep, PCBs in farmed salmon and high dioxin levels in animal products. For many these dietary changes are only temporary though, returning to their original diets once the health scare has subsided. Temporary changes can also be observed in non-meat consumption due to health issues caused by contaminated fruits and vegetables that have caused illness (while on vacation in a developing country, for example).

Advocates such as Howard Lyman and groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have promoted vegetarianism in response to cases of E.coli infection and BSE, believed to be transmitted to humans through beef. According to various organisations, vCJD is strongly linked with exposure to the BSE agent . However, E.coli can be acquired from any excrement-contaminated food or human commensal bacteria.

Social

Some people are vegetarian because they were raised in a vegetarian household. Others may have become vegetarians because of a vegetarian partner, family member, or friend. Some people live in a predominantly vegetarian society (such as India), and so adopt this practice to avoid ostracism, or for the difficulty of buying meat in such a society.

Medical

Sometimes patients of alternative medicine are advised to adhere to a vegetarian diet as prescribed by the practitioners of such unconventional medical treatments. These patients are either asked to continue such a diet either for the course of the treatment or for longer durations. Ayurveda and Siddha medicine are examples of medical treatments that prescribe such a vegetarian diet. In such cases, the patient either follows vegetarianism for the defined period or sometimes continues long after the treatment is over.

Vegetarian clothing

Vegetarian Chelsea boots

Some vegetarians will choose not to wear leather; however, this can prove difficult in the workplace where it is expected that people wear footwear made of leather. There are specialist suppliers such as Vegetarian Shoes in the UK that supply belts, shoes, safety boots and jackets that share the appearance of leather but are in fact made of synthetic materials. Other retailers that carry non-leather shoes or accessories include Moo Shoes, Pangea, Earth, and Alternative Outfitters. High fashion designer Stella McCartney is famed for her refusal to use leather, fur or other animal products in her range of clothes and accessories and is thus popular with wealthier vegetarians.

Country specific information

Main article: Vegetarianism in specific countries

Labeling used in India to distinguish vegetarian products from non-vegetarian ones.

Around the world vegetarianism is viewed in different lights. In some areas there is cultural and even legal support, where in others the diet is poorly understood or even frowned upon. In many countries food labeling is in place which makes it easier for vegetarians to identify foods compatible with their diets. In India, not only is there food labelling, but many restaurants themselves are marketed and signed as being either "Vegetarian", "Non-Vegetarian" or even "Pure Veg" (ie: Vegan). In other countries, such as Spain, with less of a Vegetarian culture, a request for a vegetarian meal may result in one being served tuna or a vegetable soup made with meat stock.

Criticism

There are three main criticisms of vegetarianism, based on health, environment, and mortality.

Vegetarian diet and longevity

Life expectancy is arguably the most objective and quantifiable measure of health.

In "Mortality in vegetarians and nonvegetarians: detailed findings from a collaborative analysis of 5 prospective studies" , six major studies (three in Britain, one in Germany, one in U.S and one in Italy) of this kind were cross examined. It was found that the mortality ratio was the lowest in fish eaters (0.82) followed by vegetarians (0.84) and occasional meat eaters (0.84) and which was then followed by regular meat eaters (1.0) and vegans (1.0). In "Mortality in British vegetarians" , it was concluded that "British vegetarians have low mortality compared with the general population. Their death rates are similar to those of comparable non-vegetarians, suggesting that much of this benefit may be attributed to non-dietary lifestyle factors such as a low prevalence of smoking and a generally high socio-economic status, or to aspects of the diet other than the avoidance of meat and fish."

A more positive outcome for vegetarians was found in a recent analysis of data from the Adventist Health Study which predicted life expectancy in Seventh-day Adventists following different behaviour patterns. The researchers found that a combination of different lifestyle choices could influence life expectancy by as much as 10 years. Among the lifestyle choices investigated, a vegetarian diet was estimated to confer an extra 1½ to 2 years of life. The researchers concluded that "the life expectancies of California Adventist men and women are higher than those of any other well-described natural population" at 78.5 years for men and 82.3 years for women. The estimated life expectancies of vegetarian California Adventists were 80.2 years for men and 84.8 years for women. Other beneficial lifestyle choices included high nut consumption and a high level of exercise.

Health

It is already long established in science that a number of lifestyle choices such as smoking, exercise and alcohol influence health and longevity. However, scientific studies so far fail to show that the decision to forgo meat contributes independently to people's life expectancy.

Another claim repeatedly made by vegetarian advocacy groups is that vegetarians suffer less from heart problems. Studies which include the above, consistently confirm that vegetarians suffer less mortality from ischemic heart disease. Since there is no evidence that a vegetarian diet causes longer overall life expectancy, one cannot equate decreased mortality rate from ischemic heart disease to overall decrease in mortality or overall health. Moreover, occasional meat eaters also achieve statistically similar mortality rates indicating that this does not relate to the decision to exclude meat completely. Yet, both vegetarian and vegan advocacy groups invariably promote their diet as healthy while claiming that the diet which includes meat and/or fish is inherently unhealthy. Critics argue that these groups are engaging in scientific misrepresentation in direct opposition to public interest by diverting people's attention from already scientifically proven health factors. These include moderate exercise, moderate alcohol intake, not smoking and sufficient intake of fruits and green vegetables.

Some point to research demonstrating a vegetarian diet, or higher phytoestrogen intake, may be linked to genital defects, although stating "The role of maternal nutrition has received little investigation". However the original authors of the research have distanced themselves from those alarmist news reports. An argument is also made that most vegetarians do not have a balanced diet, which has led to nutritional deficiencies and immunity-linked disorders. This is a criticism of vegetarians who follow an unbalanced diet, although a balanced vegetarian diet is possible. There is also concern that on the average, vegetarian children tend to grow and develop more slowly than non-vegetarian children, and vegetarians adults tend to have slightly smaller body sizes than non-vegetarian adults, however, studies have shown that Vegetarian children actuallly attain a a greater height (2.5cm greater for males, and 2.0cm greater than females) while maintaining a lower body weight

A significant advantage that a vegetarian (particular vegan) diet has is that is reduces the intake of cholesterol, which has been linked to several health problems related to heart. Even though cholesterol is also produced in human body, it is also present in meat and dairy products. For people whose bodies naturally produce higher amounts of cholesterol, vegetarian diet may offer means to reduce or completely eliminate external cholesterol intake.

Resources

Some question the assumption that food given to livestock could instead be used to feed humans. In developing countries particularly, such food is usually of poor quality and not fit for human consumption. Cornell scientists have advised that the U.S. could feed 800 million people with grain that livestock eat . However, diverting this grain away from livestock would not resolve the economic causes that prevent starving (poor) people from buying food .

Also, there exist some types of terrain (such as mountains, desert fringes, and regions with very poor soil) that are suitable for grazing animals, but not suitable as farmland. Environmentalists counter that these "marginal lands" should not be used at all, and that grazing livestock on these lands exerts more pressure than they can carry and/or directly competes with native wild animal species which would graze the same land. However, how letting such lands lay fallow for use by species not of use to humans would increase the environment's ability to provide for the dietary needs of humans is not obvious.

Critics also point that many farm animals in the developing world are hardly bred in the standards of factory farming as in the west but eat the by products of an agrarian economy. For instance cattle and small ruminants like sheep goat and chickens in a typical village in most of Asia/Africa and South America graze on the farmland and are seldom fed produce grown exclusively for them. This is cited as an example of least environmental damage and if anything, makes efficient use of cultivation for mutual benefit.

References

• Vegetarian Forums

See also

• Vegetarianism and religion

Recommended Reading

• Animal Ingredients A to Z (1997) by: EG Smith Collective ISBN 1873176597
• Being Vegetarian for Dummies (2001) by: Suzanne Havala ISBN 0764563351
• The Bloodless Revolution: Radical Vegetarians and the Discovery of India (2006) by: Tristram Stuart ISBN 0007128924
• Deep Vegetarianism (1999) by: Michael Allen Fox ISBN 1566397057
• Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth (1998, 2nd edition) by: John Robbins ISBN 0915811812
• Diet for a Small Planet (1991, 4th edition) by: Frances Moore Lappe ISBN 1585421499
• Don't Drink Your Milk!: New Frightening Medical Facts About the World's Most Overrated Nutrient (1997) by: Frank A. Oski ISBN 0945383347
• The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World (2001) by: John Robbins ISBN 1573247022
• Help! My Child Stopped Eating Meat!: An A-Z Guide to Surviving a Conflict in Diets (2004) by: Carol Adams ISBN 0826415830
• Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet (2003) by: Frances Moore Lappe, Anna Lappe ISBN 1585422371
• The Inner Art of Vegetarianism : Spiritual Practices for Body and Soul(2000) by: Carol Adams ISBN 1930051131
• Living Among Meat Eaters: The Vegetarian's Survival Handbook (2003) by: Carol Adams ISBN 0826415539
• The New Becoming Vegetarian: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Vegetarian Diet (2003) by: Vesanto Melina, RD; Brenda Davis, RD ISBN 0470832533
• Vegetarianism: Movement or Moment? (2002) by: Donna Maurer ISBN 156639936X