Harming Animals Harms Humans, part 1: Health
Animals: Tradition - Philosophy - Religion Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Stephen Kaufman, M.D., Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

Harming Animals Harms Humans, part 1: Health

There are many ways that humanity’s massive, institutionalized assault on nonhumans haunts humanity itself. One way, well-documented by the medical literature, is in terms of human health. Though animal agribusiness interests have rather effectively used their vast resources to convince the public that meat, dairy, and eggs is essential for good health, there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
 
Studies of meat-eating, vegetarian, and vegan Seventh Day Adventists have shown that a plant-based diet confers substantial health benefits. Other studies, such as the China Project, have demonstrated that a plant-based diet is important in prevented many of the chronic diseases that plague the over-nourished West, such as coronary artery disease, stroke, and many common cancers.
 
There is strong anatomic evidence that humans are designed much more like plant-eating animals than meat-eating animals. The theory that humans evolved to hunt has been effectively countered by the book Man the Hunted, which argues that there is good evidence (though by no means proof) that humans evolved their distinctive mental and physical properties to avoid being eaten.
 
Whether or not humans are designed to be vegan, we are certainly poorly adapted to the typical Western diet, which is heavily laden with animal products. Fortunately, today we have many plant-based foods and nutrients that meet all our nutritional needs, including vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids. No matter what we do, we are mortal creatures, but we can make early disability and death a remote possibility if simply choose a diet more closely aligned with what our bodies were created to consume.
 
Some references:

Go on to: Harming Animals Harms Humans, part 2: Hunger
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