A person’s diet is directly correlated to health benefits or health disadvantages. There have been many studies that explain the incidence of certain health risks when compared with factors such as smoking, marriage, children, and whether one is working or not. There are four main diets: meat-eater, fish-eater, vegetarian and vegan.
A meat-eater is someone who eats anything with no restrictions. A fish-eater is a person that does not eat meat but do eat fish and animal bi-products, such as dairy and eggs. Vegetarians do not eat fish nor meat but do consume animal bi-products.Vegans do not eat any fish, meat, or animal bi-products. Each diet has its own benefits and disadvantages; some may be a little more expensive while others are a bit more fattening. From the gathered information, it seems that a meat-eater diet is the worst to follow out of the 4.
Although there are a few upsides to a meat-eaters diet, they are easily replaceable through supplements or increased consumption of other foods. One benefit is that a meat-eater has the highest intake of zinc, which is essential to the immune system and cell metabolism.By eating nuts, beans, dairy products, lentils and seeds, especially pumpkin seeds, zinc can be easily replaced within the body. A second benefit would be that they have the highest intake of vitamin A, which is a critical vitamin necessary for vision and the maintenance of certain organs by controlling cell growth. Some ways to increase a deficiency of vitamin A in the body would be to eat more fruits and vegetables, dairy products, eggs, and the oils in fish. A third benefit of a meat-eater diet is that it has the percent energy from protein.
By increasing your intake of certain sea animals, like cod or oysters, eggs, milk, peanut butter and cheddar cheese, there should be more than enough energy available through protein. A fourth benefit is that it has the highest intake of percent energy from fat. Although all fat is not good for the body, such as saturated fats which this diet also consumes the most of, some are. A way to combat this deficiency would be to eat and drink more dairy products. All in all, though a meat-eater diet may have some advantages, they are easily replaceable through the intake of other foods.According to one study performed by EPIC-Oxford, diet can be directly related to obesity.
The article, titled “Weight gain over 5 years in 21966 meat-eating, fish-eating, vegetarian, and vegan men and women in EPIC-Oxford,” discussed a study in which a person’s BMI, body mass index, was higher in meat-eaters than in any of the other diet groups. BMI was also the smallest in the diet groups where people converted to eating less meat than they originally did during the baseline testing. However, it was found that as people grew older, they gained weight regardless of their diet.On average for a person, 35-49 years in age, gained 460g/yr in men and 470g/yr in women. When converted, this is only about 1 pound. Although many studies have been done, it is difficult to determine which diet is best.
Vegans gained the least amount of weight, and also had the smallest amount of energy intake from protein while the meat-eaters had the highest. In the end the study showed that the lowest weight gain was found in the group that had the highest intake of carbohydrates but the lowest intake of protein.Different diets can also affect the incidence of certain health issues in a person. Some examples would be blood pressure, hypertension and a few different types of cancers.
The article “Hypertension and blood pressure among meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans in EPIC-Oxford,” it was discovered that those who eat either no meat or few animal products are less likely to suffer from a stroke or a coronary heart disease. Blood pressure is directly correlated to an increased risk of having a stroke or getting a coronary heart disease.Also blood pressure increase as a person’s BMI increases, which is more likely to occur with a greater consumption of animal products. These two health issues also reflect back onto weight gain, discussed in the previous article entitled “Weight gain over 5 years in 21966 meat-eating, fish-eating, vegetarian, and vegan men and women in EPIC-Oxford.
” The types of cancers discussed in the article “Cancer incidence in British vegetarians” were stomach, ovarian, bladder, and lymphatic and haematopoietic tissues.There were three subgroups for the lymphatic and haematopoietic tissue cancers, they were leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma. For these subgroups, the results show that the data was insignificant for leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma while the incidence rate for multiple myeloma was significant. Overall the results showed that a person with a vegetarian diet would have a miniscule chance of acquiring any of the lymphatic or haematopoietic tissue cancers.
Also for the three other cancers, the data shows that by following a fish-eater or vegetarian diet, the incidence of disease is usually lower than those who follow a meat-eater diet. These two articles, “Cancer incidence in British vegetarians” and “Hypertension and blood pressure among meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans in EPIC-Oxford” indicate that vegetarian diets, or diets that include small amounts of animal products, are better for human health.A third article, titled “Effect of intestinal microfloras from vegetarians and meat eaters on the genotoxicity of 2-amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-? ]quinolone, a carcinogenic heterocyclic amine” relates to the two previous articles because they all agree that diets excluding meat are better for you and there is a smaller risk of getting one of the many previously listed diseases. This article described a scientific study that was performed to show that meat-eaters have an increase in intestinal microfloras which cause DNA-damage in liver and colon cells, leading to the development of tumors.
The article stated that those who follow a vegetarian diets are protected from certain health risks brought on by the microfloras. A final article that takes meat eating in a slightly different direction would be “Thinking the unthinkable: Alzheimer’s, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and Mad Cow disease: the age-related reemergence of virulent, foodborne, bovine tuberculosis or losing your mind for the sake of a shake or burger. ” This article is about the reemergence of Mad Cow disease as well as the human Mad Cow disease strain called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).The first diagnosis of BSE, bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a strain that attacks people under 50 it is also known as Alzheimer’s disease variant CJD (vCJD), was in the early 1980s.
This specific cow, number 131 from a farm in the United Kingdom, contracted M. bovis and ended up infecting an estimation of 1 million cows worldwide. Humans can get the disease by eating beef and consuming dairy products. The reason consuming milk and milk products could pass on the disease is because there is no way that milk can be 100% pasteurized.On average, a dairy cow filters out 10,000 quarts of blood through her udder, and in each quart of milk sold in the US there is about 322 million dead white blood cells.
There was also another incident where a blood donor passed on the disease unknowingly to another person through a blood transfusion, which is now why the American Red Cross will not accept blood from donors who have spent more than three months in the United Kingdom. In conclusion, the risk of getting Alzheimer’s is three times more likely in meat-eaters that it is in vegetarians.All in all, it seems that a meat-eater diet is the worst out of all 4. Although most of these articles are based on facts and studies in the United Kingdom, they still apply in the United States because the cultures are not all that different.
The studies showed that by not eating meat you are at less of a risk of getting certain diseases or health conditions. Also the few benefits that do come from a meat-eater diet are easily supplemented with other foods. Therefore, the consumption of meat and meat products is often overlooked and does not provide any substantive value to your health.
