This page contains:
Introduction
Diet and Health
--- Protein
--- Fats
--- Carbohydrates
--- Vitamins and Minerals
Diet and Disease
--- Children
--- Vascular Diseases
--- Cancer
--- Diabetes
--- Other Chronic Conditions
--- Infectious Diseases
Diet and World Hunger
--- Role of Animal Agriculture
--- Future Outlook
Diet and the Environment
--- Land
--- Water
--- Air
Diet and Animals
--- Cows and Calves
--- Pigs
--- Chickens and Turkeys
--- Transport and Slaughter
--- Wildlife
Conclusion & More Info

**************************************************************************************
Introduction

The biggest problems confronting America and the rest of our planet are disease, hunger, environmental devastation, and death. Every one of these traces its roots more or less directly to animal agriculture. Although most people are motivated by health concerns, it is important to realize that dietary choices have much broader implications for planetary survival.

Heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases kill 1.4 million Americans annually. Infectious diseases also referred to as food poisoning, sicken millions and kill thousands. A dozen panels of experts have associated the former with the consumption of animal fat and meat. The latter are propagated by E. coli, Salmonella, and other pathogens that thrive primarily on meat, egg, and dairy products.

Hunger afflicts more than a billion people worldwide and kills 24,000 per day, mostly children. A major factor is the waste of foodstuffs fed to animals raised for food, rather than to starving people. This was first documented in Frances Moore Lappe's 1972 classic Diet for a Small Planet and was reaffirmed at the 2002 World Food Summit in Rome. For more information on the connections between hunger and animal agriculture, visit the Global Hunger Alliance.

Most wars are fought over control of natural resources: land, water, oil, and minerals. Yet, animal agriculture is by far the largest user and despoiler of natural resources.
In addition, animal agriculture directly kills annually nearly 50 billion animals worldwide, after subjecting them to the cruelties of factory farming. It also kills uncounted numbers of wildlife on land and in the seas.

Yet, these issues are not discussed in our nation's schools or universities, and they are barely discussed by national decision-makers. Nutrition education has been largely relinquished to the very meat and dairy industries that create these problems, and we are left to consume the harmful products of these industries. The responsibility for this tragedy must be shared by individuals, Congress, USDA, and of course, the meat, egg, and dairy industries.

*************************************************************************************
Diet and Health

Consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes is crucial to good health. These foods supply essential nutrients, fiber, antioxidants, and phytonutrients, which reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. Plant-based foods contain little saturated fat, pesticides or pathogens, and no cholesterol, hormones, antibiotics, or heavy metals. There is evidence that children and adults who consume wholesome plant-based meals enjoy more energy and improved intellectual performance.

Conversely, meat and dairy products come laden with saturated fats, cholesterol, hormones, pathogens, and antibiotics. They lack carbohydrates and fiber and most vitamins and minerals, all essential to good health.

Protein

Protein provides the body with essential amino acids and assists in the manufacture of tissue cells, antibodies, and enzymes. It also helps maintain the proper acid-alkali balance, immune protection, and transmission of nerve impulses.

Protein is found in many plant foods, particularly legumes, grains, seeds, nuts, and vegetables. In the US, common legumes are soybeans (including tofu and soymilk), garbanzo beans, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, peas, and lentils. Common grains are rice, wheat, and corn. Legumes and grains are also good sources of complex carbohydrates.

The meat industry has raised some alarm by suggesting that protein from plant sources may not be as 'complete' as that from animal sources. Fortunately, any essential amino acids that may be missing in grains are available in legumes or vegetables and vice-versa. Our liver stores and redistributes the essential amino acids where they are needed. This is precisely how the animals raised for food get their 'complete' proteins.

Likewise many people are concerned about getting enough protein. This concern is misplaced as most Americans consume an excessive amount of protein, which stresses the kidneys and is stored as fat. The average protein RDA (recommended daily allowance) for an adult male is 63 grams and 50 grams for an adult female, but the average consumption for an Americans is 103 grams, of which 70 grams comes from animal sources.

Fats

Some fats are essential to good health, while others contribute to obesity, heart disease and certain types of cancer. The official government recommendation from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is that only 30% of our daily calories should be derived from fat and no more than 10% from saturated fat. Other health experts recommend even lower limits.

The four key types of fats are:
1. Monounsaturated
2. Polyunsaturated
3. Hydrogenated
4. Saturated

Monounsaturated fats are found in olive, canola, peanut, almond, avocado, and sunflower oils. They appear to reduce blood levels of LDL, or 'bad' cholesterol.

Polyunsaturated fats are found in corn, soybean, safflower, and flax oils. They lower total blood cholesterol levels including HDL, or 'good' cholesterol. However, they contain high levels of the essential omega-3 fatty acid.

Hydrogenated fats, also known as trans-fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fats that have been processed into a solid form, as in margarine and shortening. These fats elevate 'bad' cholesterol and lower 'good' cholesterol. Moreover, the hydrogenation process causes molecular damage that has been linked to elevated cancer risk.

Saturated fats are found primarily in meat and dairy products, but also a few plant foods like avocados, coconuts, and vegetable shortening. The body stores excess proteins and carbohydrates are as saturated fats. The liver uses saturated fats to manufacture the body's natural supply of cholesterol. Excessive dietary intake of saturated fats raises the blood cholesterol level, and places increased stress on the liver.

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the main source of blood glucose, which fuels the body's cells, and is the only source of energy for the brain and red blood cells. The Dietary Guidelines recommend that 60% of total daily calories come from carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are found almost exclusively in plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes.

Complex carbohydrates, found in vegetables, legumes, and grains, provide a sustained source of glucose. The dietary fiber in complex carbohydrates cleans the digestive tract and ties up cholesterol-producing compounds, reducing the risk of colon cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Simple carbohydrates, in fruits, are transformed into glucose more rapidly. Refined grains and sugars, contained in most processed foods and soft drinks, produce spikes in the blood glucose level, requiring excessive release of insulin - a possible precursor to hypoglycemia and diabetes.

Vitamins and Minerals

Plant foods are the only sources of all the vitamins (except for B12) and minerals essential for good health. The only vitamins and minerals claimed for meat products are the B complex, iron, and zinc, which are widely available in plant foods. Iron is particularly plentiful in legumes, green vegetables, and dried fruit. Its absorption rate improves in the presence of Vitamin C, in dried fruits. Zinc is available in legumes, corn, nuts, and seeds.

Though dairy products are widely touted as a source of calcium, they can actually contribute to osteoporosis. The calcium in dairy products comes with the high price of saturated fats, hormones, and antibiotics. Moreover, the excessive protein content of dairy products leaches calcium from the bones. Milk is for infants. There is no need for adults to consume the milk of cows, goats or any other animal. Indeed, most adults worldwide are lactose intolerant (unable to digest the lactose sugar in dairy products). Green leafy vegetables provide ample calcium, offer a calcium absorption rate nearly double that of dairy products, and do not leach calcium from the bones.

*************************************************************************************
Diet and Disease

Children

Across the country, meals are dominated by animal products and are laden with saturated fat, cholesterol, excess protein, hormones, drugs, and salt. These are diets that defy the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and promote bacterial infections, diabetes, several forms of cancer, and other chronic diseases that cripple and kill nearly 1.4 million Americans annually. These diets are particularly damaging for children who are still growing and whose early dietary habits become lifelong addictions.

Consider the following:

Vascular Diseases

Vascular diseases, including heart diseases and stroke, are caused by blockage of the arteries that supply oxygenated blood to the body's vital organs. The blockages are caused by a build-up of fatty plaque along the artery walls. This condition is called atherosclerosis. Total blockage of an artery leading to a portion of the heart or the brain brings on a heart attack or stroke. Nearly 860,000 Americans die each year of vascular diseases.

Diets laden with saturated fat, cholesterol, and salt are the key factors in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Cholesterol is the key component of the fatty plaques. Saturated fats raise blood cholesterol level more than any other factor. Salt consumption promotes water retention and blood volume, leading to hypertension, which contributes to the incidence of heart disease and stroke, as well as to rupture of blood vessels.

All animal foods contain cholesterol, but no plant foods do. In fact, antioxidants and folic acid in plant foods protect arteries from plaque formation. Plant foods are also naturally low in saturated fats and salt, and the potassium in plant foods reduces hypertension.

Cancer

Cancer is actually a variety of diseases that occur when the cells grow out of control, spread through the body, and interfere with the function of a vital organ. Cancers of the lung, breast, prostate, and the digestive tract have all been linked with a diet high in animal foods. Nearly 260,000 Americans die of these types of cancer each year.

Consumption of animal fats raises blood testosterone and estrogen levels that promote prostate and breast cancers, respectively. Carcinogenic pesticides spread on animal feedcrops accumulate in animals' fatty tissues. In the digestive tract, animal fats interact with bile acids to release carcinogens. All animal fats heated to high temperatures, as in deep-fried foods, also form carcinogens. Nitrites in hot dogs and other 'cured' meat products are known carcinogens. The Insulin Growth Factor (IGF) in dairy products promotes malignant cell growth.

Conversely, plant foods contain fiber, which helps prevent cancer of the digestive tract by speeding food transit before formation of the carcinogens and reduces the risk of breast cancer, perhaps by lowering estrogen level. Plants also contain antioxidants and flavones that impede formation of cancer cells.

Diabetes

Animal fat in the bloodstream blocks insulin from playing its vital role. The cells of our body feed on glucose that is escorted by insulin. This causes adult-onset or Type II diabetes. The incidence of this disease has been growing among both adults and children because of their faulty diet. In some children, cow's milk generates antibodies that destroy the pancreatic cells that produce insulin, leading to Type I diabetes. Diabetes is a serious disease, which causes shortness of breath, vomiting, dehydration, and eventually contributes to heart and kidney diseases. Diabetes kills nearly 70,000 Americans each year.

Other Chronic Conditions

Kidney stones and other kidney diseases are typically associated with excessive consumption of meat, dairy, and other proteins that these organs convert into fat and waste products. Kidney diseases kill nearly 40,000 Americans each year.

Dairy products are responsible for a number of serious digestive and allergic reactions. Nearly 50 million Americans, including 75% of African Americans and 90% of Asian Americans suffer from severe cramps caused by lactose intolerance. Common allergic reactions include asthma, skin rashes, and ear infections.

Infectious Diseases

Pathogens that thrive in animal foods are the primary causes of infectious diseases, commonly referred to as food poisoning. The biggest culprits are Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria monocytogenes. These diseases cause several days of misery and occasional deaths. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that 9 million cases occur annually, though most are not reported.

All meat and poultry products are required to carry warning labels because the USDA has been unable to vouch for their safety. In 2002, following repeated incidents of school food poisoning, the Department decided to irradiate meat destined for the school lunch program. Meat products also contain antibiotic residues, which build up resistance in pathogens, and render antibiotics less effective in treating infectious diseases.

*************************************************************************************
Diet and World Hunger

Worldwide, nearly a billion people suffer from chronic hunger. 24,000 people per day or 8.8 million per year die from hunger or related causes. Three-fourths are children under five. Chronic hunger causes stunted growth, poor vision, listlessness, and susceptibility to disease.

Global malnutrition is largely the consequence of inequitable distribution and waste of food resources. Only 10% of hunger deaths are attributed to catastrophic events like famine or war. Hunger is a complex problem, but huge amounts of waste occur because of non-sustainable practices related to animal agriculture, such as depletion of cultivable land, topsoil, water, energy, and minerals, and the extremely inefficient process of converting plants-based foods into animal-based foods. More information is available from the Global Hunger Alliance.

Role of Animal Agriculture

A meat-based diet requires 10-20 times as much land as a plant-based diet. Nearly half of the world's grains and soybeans are fed to animals, resulting in a huge waste of food calories. The extent of waste is such that even a 10% drop in US meat consumption would make sufficient food available to feed the world's starving millions.

Moreover, animal agriculture has been devastating the world's agricultural land. The process begins with clear-cutting of forests to create cattle pastures. Eventually, the pastures are plowed under and used to grow animal feedcrops. Depletion of topsoil and minerals begins soon after the trees are cut down and escalates with tilling. Without the plant growth to hold it in place, topsoil, laden with minerals, fertilizer, and organic debris, is carried by the runoff of rain and melting snow into nearby streams. The insatiable demand for animal feedcrops leads to the use of sloping land with greater runoff and arid land requiring irrigation. Irrigation accounts for more than 80% of all water available for human use, leading to widespread water shortages.

Future Outlook

Western agribusiness interests, faced with saturated markets and increasingly stringent environmental regulations at home, seek to export factory farming practices and to expand the demand for their products in developing countries.

This expansion of the meat industry brings a number of disastrous consequences. It would exacerbate the mal-distribution and waste of food resources. The resulting drawdown of grain supplies would precipitate major famines. The public health impacts would impose an intolerable economic burden. The impacts on soil, water, and wildlife would threaten fragile ecosystems.

The sustainable cultivation of plant foods favored by developing countries offers a safe, nutritious, and affordable solution to hunger and malnutrition. Fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes can be grown in most climates and on small plots of land. Such crops require minimal investment in equipment, fertilizers, pesticides, water, and energy, and they cause negligible soil degradation and water pollution.

 

**************************************************************************************
Diet and the Environment

Animal agriculture is more devastating to our natural environment than all other human activities combined. This devastation impacts land, water, air, and wildlife.

Land

Animal agriculture has been turning lush forests and prairies into barren deserts since the dawn of human history. The process begins with clear-cutting of forests to create pastures for cattle and other ruminants. This is a major loss, because trees provide wildlife habitats, keep topsoil in place, replenish groundwater aquifers, absorb carbon dioxide, and stabilize climate.

As the pastures become overgrazed, they are plowed under and turned into animal feed croplands. With little or no plant growth to hold it in place, topsoil is carried by rain and melting snow into streams and lakes, and its productive capacity is lost forever. This process is accelerated by the use of marginal sloping lands to meet the insatiable demand for animal feed.

Water

The rain and melting snow that runs off animal feed croplands and factory farms dumps more pollution into our lakes, streams, and estuaries than all other human activities combined.

The cropland runoff contains soil particles, salts, organic debris, fertilizer, and pesticides. Soil particles smother fish eggs and bottom dwelling organisms and block stream flow. Salts, primarily sodium and potassium chloride, raise the salinity of the water, rendering it unsuitable for certain organisms. Organic debris feeds microorganisms that deplete the water's oxygen supply and kill the fish. Fertilizers spur algal blooms that smother or actually attack aquatic organisms. Pesticides kill all living organisms.

Animals raised for food in the US produce 130 times the amount of waste that people do. This waste, containing pathogens and hormones, is stored in huge open cesspools, euphemistically called 'lagoons. 'Eventually, this waste winds up in the nearest waterway, killing aquatic organisms directly or through formation of algal blooms. Waste from mid-Atlantic pig and poultry factory farms has destroyed fisheries along the Eastern seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the waste leaks into the ground, poisoning vital groundwater supplies.

Animal agriculture's insatiable demand for land presses into service arid lands that require irrigation. Irrigation now accounts for more than 80% of all water available for use in the US and leads to critical water shortages, particularly in the Western states.

Air

Wind erosion from animal croplands is the largest source of airborne particles, which irritate respiratory passages and make them more susceptible to respiratory infections. Factory farms produce a stench that poses a major nuisance (and possibly hazard) to neighbors for miles around. Methane emitted by cattle and carbon dioxide generated by the power plants that operate factory farms are major contributors to global warming.

*************************************************************************************
Diet and Animals

Each year, ten billion cows, pigs, sheep, and other innocent, sentient animals are caged, crowded, deprived, drugged, mutilated, and manhandled in US factory farms. They are then hauled to the slaughterhouse and slaughtered under atrocious conditions. Ten percent never make it to the slaughterhouse, dying from stress-induced diseases or injuries.

Cows & Calves

Beef cattle are typically enclosed in feedlots, which pack tens of thousands of animals per unit. Cows have no protection from rain or snow, freezing wind, or searing heat. They are castrated, dehorned, and branded with no anesthesia or surgical training.

Dairy cows spend their entire lives chained to metal poles on concrete floors inside dark barns. They are allowed limited movement twice a day, when they are herded into 'milking parlors' and hooked up to milk machines. Many cows are injected with bovine growth hormone to boost milk production to unnaturally high levels, causing infectious udder diseases and additional stress to the animals.

Dairy cows are kept perpetually pregnant. Calves are torn from their mothers at birth and chained by the neck in tiny, filthy wood crates to keep their flesh soft. They are fed a liquid formula that is deficient in iron and fiber to keep their flesh pale. These conditions breed diarrhea, respiratory disease, and anemia. The calves are deprived of natural food, fresh air, and their mothers' love. After 16 weeks, they are dragged to slaughter and served as veal.

Pigs

Breeding sows suffer a similar fate. They are kept constantly impregnated in tiny metal 'gestation stalls,' until they are ready to give birth. Then they are immobilized further in 'farrowing pens,' where they give birth and nurse their litter of 10-12 piglets. The natural nursing period of 12 weeks is cut to 2-4 weeks, so that the sows can be impregnated again. After 3-4 years, their exhausted bodies are sold for slaughter.

Over 20 percent of the prematurely weaned piglets die of stress and disease. They are the lucky ones. Those who survive are tagged and castrated without anesthesia, then placed in stacked wire cages euphemistically called 'nurseries.' Instead of mother's milk, they are force-fed a synthetic formula. When the pigs are able to eat solid food, they are transferred to large, crowded pens. Here they are fed for six months until slaughter.

Chickens and Turkeys

300 million turkeys and 9 billion chickens are slaughtered for human consumption each year in the US. These birds represent over 95% of all land animals slaughtered for food. They are crowded into large, dimly lit sheds that hold as many as 10,000 birds. Because they are bred to gain weight quickly, many birds are crippled by their own weight and unable to walk. They are then unable to get to food and water or to defend themselves from the other birds who trample them on the way to the feeding station. Over time, the building fills with the poisonous stench of hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and methane. After seven weeks, the animals are crammed into wood cages for transport to slaughter.

Chickens bred for egg production undergo a sex selection at birth. The males are dumped into plastic bags, left to suffocate slowly, and ground up for chicken feed. The females are debeaked with a hot iron to prevent stress-induced cannibalism. They are crammed 5-7 birds into 20x24" 'battery cages,' stacked on top of one another. They must stand on a sloping wire mesh floor, which cuts their feet, while the wire mesh walls tear out their feathers. The birds are alternately starved or overfed to manipulate egg production.

Transport and Slaughter

Animals are hauled to slaughter for many hours without food, water, or rest, while exposed to extreme temperatures. Many die in transit, and those too sick or injured to walk are dragged with chains to the kill floor.

Consumers have no clue about the cruelty they subsidize. At the slaughterhouse, some of the animals are skinned, dismembered, or drowned in boiling water while still conscious. They are then cut into smaller pieces, wrapped in cellophane, and presented at the supermarket counter.

Wildlife

In addition to the ten billion animals killed by animal agriculture each year for human consumption, hundreds of thousands of prairie dogs, coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, bears, bison, and other wild animals are shot, maimed, poisoned, and burned alive by farmers and government agents to keep them from interfering with agricultural operations. Tens of millions of starlings and blackbirds are poisoned each year to keep them from eating animal feed.

An even greater threat to wildlife is posed by the destruction of their habitats. Animal agriculture turns hundreds of acres of forest, wetlands, and other habitats into grazing and croplands to feed farm animals.

*************************************************************************************
Conclusion & More Info

Every day, several times a day, we make dietary choices that directly affect our health, the health (hunger) of others, the environment, and of course animal suffering. Individually and combined these issues are overwhelming, but changing our food choices to wholesome and compassionate plant-based foods is the best way to help ourselves while helping others.

For detailed information on any of these topics and more, visit our Resources page. For more extensive research materials, visit FARM's Information Archives.