[mlo]

"Humans are biologically adapted to a diet that includes meat. Archeological findings suggest that hominins were butchering animals with stone tools 2.5 million years ago (de Heinzelin et al., 1999 de Heinzelin, J., J. D. Clark, T. White, W. Hart, P. Renne, G. WoldeGabriel, Y. Beyene, and E. Vrba. 1999. Environment and behavior of 2.5-million-year-old bouri hominids. Science 284 (5414):625–9. doi: 10.1126/science.284.5414.625. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ). At some point we lost the ability to absorb vitamin B12 in the large intestine, where it is produced by gut bacteria, making man dependent on dietary sources of the vitamin (Schjønsby, 1989 Schjønsby, H. 1989. Vitamin B12 absorption and malabsorption. Gut 30 (12):1686–91. doi: 10.1136/gut.30.12.1686. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ). Presumably our ancestors were able to survive losing this ability because they were regularly consuming B12-rich meat (Lents, 2018 Lents, N.H. 2018. The evolutionary quirk that made vitamin B12 part of our diet. Discover. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2018/08/13/vitamin-b12-essential/#.XUMXUOgzY2w . [Google Scholar] ). Hominin skeletal remains from 1.5 million years ago show signs of porotic hyperostosis, which is generally linked to B12 deficiency and is virtually absent in chimpanzees who still obtain B12 from gut bacteria (Domínguez-Rodrigo et al., 2012 Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel, Travis Rayne Pickering, Fernando Diez-Martín, Audax Mabulla, Charles Musiba, Gonzalo Trancho, Enrique Baquedano, Henry T. Bunn, Doris Barboni, Manuel Santonja., et al. 2012. Earliest porotic hyperostosis on a 1.5-million-year-old hominin, olduvai gorge, tanzania. PLOS ONE 7 (10):e46414. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046414. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ). This provides some evidence that “by at least the early Pleistocene meat had become so essential to proper hominin functioning that its paucity or lack led to deleterious pathological conditions” (Domínguez-Rodrigo et al., 2012 Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel, Travis Rayne Pickering, Fernando Diez-Martín, Audax Mabulla, Charles Musiba, Gonzalo Trancho, Enrique Baquedano, Henry T. Bunn, Doris Barboni, Manuel Santonja., et al. 2012. Earliest porotic hyperostosis on a 1.5-million-year-old hominin, olduvai gorge, tanzania. PLOS ONE 7 (10):e46414. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046414. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ). Over time our capacity to convert the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), found in plants, to the biologically important eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) forms (found primarily in seafood, but also in meat, eggs, and dairy; Tur et al., 2012 Tur, J. A., M. M. Bibiloni, A. Sureda, and A. Pons. 2012. Dietary sources of omega 3 fatty acids: public health risks and benefits. British Journal of Nutrition 107 (S2):S23–S52. doi: 10.1017/S0007114512001456. [Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar] ) became greatly reduced in comparison to other primates (Stark et al., 2016 Stark, A. H., R. Reifen, and M. A. Crawford. 2016. Past and present insights on alpha-linolenic acid and the omega-3 fatty acid family. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 56 (14):2261–7. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2013.828678 [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ). The shift to energy-dense meat caused our guts, particularly our large intestines, to shrink significantly compared to those of apes. Gut proportions in humans are also adapted to meat eating. Our small intestine (in which most nutrients are extracted) comprises 56% of total gut volume, while the large intestine comprises about 20%—these proportions are reversed in apes (Milton, 2003 Milton, K. 2003. The critical role played by animal source foods in human (Homo) evolution. The Journal of Nutrition 133 (11 Suppl 2):3886S–92S. doi: 10.1093/jn/133.11.3886S. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ). Meat eating, and the concomitant reduction in size of the energy-consuming gut, is believed to have played an essential role in the increase of brain size in the hominin lineage. Because the brain and gut compete for energy, the former was able to increase in size when the latter became smaller (Aiello & Wheeler, 1995 Aiello, L. C., and P. Wheeler. 1995. The expensive-tissue hypothesis: the brain and the digestive system in human and primate evolution. Current Anthropology 36 (2):199–221. doi: 10.1086/204350. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ). Gupta (2016 Gupta, S. 2016. Brain food: clever eating. Nature 531 (7592):S12–S13. doi: 10.1038/531S12a. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] ) expounds: “To build and maintain a more complex brain, our ancestors used ingredients found primarily in meat, including iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and fatty acids. Although plants contain many of the same nutrients, they occur in lower quantities and often in a form that humans cannot readily use.”

[mlo]

I’ll fix that.

[dfwgator]

Most recently, a major report issued by the EAT-Lancet Commission recommended a planetary reference diet mostly based on plants and with no or very low (14 g/d) consumption of red meat.

Who paid for the report?

[Innovative]

No.

Stupid propaganda.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

1) Everything in moderation.
2) The less processed and hormoned the meat the better.

[FtrPilot]

....minimize the intake of red meat for health and environmental reasons.

Environmental reasons? So, eating red meat causes global warming.

A load of hogwash.

[reed13k]

Better half is out traveling starting last week and through end of the month. Have had a single steak (strip or ribeye) and 1 egg every day for a week as an experiment.

I’ve cheated a bit with some veggies and mandarin oranges a couple times and a bit of rye whiskey.

Same routine otherwise. I’ve lost 10 lbs. in a week and a 1/2, I have less feelings of hunger, am sleeping better, and have a bit more energy.

I’m going to keep it going till she gets home and see what happens.

[Tacrolimus1mg]

What many of these activists don’t take into account are people who are advised not to consume the typical protein-laden plants such as beans and soy, plus nuts and seeds. Dialysis patients have to avoid them because they’re loaded with phosphorus that their kidneys cannot filter out, and that dialysis does inadequately.

I was advised to consume a lot of lean meat for protein, because I don’t stomach fish well.

[YogicCowboy]

Plants contain many nutrients that are not as available - if available at all - from animal flesh.

Vitamin C. Scurvy.

There are also many non-nutrient (i.e., having no specifically associated deficiency state) compounds that are nevertheless beneficial - such as soluble and insoluble fiber.

Many of the compounds that promote longevity are strictly phyto-chemicals.

We are - by and large - omnivores, neither strictly carnivorous nor vegetarian.

[Mr Rogers]

“Because much of the world’s population is inadequately nourished and many environmental systems and processes are pushed beyond safe boundaries by food production, a global transformation of the food system is urgently needed.”

Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)31788-4/fulltext

Become a Vegan for Gaia!

Yeah...I’ll get right on it after my cheeseburger.

[thecodont]

Someone I know yelled at me today about eating red meat. This article must have just popped up on this person’s smartphone newsfeed and this is the standard kneejerk reaction to it.

[Yaelle]

Dietary guidelines should read:

What you eat actually becomes your body, determines your mood, immune and other health. Your choices can make a huge difference in your life for the long and short term future. Educate yourself on ingredients and nutrients. Minimize foods that make you feel bad or sick. Study experts from different schools of thought on nutrition and try what works well for you and your family.

[Pollster1]

Normally, I would get a nice, big, juicy steak to celebrate this question, but I’m celebrating with venison instead.

[Cloverfarm]

Interesting! Thanks for posting it (and making it readable.)

I thought it was settled science that humans are omnivores, judging from the shapes of our teeth. Did not know about the gut.

So it’s beef and pork for us. Either home raised or locally raised.

And let’s remember pork is freedom food ... think of the oppressive societies that don’t are terrified of bacon.

[trebb]

Meat is easily digested - vegetable matter ferments....