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Vegetarianism.pdf

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Vegetarianism Date: 2019 From: Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection Publisher: Gale, a Cengage Company Document Type: Topic overview Length: 1,919 words Content Level: (Level 5) Lexile Measure: 1370L

Full Text: Humans are omnivorous, which means they are capable of surviving on a variety of food sources and thrive on a broad-spectrum diet that includes grains, fruits, vegetables, and protein. People who follow a vegetarian diet, in the simplest terms, do not eat meat. However, different cultures and individuals have distinct understandings of what constitutes vegetarianism. Because the definition of a term like "meat" varies across cultures and regions, one person or culture might consider a diet that includes fish to be vegetarian while another person or culture does not.

People choose to become vegetarian for religious, philosophical, economic, environmental, or health-related reasons. In 2014 the Heinrich Böll Foundation estimated that about 375 million people worldwide identified as vegetarian. India has the highest reported rate of vegetarianism with government estimates indicating between 23 and 37 percent of the population is vegetarian. While some religious groups and social reformers in the United States adopted vegetarianism in the nineteenth century, it was not until the 1970s that vegetarianism began to gain popularity among the general population.

According to a 2019 Harris Poll, 4 percent of US adults never eat meat, poultry, seafood, or fish, half of whom also never eat eggs or dairy. Data from Gallup polls is similar and shows that the percentage of Americans who say they are vegetarian has remained stable between 5 and 6 percent since the late 1990s. However, in the Harris poll, 46 percent of US adults indicated that they always or sometimes eat vegetarian meals when they go out to eat, suggesting that many US adults are part-time vegetarians. Vegetarianism and veganism continue to influence the way Americans think about what they eat and have increasingly become part of the conversation surrounding what individuals and families can do to mitigate their carbon footprints. Many meat-eaters are reducing the amount of meat they consume, and restaurants are increasingly offering vegetarian meals and menus. According to a study published in the journal Public Health Nutrition in 2018, two-thirds of US adults had reduced their meat consumption in the previous three years.

Main Ideas As a species, humans are omnivorous, which means they are capable of feeding on a broad spectrum of food sources, including grains, fruits, vegetables, and animal matter. People who do not eat meat are called vegetarians. People choose vegetarian diets for religious, philosophical, economic, environmental, and health-related reasons. As the definition of "meat" varies across different cultures and groups, what constitutes a meat-free diet also varies. Subtypes of vegetarianism include pescatarians, who consume fish but no other meat; pollotarians, who avoid red meat but consume poultry; ovo-vegetarians, who eat eggs; and lacto-vegetarians, who consume dairy. Many meat-eaters in the United States report taking action to reduce their meat consumption. Some have begun advocating flexitarianism, or a primarily vegetarian diet with occasional meat consumption. While there is evidence that a vegetarian diet may be beneficial to a person's health, nutritionists recommend vegetarians take steps to ensure their nutritional needs are met, which may include taking supplements to compensate for certain deficiencies. The meat industry is a major contributor to climate change, leading some to adopt flexitarianism, vegetarianism, or veganism to reduce their carbon footprints. Experts have noted a spike in new food products touting no animal ingredients.

Different Types of Vegetarianism

To most vegetarians, the term "meat" refers to the flesh of any animal. However, some interpret meat to mean the flesh of a mammal, which is commonly called red meat. Those who consume fish and shellfish but no other meat are referred to as pescatarians or pesco-vegetarians, while those who avoid red meat but consume poultry are known as pollotarians or pollo-vegetarians. People who primarily consume a vegetarian diet but occasionally consume meat may identify themselves as flexitarians.

Another division among vegetarians pertains to the consumption of other animal products such as dairy products and eggs. Vegetarians may consume dairy and eggs. Vegetarians who eat eggs are sometimes called ovo-vegetarians while those who eat dairy products are known as lacto-vegetarians. A vegetarian who consumes both eggs and dairy may be referred to as either a lacto- ovo-vegetarian or ovo-lacto-vegetarian. Most Indian vegetarians are lacto-vegetarians, for instance, because they avoid eggs but consume yogurt, cheese, and other dairy products. People who do not eat any animal-derived products—including eggs, milk, dairy products such as cheese and yogurt, and honey—are known as vegans.

Within these established categories, however, there are many gray areas. For example, gelatin—a substance produced from the skin, bones, and tissues of animals—is found in food products as varied as vitamins, yogurt, marshmallows, and margarine. Many people who avoid meat or animal-derived products may consume gelatin, either knowingly or unknowingly. In addition, modern food processing often utilizes animal products in ways that may not be clear to consumers. In one example, McDonald's was sued for their french fry recipe. The suit came about because in 1990 McDonald's restaurants advertised their switch from using beef tallow in the oil for their fries to using pure vegetable oil because of health concerns about saturated fats and cholesterol. However, in 2001 it became widely known that McDonald’s used "natural beef flavoring" on the fries. Several American vegetarians and Hindus sued, claiming that they had been misled into thinking the product was vegetarian. The recipe in some countries (such as India and the United Kingdom) does not contain the nonvegetarian flavoring, but as of 2019, McDonald's USA states they do not promote "any US menu items as vegetarian [or] vegan."

Becoming Vegetarian

Vegetarianism as a conscious lifestyle choice can be traced back to ancient India and ancient Greece. It is likely that some ancient populations engaged in a vegetarian diet simply because meat was not available; however, the examples documented in ancient India and ancient Greece refer specifically to the avoidance of meat as a moral stand against violence toward animals. In India, vegetarianism is closely tied to religious belief. Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism all originated in India and promote vegetarian diets. The term "vegetarian" was not used until the founding of the Vegetarian Society in England in 1847 when vegetarian ideas were beginning to gain more adherents.

Many Europeans and Americans in the nineteenth century considered vegetarianism to be a fringe movement and associated it with radical ideas. However, vegetarianism became more widely accepted in the twentieth century. International cultural icons Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) and Albert Einstein (1879–1955) advocated for the wide adoption of a vegetarian lifestyle. As the animal rights and environmentalist movements gained popularity and health concerns over meat consumption grew in the second half of the twentieth century, Americans reduced the amount of red meat they consumed.

Some scholars have also noted the role of cultural influences like television and film in indirectly advancing these movements. Many books, movies, cartoons, and TV shows aimed at children depict animals as sympathetic creatures with human characteristics. This technique is a type of anthropomorphism, or the attribution of human traits to nonhuman beings or objects. Common in children's media, it has been referred to as the "Bambi Effect" after the popular Disney film. According to this argument, those who hold a more sympathetic view of animals and attribute human feelings and thoughts to them are more likely to follow a vegetarian lifestyle or have misgivings about eating meat.

Many Americans become vegetarians because they believe a vegetarian diet is healthier than a diet that includes meat. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the British Medical Association, and the World Health Organization have all published studies that conclude vegetarian diets provide certain health benefits, based on findings that vegetarians tend to weigh less, have lower cholesterol levels, and face a reduced risk of health problems including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and some kinds of cancer. In 2014 scientists at the University of South Carolina published a study that concluded a vegan diet contributes to faster weight loss and a lower body mass index than a regular vegetarian diet or one that includes meat. While there is evidence that a vegetarian diet could improve a person's health, health-care professionals and nutritionists recommend vegetarians take steps to ensure their diet satisfies all of their nutritional needs. To meet nutritional recommendations, vegetarians may need to supplement their diet to compensate for deficiencies in protein, iron, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, and iodine.

As the global meat industry has been identified as a contributor to climate change, arguments in favor of flexitarianism, vegetarianism, and veganism as ways to reduce individual and group carbon footprints emerged in the 2010s. Food industry experts have noted a marked increase in new food products with "vegan" and "no animal ingredients" labels, including meat alternatives sometimes called alt-proteins. Plant-derived meat alternatives Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger both arrived on the US market in 2019. The same year, the UK nonprofit Veganuary reported record-high participation in its annual challenge to eat plant-based diets during the month of January. Politicians and community leaders also have begun to consider ways to reduce their city or state's meat consumption. For example, New York City, home to the largest school district in the United States, began citywide Meatless Mondays in its public schools in the 2019–2020 school year.

Critical Thinking Questions Would you support your school instituting policies like Meatless Mondays? Why or why not? In your experience, how, if at all, are vegetarians and vegans stereotyped in popular media and culture? In your opinion, what is the most persuasive reason for reducing or eliminating meat from one's diet? Explain your answer.

The Case Against a Vegetarian Diet

Critics of vegetarianism have argued that meat is a necessary part of the human diet and that vegetarians are not really as healthy as they claim. Some of these arguments focus on the difficulty in obtaining certain vitamins and important nutrients in a meat-free diet.

For example, some studies show that vegetarians are more likely to be deficient in iron and vitamin B12 than nonvegetarians. Vegans may be more likely to exhibit calcium deficiencies due to their avoidance of dairy products. Additionally, medical researchers have raised concerns that a meatless diet can contribute to mental health problems. Multiple studies have identified an association between vegetarianism and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and somatic symptom disorders. Nutritionists note, however, that both physical and mental health risks can be reduced with a diet designed to address the limitations of a meatless diet.

Even as the benefits of a vegetarian diet have become increasingly clear to nutrition experts, vegetarians are sometimes still viewed negatively by nonvegetarians. In popular films and television, vegetarians have been depicted as being overly sensitive, joyless, absentminded, or out of touch with reality. A 2014 study by Attila Pohlmann at the University of Hawaii at Manoa found that men frequently use meat consumption to assert their masculinity and to relieve anxiety when they feel their masculinity is threatened. The study concluded that a perceived relationship between meat and masculinity can discourage men from adopting a vegetarian diet. Nonvegetarians may also view vegetarianism as a threat to their lifestyle and fear that vegetarians are trying to force a plant-based diet onto them or restrict what they can eat. A 2019 study published in the journal Sustainability found that the perception of vegans and vegetarians as threatening was highest among men with lower levels of education. This fear is sometimes reflected in law, such as when the US House of Representatives passed an amendment to the 2017 Defense Department appropriations bill to prohibit the exclusion of meat from the military's food service program.

link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3010999016/OVIC?u=txshracd2512&sid=OVIC&xid=bfba7db7. Accessed 4 May 2021. Gale Document Number: GALE|PC3010999016