Last month we compared the claims made by the evolutionists vs the Bible truths regarding the origin of man and his diet. This month we will delve more deeply into the reasons why a vegan diet is the one most suitable for mankind. Was the human body ever designed to eat meat, even along the evolutionary track?
All animals, including humans can be classified in relation to the diet that they consume. The three classifications include carnivores, omnivores and herbivores. Carnivores must consume a meat-based diet to supply their nutritional needs; herbivores survive on a diet strictly based on a variety of plant foods, excluding all animal products, including what we would consider “dairy”; omnivores have the capability to obtain their nutrition from a combination of meat and plants. These classifications identify the diet that is required to provide the nutritional needs of each type of animal. Even strict carnivores sometimes ingest plant-based foods, however their nutritional requirements would not be met if they were to avoid meat altogether.
The current diet of humans would suggest that we are omnivores, because most people exist on a diet which contains a combination of plants and meat. However, this diet classification does not take into consideration whether man is a true omnivore (meaning he is designed to be an omnivore) or whether humans are labelled as omnivores as a dietary choice rather than a need. The definition of omnivore does not require that an omnivorous animal be perfectly suited to that method of nourishment. This classification is the most flexible of the three, as these animals consume both plants and meats, in varying combinations.
Examples in nature of omnivores show that such animals do not develop omnivorous adaptations to more precisely meet all their nutritional requirements, but to adapt to eating a diet based on the food that is available; in other words, omnivores are opportunistic feeders, making do with what is available. In defining an omnivore, it does not require that the omnivorous animal be perfectly suited to a specific combination of meat and plants, but it is an indication of the ability to obtain the required nutrients from both sources.
When people say that humans are omnivorous, they confuse adaptation with physiological need. Feeding patterns do not always indicate the most suitable diet. But, because we are able to obtain nutrition from animal protein, some conclude that humans need a certain amount of meat a day to provide for complete nutrition. We are only considered omnivores because we can obtain our nutrition from both plants and animal foods. However, most traditional human societies eat a diet made up mostly of plant foods. The important decisions about what to eat and when to eat it should therefore be based on the nutritional costs and benefits of obtaining that food compared to the essential nutrients that the food provides. But, does that make an omnivorous diet the most healthy one for man?
The science of nutrition and dietary requirements is based on dietary needs versus food choices throughout the history of mankind. In determining the best diet for mankind, the questions that need to be asked are, do humans have the physiological necessity for meat? Do humans require the nutrients provided by a combination of meat and plants to survive and be healthy? This can be answered simply with a strong “no”, even by people who are not in the field of nutrition, as many people live and thrive on a plant-based diet. And those who live on a strictly plant-based diet are in fact healthier than those who consume meat as part of their diet. Therefore, humans—as opposed to, for example, cats which cannot survive on a plant-based diet—have no need for meat to provide a nutritionally balanced diet. The human’s consumption of meat classifies them as an omnivore; however, from a biological point of view, humans can derive all their needed nutrition from the consumption of strictly plants, which would classify man as a natural herbivore.
IDENTIFYING HUMAN DIET CLASSIFICATION BASED ON STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM:
Let us look how humans are built, in order to determine what diet man was designed to consume. In comparing the digestive system of carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores we find significant differences all along the gastro-intestinal (digestive) tract. Starting with dentition, all animals have the same types of teeth (incisors, canines, pre-molars, molars), however between classifications, their size, shape and number vary.
Carnivores have powerful jaws to bite and hold prey. Their front teeth (incisors) are short, pointed, and prong-like for grasping and shredding meat. Their teeth are widely spaced to avoid trapping stringy debris. They have long, sharp, pointed canine teeth, with the ability to stab, tear into meat, and to kill their prey. Carnivores eat their food whole, so there no need for chewing. Therefore, they have very few molars, and the ones they have are triangular with jagged edges to shear meat. The jaw moves up and down to quickly bite and swallow.
The incisors of herbivores are flat and spade-like, to provide for a cropping, biting mechanism. They have small or non-existent canine teeth. The molars are flat surfaced, and strong. This allows for biting, crushing, grinding and extensive chewing of food. The jaw moves side-to-side and back-to-front with the aid of the tongue and cheek muscles, to allow food to be moved around the mouth to be chewed and broken down into smaller pieces before being swallowed.
Omnivores have a combination of long, sharp, pointed front teeth for tearing meat, plus flat molars to chew plant food. They also have a jaw that moves up and down, with minimal sideways motion.
In humans, the incisors are broad, flattened, and spade-shaped. Some claim that because we have a set of canine teeth, or “fangs” is an indication of a need for meat in our diet. But, our canine teeth are not large enough to pierce or stab animal food. The canine teeth are short and blunted. If we compare our diet to that of a chimpanzee, which has almost an identical tooth structure to humans, however with larger canine teeth, their diet is 95% plant-based. There, the fact that humans have a small set of canine teeth does not indicate the need for a meat-based diet. Molars are flattened with nodular cusps, for extensive chewing. Humans favour a similar tooth shape and pattern to herbivores.
A carnivore’s jaw moves up and down, with minimal sideways motion, as is with omnivores. This action provides for the ability rip and tear at flesh and swallow it whole. Man’s jaw, as with other herbivores cannot shear food, but have good side to side and back to front motion. These structure is useful for extensive chewing, crushing and grinding of grains and other high fiber foods. Raw meat is difficult to break down using the jaw action of humans unless it is denatured in some way, as through cooking.
The saliva content in the mouths of carnivores, omnivores and herbivores differ. The saliva of both carnivores and omnivores do not contain any digestive enzymes. When these animals eat, they gorge themselves rapidly and do not chew their food. Protein-digesting enzymes cannot be present in the mouth due to the danger of the enzymes damaging the mouth. Carnivores do not need to mix their food with saliva; they simply bite off huge chunks of meat and swallow them whole. Even though omnivores can obtain nutrition from plants, they are identical to carnivores in that digestion starts in the stomach, no digestion of food takes place in the mouth.
However, with herbivores and with humans, the saliva contains digestive enzymes that are designed to start breaking down carbohydrates (plant foods) before the food passes into the stomach. Because plant cellulose is difficult to break down, digestion needs to begin before
it gets to the stomach. This digestion is also aided by the length of time that food stays in the mouth during the chewing action. Often when people eat too quickly, and swallow their food before it has been broken down into the state the stomach requires, the saliva in the mouth does not have time to start digesting the food, and symptoms of indigestion occur.
Carnivores, omnivores, and humans have similar stomachs types, although the size differs. Carnivore’s and omnivore’s stomach capacity equals 60-70% of the entire digestive tract because they have shorter intestines. Herbivore’s stomach capacity equals less than 30%, with human’s stomach capacity equalling 21-27% of the total volume of the digestive tract. In terms of relative size, humans are aligned with herbivores much more than with carnivores and omnivores. The only difference is with ruminants of the herbivore family, who have multiple stomachs in order to digest tough grasses.
Before we move along the digestive tract to the stomach, let us review quickly the terms acid, alkaline, and pH. Almost all liquids are either acids or alkaline (base). Whether a liquid is an acid or base depends on the type of ions in it. If it contains a lot of hydrogen ions, then it is an acid. If it has a lot of hydroxide ions, then it is a base. pH (potential for hydrogen) is a unit of measure for determining if a liquid is acidic or basic (alkaline). Something that is neither acidic nor basic is referred to as neutral. Water is considered neutral, with a pH of 7. Any liquid with a pH below 7 is an acid, and anything above is a base. The lower the number, the more acidic the liquid.
In the stomach, digestion occurs through a combination of digestive enzymes (pepsin/amylase) and hydrochloric acid, making up the gastric juice. The gastric juice in the stomach requires different levels of acidity to break down different types of foods. Animal protein requires very high acidity to produce the enzyme, pepsin, needed for digestion to occur. The pH must be close to 1. Carbohydrates require a pH between 4–5 to produce the enzyme, amylase, for digestion. Amylase is destroyed in a too acidic environment, which then stops carbohydrate digestion. To create the acidic environment needed for digestion and to trigger production of digestive enzymes, the stomach produces varying amounts of hydrochloric acid to adjust the pH to the necessary value.
In carnivores and omnivores the stomach acidity (pH) reaches less than or equal to 1, with food in the stomach. This low pH is reached by producing large amounts of hydrochloric acid, necessary to produce the enzyme, pepsin, to digest animal protein. The high acidity also kills any pathogens in the food that may harm the animal: bacteria, toxins, worms, salmonella. Plant-based foods require a more alkaline stomach environment in order to be digested, therefore the pH of herbivores is between 4–5 pH.
Humans typically can reach a lower stomach pH than herbivores, because they also consume animal protein. When humans consume animal proteins, the stomach acids can reach to a level of 2 pH, still higher than true carnivores. However there is a price to pay. Having to increase the hydrochloric acid content of the human stomach to digest animal protein damages the lining of the stomach and esophagus, leading to ulcers, heartburn, and indigestion. Researchers suggest that man’s long-term consumption of animal foods has lowered the average pH of the human stomach to prevent being infected by pathogens that can kill. But because the pH of the human stomach is incapable of reaching the same values as carnivores, humans are much more susceptible to bacteria, parasites, salmonella poisoning, and worms from their food. In fact, eating raw meat would bring on various disease states. Therefore, what does man do with his food? He prepares it in a way that will generally kill these pathogens, usually by cooking the meat. Would a true omnivore or carnivore require meat to be cooked in order to eat it safely? Of course not. Many raw meats that humans consume, such as sushi, must be prepared very carefully, but still outbreaks of parasites occur. Also, animal proteins are not as completely digested in the less than ideal acidic environment of the human stomach, and pass through the stomach into the intestines, partially digested.
The problem also with human digestion of meat occurs when man eats his typical meal which consists of some kind of animal protein, mixed with vegetables or other carbohydrates, like bread, pasta, etc. In order for humans to digest the meat, the stomach reacts by producing large amounts of hydrochloric acid to reduce the pH to 2. However, the problem is that the enzyme to digest carbohydrates is destroyed at these levels of pH, therefore meat and carbohydrates cannot be effectively digested together. The result is indigestion. Carbohydrates remain undigested in the stomach. Fermentation, gas and bloating occur. And since this fermentation of carbohydrates will inhibit the digestion of the protein, more gas, bloating and discomfort will be produced. True omnivores do not typically consume both meat and carbohydrates in the same meal, so their stomach acids adjust to either animal or plant food digestion. How can our stomachs, which need both pepsin and amylase to effectively break down a diet that contains a combination of carbohydrates and meats, each of which requires drastically different levels of hydrochloric acid to be produced, actually function to do both at the same time? It cannot.
Next let us examine the liver of carnivores and omnivores vs herbivores. A byproduct of animal protein digestion—a process by which the body breaks down protein into the amino acids that our body can use—is a substance called uric acid. Uric acid is also toxic to the body, and must be metabolized by the liver and then flushed out by the kidneys. The liver of carnivores and omnivores have the ability to process ten times as much uric acid as the liver of a man or herbivore. If the liver cannot process the amount of uric acid produced by the consumption of animal protein, it can cause problems such as gout and kidney stones.
As we go further down the digestion system, the small intestine of carnivores and omnivores is approximately six times the length of its trunk. This is designed for rapid absorption of food that will rot if it is not digested quickly. Humans and herbivores have small intestines 10–12 times the length of their trunk, winding back and forth. This is designed to keep the food in the small intestine for long periods of time, so that all the valuable nutrients from the food can be extracted and absorbed. However, when meat is consumed, it will also sit in the small intestine for the same length of time, which can cause the food to rot and putrefy.
Traveling to the large intestine, the length of a carnivore’s and omnivore’s large intestine is relatively short and simple, like a pipe. The lining of the large intestine is relatively smooth, and the length of the intestine runs fairly straight. This ensures that the fatty wastes, high in cholesterol can easily be eliminated before they start to putrefy. Human’s and herbivore’s large intestines are puckered and pouched, traveling in three different directions, designed to hold wastes from foods that are high in water content. Rhythmic contractions move the wastes through the colon. This setup assists in removing the fluids, salts and some vitamins from the waste products of digestion, and returning them back to the body. Fiber, provided by a plant diet helps to move the food through the intestines, to prevent constipation, and also balances gut flora to protect from bad bacteria. Substances that are high in fat and cholesterol that have been putrefying from their long trip in the small intestine now get stuck in the pockets that line the large intestine. Studies clearly show that colon and stomach cancers are as a result of man’s diet, which consists of large amounts of animal protein, saturated fats, sugars, and cholesterol.
As we move through the various parts of the digestive system, we are able to conclude that, overall man’s digestive system is most closely aligned to the digestive system of herbivores, proof that man was designed to consume only plant foods. Despite man’s ability to derive nutrients from animal products, unlike true omnivores which consume both animal and plant proteins, man cannot eat animal protein in its natural form without disease and death as a result, thus contradicting the evolution theory. Scientific research has proven that many of the diseases that plague mankind are due to the food choices one makes. When comparing a vegan, plant-based diet to that of a meat-eater, the benefits to man’s health of a vegan diet greatly outweigh the risks of a meat-based diet.