Are humans designed to eat meat and is there solid evidence to back up that meat is a carcinogen? It plant based eating actually healthier than Paleo?
Humans can digest meat, extract nutrients from meat, and live in great health while consuming meat. Anyone that says humans aren’t designed to eat meat has no business talking about nutrition.
There are moderate to low quality observational studies that have found a correlation with processed red meat and cancer risk. This may be partially explained by the fact that cooking processed red meat at high temperatures can increase the content of carcinogenic and potentially carcinogenic compounds that were added during meat processing. When you look at research on unprocessed red meat or poultry, the link is unclear or non-existent. Importantly, research that finds “links” are not designed to find a “cause”, they’re only meant to find a correlation. Correlation does not equal causation. Further, this type of research is prone to residual confounding.
Plant-based dieting is a very broad spectrum of diets and can still include animal products. They also differ in health outcomes. That said, the healthiest diet to date, according to most research, appears to be the Mediterranean diet. This is a plant-based diet that allows for leans meats and seafood. Research also suggests it’s probably healthier than a vegetarian diet. Vegetarian diets typically reduce HDL (unless vegetarians supplement with algae oil). Low fat diets, which a vegetarian diet can be considered, may also negatively affect triglycerides. Paleo appears to be a healthy way of eating but it lacks quality evidence to make any definitive statements about it. I wouldn’t say paleo is better or worse than plant-based (or vegetarian).
Most important of all, your health is more than what you eat. What you eat is only a fraction of your health.
Yep. Meat is very healthy in small amounts, I would even say essential to some degree. Not processed or factory farmed.
It’s not a carcinogen. But how you cook it and for how long might turn it into such (as with other foods).
First of all, humans aren’t “designed” for anything.
Meat is not a carcinogen anymore than water, soybeans, or air. That’s a bit ridiculous. I’ve never heard of any reputable claim that “meat is a carcinogen.”
Generally yes, plant-based diets are significantly healthier than diets rich in animal foods.
Considering that we’ll never get solid randomized controlled trials on this subject it’s stupid to even debate it. Even if meat was carcinogenic, which it’s not, not all carcinogens are weighted the same in risk. For example, alcohol is a probable carcinogen, but the risk of developing cancer from moderately drinking alcohol is ridiculously low. So someone can drink a glass of red wine for 50 years, every day, and up their percentage points of getting cancer by literally only .000 percentage points at best. More people per capita get cancer now than ever before in developed countries and worldwide our meat consumption is dropping. Colon cancer which was an old person’s disease 20 years ago is now killing 40 and 30-year-olds. So if we’re correlating red meat consumption with colorectal cancer why did the humans 40 years ago eat more red meat but got colon cancer at much older ages?
Are plant based diets healthy? Absolutely. Especially with how good the info is now on youtube and the internet most Americans can eat a plant based diet and lead really healthy lives. Hell if you’re an athlete there’s now great vegan youtube channels that go around protein sources to help you get over that hump as well to build muscle on the diet. The issue with plant based diets, much like Paleo or Keto diets, is that it’s an extreme restriction diet. Meaning if I want a protein source my sources for protein to get equivilent macros to meat or fish are very limited and I 9/10 times have to eat more of that plant based protein compared to the meat. I did a plant based diet and I quit it after 2 weeks. Just wasn’t satiated on the options given and I did not want to eat proccessed meat replacements.
Are plant based diets healthier than Paleo diets? There’s a number of factors at play there. How active are you, what types of meat are you eating, what’s your macros throughout your day, what’s your genetic make up, etc. What’s healthy and what’s not healthy when you’re dealing with a whole foods based diet in any case depends on various factors. If you’re active, you’re eating whole food plant products and good lean meat, getting proper supplementation, and going to the doctor and getting blood work and check ups 2 or 3 times a year then you will be doing better than 90 percent of Americans.
Humans are evolved, not designed, but yes, many people have lived long lives eating meat.
One of the most interesting interviews I’ve seen that relates to this recently was between David Sinclair, a Harvard geneticist, and Lex Fridman, an MIT AI researcher. Lex basically asks what the deal with meat is. David’s answer was surprisingly insightful.
My interpretation of it was that plant-leaning diets tend toward increases longevity while heavy consumption of meats may actually give you better athletic performance/muscle growth in the short term but possibly have long term negative consequences.
This makes sense when you “realize” that evolution doesn’t tend toward longevity. The only purpose all of life shares is reproduction. Our bodies are reproducing machines, not long-living machines. Whatever diet we were eating when we were “eating naturally” wasn’t for living a long time. It was to get us at least to reproductive age. After that it’s time for the body to fall apart. This is what strikes me as funny about paleo.
We also don’t have access to any foods actually around a long time ago, no even your most heirloom of tomato. I think paleo is so successful because we eat so much artificial garbage, and once you cut it out you’re undoubtedly going to be healthier.
I myself am vegan but it’s ridiculous to say chicken and fish are unhealthy.
That’s probably too broad a question to answer meaningfully. There’s a heck of a difference between a diet where a typical day involves bacon and eggs for breakfast, a big mac and fries for lunch, and steak and potatoes for dinner and one that involves some fruit and hard boiled eggs for breakfast, a grilled chicken sandwich with greens for lunch, and salmon on rice for dinner.
Humans evolved as omnivores and benefitted from the high energy and protein content of (particularly cooked) meat. Many people no longer live in situations where being able to get enough energy (calories) is a concern, but meat remains a very convenient way for many people to incorporate protein and a variety of highly bioavailable nutrients into their diets. Excessive meat, particularly red meat, can mean more saturated fats than are healthy for most people and there’s some evidence, although not overwhelming, that processed meats or meats cooked at very high temperatures may have some carcinogenic effects.