Originally Posted by
jrolland1975
I am repeating for the third time, with consistency slightly tinted with lassitude, that I do not have any quantitative studies to support the claim meat is not unhealthy. I was asking for such studies. All I am saying is that countries that do have high meat consumptions per capita, COMPARATIVELY are also countries that have high life expectancy, COMPARATIVELY. I am also stating the factual observation that life expectancy increased in the past 200 years at the same time as people stopped eating dough and potatoes and started to enjoy hamburgers.
These are facts that do not coincide with the stereotype that vegans live longer.
That stereotype actually originated from one study called The Adventist Health Study, a huge study of Seventh Day Adventists who ate little or no meat and showed longevity increases of 7.28 years in men and 4.42 years in women. These data are confounded by the fact that Seventh Day Adventists follow healthy lifestyles free of tobacco and alcohol.
Most other studies either show no difference or are inconclusive. A fascinating paper recently published in the journal Mechanisms of Aging and Development presents an entirely new theory to explain why vegetarians do not live longer. It turns out that those who avoid eating beef suffer a deficiency of a nutrient (carnosine) that is critical to preventing lethal glycation reactions in the body.
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2006/jan2006_awsi_01.htm
It's clear that you are not looking for objective information about this topic, despite your claims. For one, your language indicates a clear calcification in your position - claims of longevity opposed to your position are referred to as "stereotypes" repeatedly, not in neutral language such as claims, theories, or hypotheses. Furthermore, you demand that people who present such theories meet a vast burden of proof to support their position, including highly sophisticated and nuanced statistical studies, as if the counter position that eating meat is healthy for you is not a claim
of the same kind.
Originally Posted by
jrolland1975
Thanks for finally agreeing: the problem is not eating meat, the problem is overeating, which we all know clog arteries etc.
Or eat at regular hours, fresh food, cooked at home, and consumed while sitting at a table by a group of people who are not in and out during dinner.
Which takes me to my point: there is no indication that vegans live longer,but people with regular balanced eating habits seem to live longer.
Furthermore, as in the case above, you intentionally misrepresent the claims of others to lend "support" to your position, while employing vastly different standards of proof for opposing arguments.
If you want to eat meat because you find it enjoyable, that's fine. If you want to
also do it without any guilt, then, yes, you are going to have to ignore the significant amount of medical and scientific research that goes against that position.