Increasingly, people are adopting alternative diets to improve their health or address ethical concerns. Vegetarianism and veganism are diet choices that attract debate, not only about their implications for health, but also about the associated ethical arguments. Vegetarian and Vegan Diets looks at the current debate on the pros and cons of these elimination diets and gives an overview of the related animal welfare issues.
The information comes from a wide range of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper reports, features, magazine articles and surveys, literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
Vegetarians and Vegans
Vegetarianism, Vegetarian and vegan diets, Going vegetarian, Vegetarian and vegan, What makes a vegetarian?, Vegetarians can cut cancer risk, Questions to think about, Vegetarianism and IQ, Vegetarian nutrition, Red meat, Eat less meat – it’s costing the earth, Meat eaters care but carry on regardless . . ., Brits go wild for game, Happy hunting, We should eat horse meat, says Ramsay, Beastly ingredients – to avoid!, Vegetarian-friendly supermarkets, Scientists measure red meat cancer risks, Red meat linked to breast cancer, Let’s meat up again, Going dairy free, Veganism and the issue of protein, Being vegan – a guide.
Animal Welfare
Animal sentience, Free-range eggs and meat, Ethical shoppers, A humanist discussion of animal welfare, Eat for animal welfare, Freedom food, Animal welfare on organic farms, ‘Only intensive farming’ will feed Britain, Sunny side up for sales of ethically-positioned eggs, The price of eggs.
Key Facts
Glossary
Index
Additional Resources
Acknowledgements
Key Facts
• In the last ten years, the number of vegetarians in the UK has more than doubled; there are currently about four million vegetarians in the UK – 7% of the adult population and 12% of young people. (page 1)
• Provided a vegetarian diet is well balanced, it should provide all of the nutrients needed by the body throughout life. (page 2)
• Serious deficiencies of minerals are not widespread in vegetarian populations. (page 3)
• In a survey conducted on behalf of The Vegetarian Society the majority of people said that they gave up meat and fish because they did not morally approve of killing animals, or because they objected to the ways in which animals are kept, treated and killed for food. (page 5)
• People become vegetarian for three main reasons: health, taste or ethics. (page 8)
• A study published in the International Journal of Obesity confirmed that vegetarians gain less weight than meat-eaters as they grow older. (page 9)
• Intelligent children may be more likely to be vegetar-ian as adults, suggests a University of Southampton-led study published online by the British Medical Journal. (page 10)
• Vegetarianism has been associated with a reduction in several of the established risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD), including more favourable blood lipid profile, lower body mass index and lower blood pressure. (page 11)
• Lean red meat contains a variety of different nutrients, including pro-tein, hearthealthy monounsaturates and omega3 fats, plus a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. (page 12)
• Globally, meat consumption is increasing at a phenomenal rate. In the last 40 years, consumption has grown from 56 to 89 kilos of meat per person, per year in Europe and from 89 to 124 kilos in the US. Forty years ago, the Chinese were eating only 4 kilos of meat pp/pa – that figure has now reached 54 kilos and is still rising. (page 13)
• Whilst in the UK and EU we have made great strides in phasing out some of the worst factory farming systems, globally, factory farming is increasing rapidly to meet the growing demand for meat. In the US, most meat is from highly intensive systems. (page 13)
• A GfK NOP poll commissioned by the Vegetarian Society showed that, despite 95% of respondents saying they were not a vegetarian, only 13% agreed with the statement ‘I don’t really care what happens to farm animals’. (page 14)
• Latest research from MINTEL shows that sales for meat such as venison, pheasant and grouse soared 46% between 2004 and 2006, to reach £57 million last year. (page 15)
• Overall, Waitrose was found to be the most vegetarian and vegan friendly supermarket in Britain owing to its provision of meat-and dairy-free products across the spectrum. (page 20)
• Meat is what dieticians call a ‘complete’ protein. Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese and milk contain all of the eight essential amino acids needed by the body for growth and development. Soya and quinoa, a South American seed, are the only two vegetarian foods that contain a balance of all eight amino acids. (page 21)
• In recent years, there has been an increase in the demand for free-range products by a public that is becoming more aware of both the health and moral implications of eating factory-farmed meat and eggs. (page 29)
• 56 per cent of people in the UK would dump their usual supermarket in search of higher animal welfare products, says a new Eurobarometer survey. (page 31)
• The Freedom Food mark seen on eggs, dairy, meat, poultry and salmon products means the animals involved have been reared, handled, transported and slaughtered to high standards devised and monitored by the RSPCA. (page 34)
• Britain must continue to intensify its farming practices to meet soaring demand for cheap food and prevent shortages, a leading agricultural expert has said. (page 36)
• Consumers bought some 2.04 billion free range, barn and organic eggs last year, up from just 1.64 billion in 2002 – an impressive 24% increase. Sales of free range eggs in particular have really started to boil over, rising some 31% since 2002 alone. (page 37)
• Battery egg production in this country will be illegal by 2012, when a Europewide ban is due to come into force. (page 38)
Vegetarian and Vegan Diets Study Guide
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.50
ISBN: 978 1 86168 425 7
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