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Issue Description
People may choose to exclude animal products from their diets for a variety of reasons, including possible health benefits, personal taste, environmental factors or ethical concerns about animal welfare. What are the effects on health and ethical implications of following a vegetarian diet? This book looks at vegetarian and vegan diets and explores their connection to animal welfare issues.
The information comes from a variety of sources, including government reports and statistics, newspapers and magazine articles, surveys and polls, academic research and literature from charities and lobby groups; articles have been tailored to an 11 to 14 age group. Additionally, at the end of each chapter are two pages of activities relating to the articles and issues raised in that chapter.
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Key Facts
- Provided a vegetarian diet is well balanced, it should provide all of the nutrients needed by the body throughout life. (page 1)
- Globally, meat consumption is increasing at a huge 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 per person, per year – that figure has now reached 54 kilos and is still rising. (page 8)
- Six per cent of the population is totally vegetarian. Britain has the second largest number of vegetarians in Europe after Germany, with the UK vegetarian food market valued at £700 million per annum in 2006. There is also a rising population of vegans, currently estimated to be around 250,000. (page 12)
- 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 15)
- 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 issues around the eating of factory-farmed meat and eggs. (pages 18-19)
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Vegetarians and Vegans
Going vegetarian, Vegetarianism and IQ, Scientists measure red meat cancer risks, We should eat horse meat, says Ramsay, Vegetarian and Vegan, Eat less meat – it's costing the earth, Beastly ingredients – to avoid!, Being vegan – a guide, Vegetarian-friendly supermarkets, Activities.
Chapter Two: Animal Welfare
Ethical shoppers, Animal sentience, Free-range eggs and meat: fooling consumers?, A humanist discussion of animal welfare, Animal welfare on organic farms, Freedom Food, Sunny side up for sales of ethical eggs, Activities.
