The landscape of food and how we have consumed it has undergone incredible changes for centuries. Throughout history, owning livestock and being able to feed it to your family was a sign of wealth and prosperity. If you had guests over, being able to feed them meat, bread and olive oil indicated that you truly cared about their wellbeing.
Across the ages, these traditions and signs have not changed much. Throughout the U.S.’ most prominent metropolitan areas, one can find five-star steakhouses and meat buffets regarded as top-tier when it comes to dining. Being served a filet mignon or fresh meat cutlet is equivalent to being served as a king or queen.
We all like to make justifications about our food, as this helps us enjoy our food more deeply and understand why we consume it. People from all kinds of backgrounds, including scientists, cooks and students, have posited that human tooth and jaw design is geared towards consuming meat.
One of the most common arguments made for humans to eat meat is that we have canine teeth. While we do have canine teeth, human canines are nothing compared to the canine teeth exhibited by carnivores. Human canines are blunt and wider; carnivorous canines are often inches or more in length.
However, this does not mean that all creatures with canine teeth strictly eat meat. Some of the largest canines in the world belong to herbivorous animals. White-lipped peccaries, gorillas and hippopotamuses all have fearsome canines, and the largest in the world actually belong to hippos. Their canine teeth have been known to grow up to 18 inches, but play no role in how hippos gather food.
The hippopotamus diet consists almost entirely of grass and roots; their sizeable canines are only used for territorial disputes or self-protection. The same goes for gorillas, which feed on leaves, stems, shoots, pith and roots. Depending on the type of gorilla and the region they are in, they may feed on ants.
Canine Comparison
Hippos and gorillas both have molars to grind up and chew the food they collect, in order for their stomachs to process the food. The human jaw and tooth structure virtually mirrors that of gorillas and other primates. The chart below provides illustration.
Primates and humans both have small mouth openings, blunt canines, flattened incisors and flattened, thick molars. Incisors allow the creature to cut into or peel off part of a fruit or vegetable, and then gradually break it into smaller parts with molars. Molars are teeth that can mash and grind a tough or complex food and, with the help of saliva, form the food into a bolus that is swallowed.
Carnivores have strong hydrochloric acid in their stomachs that facilitates digestion of meat, fur and bones. This is a large part of what allows felines to simply attack their prey and start eating once the kill is made. Human stomachs contain gastric acid to break down food. Gastric acid is composed of potassium chloride, sodium chloride and hydrochloric acid that is 20 times weaker than that of carnivores. This means the natural digestive abilities of humans depends on the foods we select.
Physiological Breakdown
In light of the aforementioned facts, human intestines are about nine times one’s body length, and it typically takes 12 to 18 hours for a human to completely digest a meal. In contrast, a carnivore’s (feline’s) intestine is generally 1.5 to three times its body length, and it only takes two to four hours for a full meal to digest in its stomach. This allows meat that is rapidly decaying to pass out of the body as swiftly as possible.
Beyond this, the types of defense mechanisms and food-gathering components of a creature’s body also play into their food type. Carnivores have sharp claws on their paws or hands, and humans do not. We have flattened nails that are most conducive to handling fruits and vegetables and picking foods from trees or stems.
All of these facts taken together point to an unmistakable conclusion: humans are physically built to consume and receive optimal benefit from vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. This fact is reflected in human teeth, jaws, stomachs and nails. The similarities between herbivorous and frugivorous animals and humans are too many to overlook. One easy way to consider it is that the abundance of plant-based eating does not have to be confined to special situations.
Do you have a question that we did not cover in this post? Have some data you want us to see? Drop us a comment below.
Paulo says
Thank you very much for the excellent article, Brad!
i believe humans have started eating meat due to the harsh conditions of the glacial eras, but our bodies are not at all adapted and we soon get sick and die from the consequences of an “omnivorous” diet.
Brad Johnson says
Thanks, Paulo!
Ben Pickens says
This is the dumbest article I have ever read. Humans are omnivores, which means we eat both meat and plants. It boggles my mind to think about how you can completely miss something so obvious. Our canines AND INCISORS are meant to cut, pull apart, and chew meat. If you don’t believe me, go try to find a suitable use for these teeth. Our morels are meant for crushing and grinding up plants. Humans were designed to eat plants, AND MEAT. Get over it. There is a reason vegans and vegetarians need to have vitamin supplements to stay healthy/alive. Our bodies literally cannot survive without meat. The same cannot be said for plants.
Jack55555 says
So many fallacies in this article. Especially the table, you only compare the things that suit your argument well, pretty much like those iphone vs samsung charts online. Who says that we need claws to be carnivore? Natural selection doesnt work that way. It doesnt matter what tool you have, yes, most carnivores have claws, but a big brain is a better weapon to hunt. Our brains are superior to claws. Can a big cat kill a mammoth with his claws? We had no trouble killing mammoths with the hunting tools we crafted because of our big brains.
I agree that we are no carnivores, but we have evolved in such a way that we are excellent hunters. We can run hard, we lost our body hair because we started chasing prey on the savannah. Humans are simply omnivores, we are built to gather AND hunt, and we are very good at both of them.
Brad Johnson says
Hi Jack,
Yes, humans have more complex brains than other creatures, but we do not have “inborn” claws or bodily features that innately enable us to kill prey. We are frugivorous herbivores, meaning the human body type, features and internal processes are heavily inclined towards consuming plant matter and fruit. What’s more, study after study and years of real-life experience have shown humans benefit the greatest from plant- and fruit-centered diets.
The point is, we “can” eat meat, but there is no reason for us to. What’s more, the evidence is mounting each day, showing that factory farming is destructive for animals, our environment, and us.
Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: vegetarian diets. – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12826028
Factory farming now accounts for more than 99 percent of all farmed animals raised and slaughtered in the United States. (Virtually all seafood comes to us by way of industrial fishing or factory fish farms.) – https://farmforward.com/ending-factory-farming/
The Triple Whopper Environmental Impact of Global Meat Production – http://science.time.com/2013/12/16/the-triple-whopper-environmental-impact-of-global-meat-production/
Brandon says
The environmental impact of the meat industry is irrelevant to a discussion about evolutionary biology and whether or not humans are ominvores.
Suffice it to say, evolutionary biology disagrees with you: we are. If that science changes, I’ll be the first to nod.
I will then continue to be an omnivore, but hey, I’ll nod.
raghav says
Hey, the chart is false – the reason is because it excludes other features of the human body which points out that we are omnivores while taking in herbivore features
1. Tongue : our tongue can taste “meat” – there is Umami taste bud on the human tongue that is the most strongest of the taste bud
2. Our stomach has Concentrated HCL Acid – as opposed to mild form of the acid which this table points out
3. We do not have multiple stomachs – like a herbivore
4. Vitamin B12 in purest form is gotten through meat or animal products only
5. Appendix: to digest plants is non functional
Holly New says
Vitamin B12 is acquired through the soil- which is why it’s found in animal products. It’s scarcely found now anyways because animals, especially cows, are corn fed and no longer eat grass with b12 in it.
Brad Johnson says
Hi Raghav,
Please check out these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmXynDLkbXY
Cecile Alexander says
You believe what you want to believe, even if the evidence says otherwise. the physiology of meat eating animals is very different than ours. We have almost 20ft of convoluted intestines to break the cellulose of plants, and this alone is a deadly reason for meat eating. This slow process in the intestines have toxic implications. Toxins filter thru the intestinal wall to the blood stream. Carnivorous animals are the opposite: short, smooth intestines. This is just one very obvious reason, but there are others in our physiology, to stop eating all kinds of meat, and many reasons to the vegetarian/fruitarian diet as it is a “live” not “dead” protein source..
Brad Johnson says
Hi Brandon,
Please check out this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmXynDLkbXY
H.T says
We have inhanced physical attributes. Strength is an amazing tool to kill. Apes use it in the wild to hunt and kill smaller prey.
Brad Johnson says
Hi H.T.,
Please check out this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4xaqhuWkvQ
Bijoy says
I disagree with the claim that human beings are herbivorous or “frugivorous”. The human being is an extremely complex organism and we are still not sure how we are related to the other animals existing in this planet. Scientists still have only a theory/hypothesis about a missing link between humans and apes. Our evolution has been significantly influenced by our ability to survive in adverse conditions by using tools and not by natural selection. We do not have fur, but we can survive in Antarctica. We cannot run fast, but can travel at the speed of sound. Our eyes do not have enough rods to see in dim light, but we can see everything in pitch darkness. Comparing our physiology with other animals is pointless. We are a unique creature, which in some ways is totally out of this world. We are neither herbivorous or frugivorous or carnivorous or omnivorous. Our digestive system may be best designed to digest steamed/boiled food. Man realized that he is better off eating things after cooking long before he understood the science of cooking. Proteins are one of the biggest requirements in human diet and can come from any source – fruits, vegetables, plant shoots, eggs, fish, meat, insects (oh yes). I can understand that being a vegetarian is more acceptable in many ways, but physiology is not the way to substantiate that. Why not only look at the cruelty towards these hapless beings as a good reason to stop killing them?
Brad Johnson says
Hi Bijoy,
Please check out these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmXynDLkbXY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgmfRUwqGy4
Karen Medcoff says
what amazes me is how ill informed you are of the FACTS about animal behavior. HIPPOS AND GORILLAS do IN FACT eat meat. How you figure they don’t is beyond me. YOu can’t turn FACT to fiction just to fit your narrative. I agree factory farming is horrible. if everyone would choose to buy humanely raised products, the world would be in a better place. but not everyone can afford it, and not everyone has access to it. like organic foods, not everyone can afford it and not everyone can get to a farmers market. but that still doesn’t mean that we are fruitarians or vegetarians y ANY means. You probably believe chickens are herbivores. LOLOL the ignorance of people never ceases to astound me.
Brad Johnson says
Hi Karen,
Please check out these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgmfRUwqGy4
Karen Medcoff says
repeating the same tired rhetoric and videos will not advance your cause.
Debra Corda says
Agreed. Every time I read a comment, I wanted to see his response, and it was…”Watch this video.” No, I don’t want to watch a video. Put it in your own words.
Deepak gautam says
sir’ how to increase teeth canine advise for human please
Zeta says
Some of the largest canines are on herbivores and omnivores, so the whole small canines argument really has no place here
Al Latkolik says
*sigh*, this will probably fall on def or dumb ears but I will try to explain it anyways….
Hippos and Gorillas have been seen eating meat not because it is part of their diets, or because they are predators, but rather because of reasons humans such as yourself either can’t understand or refuse to, they eat meat because other sources of food have become scarce, largely due to either environmental reasons (drought for one) or because of humans taking their land and/or resources (there are plenty of examples of humans cannibalizing other humans when food sources were scarce/non existent as well), primates will,on the rarest of occasions, eat meat as a celebration for victory defending their territory/food sources from other primates (again, plenty of examples can be found of humans displaying the same behavior).
If you know factory farming is horrible then why support it? Also, if you are going to tell someone not to try and turn fiction into fact than perhaps you should do research yourself first?
1. There is no such thing as “humanely grown products”, for one the fact you call a living creature “products” alone is disturbing but to add to it the fact you think taking the life of that same living creature is somehow humane shows more of a psychotic brain then it does an understanding of the term “humane”.
2. “Not everyone can afford it.”, sure they can, you just refuse to try (or again, can’t understand?). People spend WAY more on processed and refrigerated meats than they do on fruits and veggies.. The fact you ignore that animals are FED far MORE of the same plants that we could be eating ourselves and yet somehow believe the food we are feeding them is somehow more expensive boggles the mind.
3. “Like organic foods”, you do not need to eat organic foods if you choose not to, and it really has NOTHING to do with the subject at hand, organic foods only refer to growing foods without pesticides, plenty of non-organic alternatives out there that are plenty affordable and are consumed every day by billions of people, just remember to wash it properly first (but I have a feeling you actually knew that already).
4. “Not everyone has access to it”, what backwards third-world country do you live in? Unless you are Inuit living in the frozen tundra of the Canadian North everyone has access to a grocery store (and they have stores with fruit and veggies as well, smh), farmers market, and the ability to grow their own food in a garden outdoors and indoors.
5. “You probably think chickens are herbivores”, BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…. you;re so funny, well that argument just puts everything into perspective doesn’t it? Let’s not only ignore just how stupid a comment that was, and how it shows a lack of maturity as well,, but let’s also ignore the fact that chickens are nowhere near the same as humans such as primates and/or pigs as our DNA shows. If you want to compare yourself to a chicken though, by all means by my guest,, if you want to leave comments on the web displaying your stupidity and immaturity, by all means be my guest, but please try to at least open your mind for a single moment in your life and learn something.
Refusing to watch a video and demanding he answer you “in his own words”?? Why?? Are you that special that he has to answer the 2 of you personally despite the fact he’s probably had to deal with idiots like you before and is tired of repeating the same FACTS over and over again? Do you have so little time that you can’t watch a video but seem to have plenty enough to waste it reading articles you know you will disagree with and leaving idiotic comments when you could have been spending that time either watching the video or educating yourselves? Is watching the video going to harm you in some way? or cost you money?
“The same tired rhetoric”, so now he’s supposed to come up with something new just to appease you? Did you tell your math teacher the same thing? your science teacher? did you tell your Geography teacher you demand he draw up a new map of the world just for YOU?? Get off your high horse and learn something and stop thinking you are witty or smart, because you’re not. It is not rhetoric when it is true, it doesn’t change because facts don’t change.
I think you said it best though Karen “LOLOL the ignorance of people never ceases to astound me.”
Anonymous says
Wow, you’re a cunt.
The Rock says
Social justice warrior, to the rescue. People like you need to be assassinated. You need to understand that in posting comments like that, ridiculing others for being dumb or “on their high horse”, simply for stating an opinion… Not only do you like like a cunt, but an argumentative dumb cunt. I hope you’re somehow offended by me over the Internet and respond in some triggered fury; people like you are very fun to get going :))
Lisa says
Good on u :)
Misha Oberly says
Most Of answer are either the same video posted over and over and over again.
And the rest are videos that aren’t available or were removed, meaning that they were probably garbage videos to begin with.
Hamdan says
According to this Gorilla’s can eat meat too
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100305-first-proof-gorillas-eat-monkeys-mammals-feces-dna/
Al Latkolik says
Did you even read the article? It says nothing about Gorillas eating meat but rather that they “may” scavenge for it (something that is common, even in humans, when a food source is scarce) but probably ingest it along with the ants they eat.
YOHAMI ZERPA says
Biased.
Brad Johnson says
Hi Yohami,
Aren’t we all? Carnists will defend meat and vegans will defend herbivorism.
Please check out these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgmfRUwqGy4
Al Latkolik says
“Biased”, perhaps, but is it untrue? BIG difference there don’t you think?
I have read plenty of “biased” articles by people who love their meat, love to be cruel to animals (literally, no joke), and love to hunt that had zero facts to base their ‘beliefs’ on.
I even read this article with an open mind, looking for areas where I could call him out on, but it’s hard to argue with anything he has said at all. Biased or not.
And one would think that once you have educated yourself to all the facts that we would all become “biased” to the truth, no? The alternative is an unbiased ignorance and/or stupidity.
Laquan says
Where are the sources for these tables? They could all be fabricated.
Mura says
Look it up, much of the information on the tables is wrong.
Lewis says
Hi,
Just a quick question regarding this whole matter. Why is that most of my friends who turned vegan started experiencing severe malnutrition symptoms? (Expanded tummy, hair loss etc). They were all under the assumption that the foods they were consuming were high enough in protein to sustain themselves, yet years later most of them have stared showing these symptoms. Some have even been diagnosed as severely deficient in many vital nutrients such as Vitamin B12. Don’t get me wrong, for the first few years they looked like they were thriving. All there vitals were good and they had stared loosing excess weight, but then after a few years on a high carb vegan diet they stared becoming ill. Surely they can’t all be doing it wrong, can they?
Karen Medcoff says
because there are some very essential vitamins and amino acids we CANNOT get from plant matter. vegans refuse to see this though. which is why every vegan I know is on nutritional supplements.
Al Latkolik says
Gorillas get it from eating insects that have scavenged dead animals.
And before you say something dumb like “see, see, they have to eat the meat for the Gorillas to get the nutrients”
Let me first ask you if you eat Insects? Do you eat rats? (they are both plentiful, and FREE, seeing as you have a concern about accessibility and affordability) Have you tried or do you just choose not to? Do you eat the flesh off of a dead human (tastes the same as pigs and chickens and contains the same nutrients you argue so vehemently for), or have you been programmed from a very young age to think cannibalism is bad? and to have a taste for the rotting flesh of a pig, cow, chicken? as well as been lied to into believing the milk of a cow is good for you, despite studies showing it is not and despite the fact it’s meant for a growing calf to raise it’s weight by hundreds of pounds in the shortest amount of time possible?
Kay Star says
I’ve been vegan for ten years and I have a flat stomach and my hair actually became thicker after switching to a vegan diet. My husband too, he was balding and his hair became thicker once he became vegan. Our blood work is also excellent and all we do is take a small B12 supplement everyday (something that is suggested for omnivores to do as well). Maybe your friends weren’t eating enough whole foods, but those symptoms definitely do not apply to all vegans.
Misha Oberly says
B12 comes from animal products. If you take a B12 supplement that means you are eating animal products because B12 is harvested from animals
Amram Kahn says
This article is misleading. Humans are omnivores, yes we have the same type of teeth as the Great Apes. The Great Apes are omnivores, they eat animals. Lets look at Gorillas, they may not hunt or eat red meat, but they eat insects (animals) as part of their diet. Now lets look at the our closed relative the Chimpanzees, they are known to hunt other monkeys and eat there flash. Meat is a small part of their diet. I do agree that Humans eat far too much meat and should eat more vegetables and fruits.
Now the stomach acid, we would die if we had a resting stomach pH of 4-5. We actually have a resting stomach pH of 2-3 your chart is a lie this is based on full stomach in humans, and the herbivores is actually 7-8 when their stomach is full. Because E-coli would grow in our stomach in a pH 4 or great, leading to increased toxins in our body for the liver to process.
Please understand I am not against vegetarianism or veganism. This is a personal choice.
If you take an Eskimo who have been eating whale and seal meats for many generation thousands of years and then make them eat a vegan diet, they would become sick. Now if you would take someone from South India that mainly has a vegetarian diet for thousands of years, then give them meat or make them eat what Eskimos eat
Another point these website do not show is that we have binocular vision to have depth perception. This allows us to judge distances, and guess who has binocular vision? Carnivores.
As I said above we do eat far too much meat in our diet, and should incorporate higher amounts of vegetables and fruits. But by all means we are not herbivores. But if you want to eat a vegan diet, that is alright by me, but please do not lie to the people about the facts, because you want everyone to be a vegan.
Al Latkolik says
“This article is misleading. Humans are omnivores, yes we have the same type of teeth as the Great Apes. The Great Apes are omnivores, they eat animals. Lets look at Gorillas, they may not hunt or eat red meat, but they eat insects (animals) as part of their diet. Now lets look at the our closed relative the Chimpanzees, they are known to hunt other monkeys and eat there flash. Meat is a small part of their diet. I do agree that Humans eat far too much meat and should eat more vegetables and fruits.” – you can not contradict yourself and call an article “misleading”, not to mention your comparison to Chimps is also “misleading”, do you know why Chimps hunt other Chimps? and eat their flesh? It is territorial, it is self preservation, and it is because animals such as Chimps are not wasteful like humans (North Americans waste around 40% of our annual food), they eat the dead either as a celebration of victory, a means of not wasting perfectly good nutrients, or both, but it is not a regular part of their diet and by no means have I ever seen them do it unless they absolutely HAD to, again, either because food sources were scarce (and often killing a competitor is the best way to protect your own food) or there was a territorial dispute (often caused by humans taking up so much of their land or when populations increase).
“If you take an Eskimo who have been eating whale and seal meats for many generation thousands of years and then make them eat a vegan diet, they would become sick. Now if you would take someone from South India that mainly has a vegetarian diet for thousands of years, then give them meat or make them eat what Eskimos eat” – how do you know this? Have you done studies? Can you provide links that show an Eskimo was fed a vegetarian/vegan diet and became sick from it?
And if someone from India as you say can survive on a vegetarian/vegan diet then doesn’t that sort of blow away any argument that carnivores have?
You literally have the evidence, through unintentional experiments not some paid for biased crap, from cultures like India that show a vegetarian diet is healthy and sustainable and other cultures like Japan and Sweden (or Norway?) that show not drinking cows milk is better for your bones than we are led to believe in North America and yet you argue FOR a carnivorous diet?? Not to mention, these Eskimos you speak of, we are destroying our Oceans with our Global Warming and creating literal Dead Zones through our pollution like fertilizers and cow manure being put into rivers and flowing into the Oceans, so where are these Eskimos going to get their meat from when it’s all gone is a few decades? (Not to mention our fishing, we kill 5lbs of Sea life for every 1lb of fish we remove from the Ocean and fishing is NOT sustainable)
“Another point these website do not show is that we have binocular vision to have depth perception. This allows us to judge distances, and guess who has binocular vision? Carnivores.” – you seem to assume that our vision has evolved the way it has to hunt ? Yet you ignore the fact our vision is nothing like that of predators that can see much farther distances and at night.
Our vision has evolved the way it is to see a potential rival, a potential mate, a predator, or the fruits/nuts we gather from high up in trees, not for hunting purposes.
If humans were predators we would have evolved to run faster, not longer, see farther not wider, we would have stronger muscles and claws, not the need to set traps and return to them later or throw things a great distance to reach prey or even as our earlier ancestors did… to run mammoths off of cliffs (pre-farming), our (human) population would not have had it’s largest increase thousands of years ago when we learned to grow crops and when hunters were almost non existent, it would have happened when we learned how to hunt animals thousands of years earlier.
The rich used meat as a status symbol, not because they needed it in their diet but simply because they could afford it and the poor could not, as well as the caging of animals for the purpose of their entertainment, and we have simply adopted their bad behavior.
Aaris says
Not all predators can see much farther or at night. You seem to be thinking mostly (or only) of cats and nocturnal creatures. Dogs have difficulty seeing in low light. Some birds can see at night but most can’t, and all birds are still hunters. Also, many hunting animals are evolved to run farther, not faster. Lions usually cannot outrun their prey in speed and in fact mostly rely on longitude and tiring their prey out. Also, we are not evolved to ‘see wider’. Prey animals are evolved to see wider. If we were a prey animal and evolved to see wider (because prey animals’ only need is to see their hunter and run), our eyes would be on the sides of our heads. (Have you ever considered that, by the way? If we aren’t predator animals, we are prey animals. All those predator animals must be shit at their jobs- we’ve overtaken the entire planet.) We have overlapping vision so that we can determine depth, determine how far something is from us, and hunt it down. Only omnivores and carnivores have eyes in the front of their head with overlapping vision like we do.
ALSO, gorillas have flat nails like we do, no claws, and pigs have their little weird feet, but those are both omnivorous animals. Birds have no teeth at all and are still omnivorous and mostly eat meat. We are not meant to be aggressive, overpowering hunters like cheetahs. We are meant to be scavenging and convenience hunters, like dogs or lions. We hunt in packs, and we use our brains to find which animal is the easiest prey. We set traps similar to snakes and burrowing spiders. There are plenty of omnivorous animals that do not rely on brute strength or in-built weapons to hunt.
Another straight lie in this article is that all carnivores or meat-heavy omnivores have such strong stomach acid that they can dissolve bones and such. That is not true. Everyone knows dogs should not actually eat bones, they only chew on large bones to grind, sharpen, and clean their teeth. If pieces of bone actually get into their stomach it cuts their stomach up. And bones aren’t good for cats either, which are 100% carnivores that are required to eat meat to live, period.
And all of you people arguing that we don’t have big enough canines- those animals with massive canines use them for intimidation and fighting with opponents (usually for mating). They do not actually rely on them to eat their meat. Our teeth are more than capable of eating meat- we aren’t required to use forks and knives, we do so for cleanliness, not for lack of ability. I personally prefer to pick up my steak and tear off the meat with my shockingly capable teeth.
I also am 20 years old, have been on an actually higher- than-normal meat-heavy diet my entire life, and I am one of the healthiest people I have ever met. I get sick on average every four to five years or so, I haven’t had a severe illness since I was a child, the worst I get on a monthly or yearly basis is a headache.
I also stopped drinking dairy 99% a couple years ago because I prefer soy. I used to drink quite a lot of dairy. I had never had a single cavity before I cut out dairy- now I have three and there seems to be nothing that can be done for it. I don’t personally believe in all that ‘dairy is the BEST for your bones! It’s the only thing that helps!’ but my personal experience with cutting dairy makes me tempted to start drinking it now and then again.
Straight Facts back at it again says
To be completely honest, the only valid point you made in your comment was that our eyes are not on side of our heads. The rest of what you said was totally crap, and you are obviously not as knowledgeable as you think. Wouldn’t say you’re dumb, just ignorant.
1. Gorillas are mostly herbivores. Any source will tell you that they are herbivores, except for the fact that they sometimes eat insects. I GUESS THEY DON’T REALLY NEED TO BE THAT EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH INSECTS.
2. Not all birds are carnivores. And the ones that are, or birds of prey(why would they call a certain group of birds “birds of prey” if they are all predators?) have talons and sharp beaks that they use for tearing flesh. Also, they can hold on to food with their claws. Other birds eat worms and insects. And then you got your birds that east seeds and fruits. Well I guess you do not need teeth and claws to hunt down seeds. :/
3. no one ever said anything about carnivores having highly acidic stomachs to break down bones. Most carnivores do not eat bones. the high acidity is supposed to break down the meat, which is harder to denature than plants.
4. look at the real meat-eaters. They use their sharp teeth to hunt and bite. They do not just have them for show. They don’t cook their meat. Try eating uncooked meat. It will be much harder than eating cooked meat. And that is the type of meat they are eating ( unless lions take their kill home and throw it on the grill).
Also, just because you think you are healthy doesn’t mean that you are. You might think you are healthy because you are not fat, but who knows what your organs look like on the inside. I myself am pretty young, and I have always had a fast metabolism, which has prevented me from putting on much weight, no matter what I eat. So just wait for your body to slow down and see how your mostly-meat diet works for you then. PEACE
Deepak gautam says
sir’ how to increase teeth canine advise for human please
Shannon says
Thank you for the article. I would love to use the canine comparison chart for presentations. How do I get permission? Thank you! I visited the arcouris website and could not figure it out.
Justin says
what a stupid article. using primates for comparison? you do realize chimps eat meat too right? and we are 97% closely resembled to them?
the existence of the chimpanzee explains what we are as well. only we are more intelligent.
Justin says
and you guys do realize. true herbivores like cows and goats, would die if you feed them mainly meat. while people, pigs, chimps wont. because being an omnivore is a lot different from a carnivore and herbivore.
Dan says
We’d die if we ate mainly meat. But we don’t eat it. We eat cooked meat… And we have to cook it because we can’t eat it naturally, because we’re not designed to.
Aaris says
Tell that to sushi lovers… like myself.
Staight facts says
Ye sir you are completely correct, we share 97% of our DNA with chimpanzees. Then again, we also share 60% of our DNA with the common house fly, which in case you did not know, is the majority, and , maybe it’s just me, but I do not see the resounding similarity. Just a fun fact, humans DNA sequence is 8 billion base pairs long, meaning that about 240 million base pairs in the human genome are different than those in the chimpanzee genome, which is still quite a bit. These differences in the genomes leads to the transcription and translation of different proteins (big words for you sir?), which leads to major differences, which can obviously be seen in the teeth of chimpanzees. Yeah they eat meet, look at their teeth genius.
Just a guy who knows his stuff says
Here to shut this down.
Essential Amino Acid = The body cannot make 8 out of the 20 essential amino acids to sustain life, therefore, they must enter the body in a pre-fabricated form.
Fact: Humans can only create 12 out of the 20 essential amino acids
Fact: Animals have complete proteins (Contain all 8 essential amino acids)
Fact: Plants have incomplete proteins (Do not contain all 8 essential amino acids)
I’m not saying we are herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores. I’m saying use your brain and discard those three terms. If we cannot get all 8 essential amino acids from plants, then why would we restrict our diet to herbivory? If we get too fat from meats, which cause many health problems; then why only eat meats?
Just eat a simple diet containing both for a healthy life.
If you don’t like eating animals due to cruelty, that’s another story that has nothing to do with whether we were made for a specific kind of diet. If you don’t like cruelty, then more power to you in your journey for not eating meat.
Still undecided says
You are right, no ONE plant protein has all the essential amino acids. But you can get all of them with 2. Not very difficult to accomplish.
Sam Miller says
Actually, the term “complete” and “incomplete” protein is a misnomer as in fact many plants do contain all 8 essential acids, A better term would be balanced protein, Some plants do have an optimal amino acid ratio of the 8-9 essential amino acids, balanced protein, for human consumption. Those that don’t can be optimized by combining them with complementary plant sources of protein to create a more efficient amino acid profile (e.g., beans and rice). Look at a container of pea protein and you see all the essential amino acids listed.
Have a look at this Wikipedia chart. It was more than just iron in spinach that helped made Popeye strong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein
Josh says
Herbivore /carnivore animals have eyes fixed at the front of the head,, which makes them a predator. Think any wild cat, canine, bird of prey. They are predators with meat tearing teeth. They hunt to live. Herbivores have eyes on the sides of their heads. They have teeth to grind leaves and such. They are prey. Humans have predator eyes and teeth as well as herbivore teeth. Therefore, we are omnivores.
Menkon says
Lies and misinformation
Jane says
THE SCIENCE of biology taught at university level is that humans evolved to be omnivores. You’d all fail at uni level spouting this crap. You’re as bad as climate science deniers. Own your own reasons for being vegan otherwise you just look stupid and turn others off.