Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T09:26:35.912Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Animal v. plant foods in human diets and health: is the historical record unequivocal?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

Marion Nestle
Marion Nestle*
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, New York University, 35 W. 4th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10012–1172, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Professor Marion Nestle, fax +1 212 995 4194, email marion.nestle@nyu.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

An ideal diet is one that promotes optimal health and longevity. Throughout history, human societies have developed varieties of dietary patterns based on available food plants and animals that successfully supported growth and reproduction. As economies changed from scarcity to abundance, principal diet-related diseases have shifted from nutrient deficiencies to chronic diseases related to dietary excesses. This shift has led to increasing scientific consensus that eating more plant foods but fewer animal foods would best promote health. This consensus is based on research relating dietary factors to chronic disease risks, and to observations of exceptionally low chronic disease rates among people consuming vegetarian, Mediterranean and Asian diets. One challenge to this consensus is the idea that palaeolithic man consumed more meat than currently recommended, and that this pattern is genetically determined. If such exists, a genetic basis for ideal proportions of plant or animal foods is difficult to determine; hominoid primates are largely vegetarian, current hunter—gatherer groups rely on foods that can be obtained most conveniently, and the archeological record is insufficient to determine whether plants or animals predominated. Most evidence suggests that a shift to largely plant-based diets would reduce chronic disease risks among industrialized and rapidly industrializing populations. To accomplish this shift, it will be necessary to overcome market-place barriers and to develop new policies that will encourage greater consump-tion of fruits, vegetables and grains as a means to promote public health.

Keywords

Optimal dietsDietary recommendationsPlant-based dietsPalaeolithic diets
Type
‘Meat or wheat for the next millennium?’ Plenary Lecture
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , May 1999 , pp. 211 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1999

References

Advertising Age (1998) 100 Leading National Advertisers: 43rd Annual Report, pp. s3–s50. Chicago, IL: Crain Communications Inc.Google Scholar
Allbaugh, LG (1953) Crete: A Case Study of an Underdeveloped Area. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Cancer Society Advisory Committee (1996) Guidelines on diet, nutrition, and cancer prevention: reducing the risk of cancer with healthy food choices and physical activity. CA-A Cancer Journal for Physicians 46, 325–341.Google Scholar
American Diabetes Association (1996) Nutrition recommendations and principles for people with diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care 19, Suppl. 1, s16–s19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Dietetic Association (1997) Position of the American Dietetic Association: vegetarian diets. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 97, 1317–1321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balikci, A (1968) The Netsilik Eskimos: adaptive processes. In Man the Hunter, pp. 78–82 [Lee, RB and DeVore, I, editors]. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Block, G, Patterson, B & Subar, A (1992) Fruit, vegetables, and cancer prevention: a review of the epidemiological evidence. Nutrition and Cancer 18, 1–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bogin, B (1997) The evolution of human nutrition. In The Anthropology of Medicine: From Culture to Method, 3rd ed., pp. 96–142 [Romanucci-Ross, L, Moerman, DE and Tancredi, LR, editors]. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.Google Scholar
Borrud, L, Enns, CW & Mickle, S (1996) What we eat in America: USDA surveys food consumption changes. FoodReview 19, 14–19.Google Scholar
Bunn, HT (1981) Archaeological evidence for meat-eating by Plio-Pleistocene hominids from Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge. Nature 291, 574–577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cannon, G (1992) Food and Health: The Experts Agree. London: Consumers' Association.Google Scholar
Cohen, MN (1989) Health and the Rise of Civilization. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Dahlberg, F (editor) (1981) Woman the Gatherer. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Darby, WJ, Ghalioungui, P & Grivetti, L (1977) Food: the Gift of Osiris, vol. 1 and 2. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Drewnowski, A & Popkin, BM (1997) The nutrition transition: new trends in the global diet. Nutrition Reviews 55, 31–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dorozynski, A & Anderson, A (1991) Collagen: a new probe into prehistoric diet. Science 254, 520–521.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dwyer, J (1994) Vegetarian eating patterns: science, values, and food choices - where do we go from here? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 59, 1255s–1262s.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eaton, SB & Konner, M (1985) Paleolithic nutrition: A consideration of its nature and current implications. New England Journal of Medicine 312, 283–289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elitzak, H (1996) Food marketing costs rose less than the farm value in 1995. FoodReview 19, 6–10.Google Scholar
Food Surveys Research Group (1997) Pyramid Servings Data: Results from USDA's 1995 and 1996 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals. Riverdale, MD: US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Freeman, LG (1981) The fat of the land: notes on Paleolithic diet in Iberia. In Omnivorous Primates: Gathering and Hunting in Human Evolution, pp. 104–165 [Harding, RSO and Teleki, G, editors]. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallo, AE (1996) The Food Marketing System in 1995. Agriculture Information Bulletin no. 731. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Garn, SM & Leonard, WR (1989) What did our ancestors eat? Nutrition Reviews 47, 337–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gerrior, SA & Zizza, C (1994) Nutrient Content of the U.S. Food Supply, 1909–90. Home Economics Research Report no. 52. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Gussow, J (1994) Ecology and vegetarian considerations: does environmental responsibility demand the elimination of livestock? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 59, 1110s–1116s.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harding, RSO (1981) An order of omnivores: nonhuman primate diets in the wild. In Omnivorous Primates: Gathering and Hunting in Human Evolution, pp. 191–214 [Harding, RSO and Teleki, G, editors]. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, M & Ross, EB (editors) (1987) Food and Evolution: Toward a Theory of Human Food Habits. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Hastorf, CA (1988) The use of paleoethnobotanical data in prehistoric studies of crop production, processing, and consumption. In Current Paleoethnobotany: Analytical Methods and Cultural Interpretations of Archeological Plant Remains, pp. 119–144 [Hastorf, CA and Popper, VS, editors]. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hayden, B (1981) Subsistence and ecological adaptations of modern hunter/gatherers. In Omnivorous Primates: Gathering and Hunting in Human Evolution, pp. 344–421 [Harding, RSO and Teleki, G, editors]. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaac, GL & Crader, DC (1981) To what extent were early hominids carnivorous? An archeological perspective. In Omnivorous Primates: Gathering and Hunting in Human Evolution, pp. 37–103 [Harding, RSO and Teleki, G, editors]. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, WPT (1988) Healthy Nutrition: Preventing Nutrition-related Diseases in Europe. Copenhagen, Denmark: WHO Regional Office for Europe.Google ScholarPubMed
Johnston, PK (editor) (1994) Second International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition. Proceedings of a Symposium held in Arlington, VA, June 28-July 1, 1992. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 59, 1099s–1262s.Google Scholar
Junshi, C, Campbell, TC, Junyao, L & Peto, R (1990) Diet, Life-style and Mortality in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kafatos, A, Diacatou, A, Voukiklaris, G, Nikolakakis, N, Vlachonikolis, J, Kounali, D, Mamalakis, G & Dontas, AS (1997) Heart disease risk-factor status and dietary changes in the Cretan population over the past 30 y: the Seven Countries Study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 65, 1882–1886.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Key, TJ, Fraser, GE, Thorogood, M, Appleby, PN, Beral, V, Reeves, G, Burr, ML, Chang-Claude, J, Frentzel-Beyme, R, Kuzma, JW, Mann, J & McPherson, K (1998) Mortality in vegetarians and non-vegetarians: a collaborative analysis of 8300 deaths among 76,000 men and women in five prospective studies. Public Health Nutrition 1, 33–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keys, A (1970) Coronary heart disease in seven countries. Circulation 41, Suppl. 1, 1–211.Google Scholar
Krauss, RM, Deckelbaum, RJ, Ernst, N, Fisher, E, Howard, BV, Knopp, RH, Kotchen, T, Lichtenstein, AH, McGill, HC, Pearson, TA, Prewitt, E, Stone, NJ, van Horn, L & Weinberg, R (1996) Dietary guidelines for healthy American adults: a statement for health professionals from the Nutrition Committee, American Heart Association. Circulation 94, 1795–1800.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuhnlein, HV (1991) Nutrition of the Inuit: a brief overview. Circumpolar Health 90, 728–731.Google Scholar
Kuhnlein, HV, Kubow, S & Soueida, R (1991) Lipid components of traditional Inuit foods and diets of Baffin Island. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 4, 227–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhnlein, HV & Receveur, O (1996) Dietary change and traditional food systems of indigenous peoples. Annual Review of Nutrition 16, 417–442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuhnlein, HV & Soueida, R (1992) Use and nutrient composition of traditional Baffin Inuit foods. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 5, 112–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhnlein, HV & Turner, NJ (1991) Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples: Nutrition, Botany and Use. Philadelphia, PA: Gordon & Breach Science Publishers.Google Scholar
Kushi, LH, Lenart, EB & Willett, WC (1995) Health implications of Mediterranean diets in light of contemporary knowledge. 1. Plant foods and dairy products. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61, Suppl., 1407s–1415s.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lands, WEM, Hamazaki, T, Yamazaki, K, Okuyama, H, Sakai, K, Goto, Y & Hubbard, VS (1990) Changing dietary patterns. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 51, 991–993.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, RB & DeVore, I (editors) (1968) Man the Hunter. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Lee, RB & DeVore, I (editors) (1976) Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers: Studies of the !Kung San and their Neighbors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGinnis, JM & Foege, WH (1993) Actual causes of death in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association 270, 2207–2212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mann, AE (1981) Diet and human evolution. In Omnivorous Primates: Gathering and Hunting in Human Evolution, pp. 10–36 [Harding, RSO and Teleki, G, editors]. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, JR (1995) Editorial: improving Americans' diet–setting public policy with limited knowledge. American Journal of Public Health 85, 1609–1611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MRCA Information Services Inc. (1994) Eating in America Today: A Dietary Pattern and Intake Report (EAT II), 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: National Live Stock and Meat Board.Google Scholar
National Research Council (1989) Diet and Health: Implications for Reducing Chronic Disease Risk. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Nestle, M (1993 a) Food lobbies, the food pyramid, and U.S. nutrition policy. International Journal of Health Services 23, 483–496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nestle, M (1993 b) Dietary advice for the 1990s: the political history of the food guide pyramid. Caduceus 9, 136–153.Google ScholarPubMed
Nestle, M (1994) Traditional models of healthy eating: alternatives to ‘techno-food’. Journal of Nutrition Education 26, 241–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nestle, M (1995) Mediterranean diets: historical and research overview. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61, 1313s–1320s.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nestle, M (1996) Fruits and vegetables: protective or just fellow travelers? Nutrition Reviews 54, 255–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nestle, M & Porter, DV (1990) Evolution of federal dietary guidance policy: from food adequacy to chronic disease prevention. Caduceus 6, 43–47.Google ScholarPubMed
Nestle, M, Wing, R, Birch, L, DiSogra, L, Drewnowski, A, Middleton, S, Sigman-Grant, M, Sobal, J, Winston, M & Economos, C (1998) Behavioral and social influences on food choice. Nutrition Reviews 56, s50–s74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newman, WP, Propst, MT, Middaugh, JP & Rogers, DR (1993) Atherosclerosis in Alaska Natives and non-natives. Lancet 341, 1056–1058.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nobmann, ED, Byers, T, Lanier, AP, Hankin, JH & Jackson, MY (1992) The diet of Alaska Native adults: 1987–1988. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 55, 1024–1032.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Brien, P (1995) Dietary shifts and implications for U.S. agriculture. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61, 1390s–1396s.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Page, IH, Stare, FJ, Corcoran, AC, Pollack, H & Wilkinson, CF (1957) Atherosclerosis and the fat content of the diet. Circulation 16, 163–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Potts, R & Shipman, P (1981) Cutmarks made by stone tools on bones from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Nature 291, 577–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, JJ & Allshouse, JE (1997) Food Consumption, Prices, and Expenditures, 1970–95. Statistical Bulletin no. 939. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
Sahlins, MD (1968) Notes on the original affluent society. In Man the Hunter, pp. 85–89 [Lee, RB and DeVore, I, editors]. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Sallares, R (1995) Molecular archaeology and ancient history. In Food in Antiquity, pp. 87–100 [Wilkins, J, Harvey, D and Dobson, M, editors]. Exeter, Devon: University of Exeter Press.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, MH, DeNiro, MJ & Tauber, H (1983) Stable nitrogen isotope ratios of bone collagen reflect marine and terrestrial components of prehistoric human diet. Science 220, 1381–1383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, United States Senate (1977) Dietary Goals for the United States, 2nd ed.Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Seymour, TD (1907) Life in the Homeric Age. New York: The Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
Steinmetz, KA & Potter, JD (1991 a) Vegetables, fruit, and cancer. I. Epidemiology. Cancer Causes and Control 2, 325–357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinmetz, KA & Potter, JD (1991 b) Vegetables, fruit, and cancer. II. Mechanisms. Cancer Causes and Control 2, 427–442.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taha, FA (1993) Japan adds Western flavor to its traditional diet. FoodReview 16, 30–37.Google Scholar
Trichopoulou, A & Lagiou, P (1997) Healthy traditional Mediterranean diet: an expression of culture, history, lifestyle. Nutrition Reviews 55, 383–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
US Department of Agriculture (1958) Food for Fitness: A Daily Food Guide. USDA Leaflet no. 424. Washington, DC: Agricultural Research Service.Google Scholar
US Department of Agriculture (1979) Food: The Hassle-Free Guide to a Better Diet. Home and Garden Bulletin no. 1 228. Washington, DC: Science and Education Administration.Google Scholar
US Department of Agriculture (1989) Composition of Foods: Lamb, Veal, and Game Products: Raw, Processed, Prepared. Agriculture Handbook no. 8–17. Washington, DC: Human Nutrition Information Service.Google Scholar
US Department of Agriculture (1992) The Food Guide Pyramid. Home and Garden Bulletin no. 249. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
US Department of Agriculture (1996) Food Marketing Review, 1994–95. Agricultural Economic Report no. 743. Washington, DC: US Department of Agriculture.Google Scholar
US Department of Agriculture (1997) What We Eat in America, 1994–96. Beltsville, MD: USDA Agricultural Research Service.Google Scholar
US Department of Agriculture and US Department of Health and Human Services (1995) Nutrition and Your Health: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Home and Garden Bulletin no. 232. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
US Department of Health and Human Services (1988) The Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health. DHHS (PHS) Publication no. 88–50210 Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Vickery, KF (1936) Food in early Greece. Illinois Studies in Social Sciences 20, 1–97.Google Scholar
Walker, A, Zimmerman, MR & Leakey, REF (1982) A possible case of hypervitaminosis in Homo erectus. Nature 296, 248–250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, C (1975) Prehistoric and historical changes in nutritional diseases and associated conditions. Progress in Food and Nutrition Science 1, 729–779.Google ScholarPubMed
World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research (1997) Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. Washington, DC: American Institute for Cancer Research.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1994) World Health Statistics Annual, 1993. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Young, TK, Moffatt, MEM & O'Neil, JD (1993) Cardiovascular diseases in a Canadian Arctic population. American Journal of Public Health 83, 881–887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar