about Animal Food

Animals provide a wide variety of food substances that humans use as a source of nutrients. Humans form distinct relationships with the animals they eat on a regular basis. Similarly, the animals perform certain domestic duties such as farm planning, item transportation, security enhancement, and entertainment provision. Furthermore, animals play an important role in the social and cultural sectors, such as paying dowry, conducting cultural ceremonies, and contributing to family income. To elaborate, in the past, households were held in high regard by members of society based on the number of animals they owned. The animal source food (ASF) is a product obtained from animals such as milk, eggs, meat, cheese, and yogurt. In the ancient period, the animal source food constituted the majority of human diets. Notably, the people went to the field to hunt for animals which they consumed as part of their diets. At some point in the period, the trend significantly changed and humanity intensively included plants products in their diets. Therefore, the paper discusses the perceptive of people regarding the killing and consumption of animals.

With the introduction of technology such as use of gun in hunting, the consumption of animal food greatly increased in the continents. For example, the people, particularly, in the eastern part of African began mass killing of animal to obtain the industrial inputs. Notably, the hunters killed animals such as extinct giant gelada baboon and processed their tissues for food. The society relied on a group of cooperating hunters to acquire animal source food (ASF) as a means of supplementing their nutrients and macronutrients. According to the Regan (1987), the adoption of hunting in the early period on hominids resulted in improved health of human being (Regan 189). The frequent consumption of animal meat caused rapid increase in human height.

According to Pollan (2002), the animal food plays significant role in the diet of human being (Pollan 57). For instance, animal products such as cheese, milk and meat are important source of nutrients such as protein, minerals and vitamin. Furthermore, researchers argue that animal food is more palatable than other food products. They are distinctive in flavor and texture, thus, can be consumed with supplement products from plants. Nevertheless, Pollan stated that grains and vegetable products constitute the largest part of human diet in the society (Pollan 57). To lead a healthy life in the society, an individual must consume a balance diet which involves different types of food such as carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins, minerals, and fats. Notably, an individual can only maintain a balance diet after learning about the sources of food.

The main sources of food in the contemporary society are categorized into animal, plants and their products. According to the International Research Firm, plants form source of varieties of nutrients required to keep human body perfect (Pollan 52). According to the United States based Research Firm, the plants contributes the largest section of the food which is consumed by human being. The researchers argue that human beings consume everything in plants ranging from the steps, roots, leaves and flowers. Furthermore, some of the animals which man use as source of food consume plants for survival. Therefore, all living organisms in an eco-system either depend on plants directly or indirectly. Recently, a significant number of world population that depends of animals as source of food greatly increased (Pollan 59). Notably, animal products contain nutrients and are generally delicious.

According to Williams et al. (2015) animal is the greatest contributor of protein in human diets. The enzymes in the body break down the largest compound of animal products into smaller particles such as amino-acids that can be easily absorbed in the body (Williams et al. 23). Although some of the animal tissues such as collagen and elastin contain minimal quantity of amino acids, the meat products are of high nutritive value. To elaborate, the two meat tissues are deficient in essential amino acids such as methionine, cystine, tyrosine, and isoleucine. Nevertheless, experts argue that the quantities of the tissues in the meat are too small, thus, reducing overall diets (Williams et al. 23). According to the scholar, the protein found is the whole egg is highly digestible and perfectly utilize by animal, particularly, when they urgently need fats. As results, experts use eggs as a standard of measure for amino acids in the proteins.

In real sense, experts determine the nutritive value of the animal products not only by the quantity of the amino acids they contain but also the level of availability and digestibility in the body. The scholarly articles outline the chemical and biological processes which scientists deploy to determine the quantity of the amino acids in the body (Williams et al. 37). Notably, the body operation rate requires the specific amount of protein to maintain the required metabolic functions. Therefore, food experts deploy the same knowledge in the fast food industry to manufacture products such as snacks. Notably, humanitarians’ experts transport the standardized food items from fast food industry to remote areas. They give the products to young malnourished children who gain the required health standard as per the World Health Organization guidelines. Occasionally, people on humanitarian mission offer a combination of snacks to malnourished children to quickly improve their health status. Experts argue that a combination of snacks that contain different types ASF supply better proportion of nutrients compared to vegetarian food (Williams et al. 62). From a laboratory test conducted by a group of California experts, the researchers establish that a combination of milk, meat and grains is suitable for human diets.

The US food guide pyramid (FGP) provides the frameworks in which individuals in the society make choices on food which are nutritionally adequate. The pyramid outlines the recommended amount of ASF food products that must be included in the daily diets for sustainable growth (Skau 742). In particular, the scholars focus on the recommended amount of meat and substitute products in the daily diets. According to the pyramid experts, it is nearly impossible to provide pure vegetarian alternatives in the FGP because they contain inadequate meaningful nutrients such as calcium. Therefore, the vegan diets must be incorporated with the animals’ food to make them complete and ensure that they contain the required standard of nutrients. To obtain Vitamin D and B-12 in the vegan diets, food experts must include ASF elements (Skau 743). For example, in the developing countries, experts recommend the consumption of two servings of the dairy products, 5 ounces of dairy meet, a half cup of cooked dry meet, and one egg to supplement vegan products.

Determining the Dietary Quality

Dietary product contributes the significant percentage of ASF products; therefore, experts must evaluate the amount of the products required in a diet. Notably, scholars employ the table approach to analyze specific contribution of dairy products to the diet. As a result, health and hygiene facilities such as hospitals acquire the standardized information on food based dietary measures (Pollan 60). The scholars employ the schemes such as Healthy Eating Index (HEI) to determine the dietary quality of different food such as vegetables, grains, fruits, dairy and meet. The overall scores of the five groups grading of food is subsequently applied in the ranking scheme to determine the overall dietary quality (Pollan 67). Notably, the evaluation schemes help experts to avoid the application of intensive food composition tables to determine the overall dietary quality.

In the late 19th century, the world population, particularly, on the developing countries immensely shifted its food products from hunting and gathering to agricultural substances. As a result, the consumption of the animal products greatly declined leading to low production of animal food. The society experienced intense alteration of the food products and some people shifted from animal substances to plants’ products. Notably, the inclusion of human soft food in the human diet changed the standard of health (Pollan 72). To elaborate, the bony region of the facial skeleton supporting the jaws reduced in size. Furthermore, the tooth size remarkably reduced over a long period of time of evolution. The emergence of soft carbohydrates led to increase in metabolism activities in human being. Nevertheless, the carbohydrates products resulted in side effects such as tooth decay. The consumption of different elements such as maize products increased the chances of dental carries while rice recorded low level of dental carries.

Michael Pollan describes the significant of understanding the ethics of eating both wild and domestic animals. In most of his articles, Michael advocates for the consumption of vegan products as a substitute for animal products (Pollan 72). However, he occasionally outlines the significant of ethical consumption of animal products. According to Pollan, in the chapter, omnivore’s dilemma, human being can make a significant health improvement by reducing the consumption of the vegan products and increasing ethical eating of the animals’ substances. Contrary to the view of Pollan, Merberg argues in favor of the vegan products. In his blog, The Proposition 37 campaign’s collateral damage, the author demonstrates the non-dogmatic approach to analyze the impacts of GMO foods to the society. To be specific, Merberg focuses on the contentious issues in the diet such as locavore-style of omnivorism and veganism. Notably, the author condemns Pollan approach to locavorism (Pollan 61). In particular, Merberg outlines the manner in which Michael distorted science in his defense for consumption of animal products.

A group of vegetarians from United States argue that the consisted killing of animals for food consumption is against the generally accepted ethical principles. Notably, the pro-animal food products activists state that the same principle cannot be applied for the plants. Therefore, a person must forgo the consumption of plant products similar to animals if the same principle is applied to all living organisms (Pollan 73). According to the theory of natural selection, a number of animals became extinct after long period of uncontrolled poaching and inevitable changes in climatic conditions. The animals tend to respond to stimuli faster than plants. Moreover, the reaction of plants towards pain cannot be detected in real life situation. Therefore, animal deserve better form of treatment when use as a source of food. The scientific statement suggests that the pig has the capacity to experience pain similar to human beings. According to Pollan, it is difficult to relate the pain of the pea plant in a dry field with the pain of the slaughtered pig (Pollan 73). Furthermore, the condition of the pea plant in a dry soil is rarely inevitable. Therefore, it is reasonable to give a pig more consideration than pea plant. Experts argue that ASF must supplement the vegan diets to make it complete.

In his letter to Singer to make argument on the significant of consuming meet, Michael Pollan states that the slaughtering of animals must not entails suffering. The author discusses the significant of the Good Farm which generally outlines the life and happiness of animals. Therefore, the view on the animal life must not worry human being about the ultimate extinctions (Pollan 74). Additionally, the concept of preserving the environment must not prevent human being from consuming the animal products. Notably, Pollan shares with people the story of protectionists who believed that the extinction of animal is a bad thing to the society. The animal species occupy the complex niche in an ecosystem that if left vacant through extinction can lead to environmental instability (Pollan 78). However, human being must not shy away from consuming animals products because predators can as well cause extinction.

Conclusion

In summary, animal and plant products form the largest part of human diet. In the ancient period, people depended on animal products which the hunter gathered from the field. Nevertheless, with emergence of the agricultural revolution, the consumption of food shifted from animal products to agricultural substances. However, some people did not shift to agricultural food staffs with a number of them preferring ASF due to its abundance nutrients and better flavor. Scholars such as Michael Pollan who initially opposed ASF embraced its products. The author argues that not only human being can cause distinction but also the predators and changes in environmental conditions. Furthermore, ethical consumption of meat is required in the diets. Lastly, people in the society, particularly, the protectionists must change their perceptions towards the killing of animals.

Work Cited

Pollan, Michael. “An animal’s place.” New York Times Magazine 152 (2002): 58-65.

Regan, Tom. “The case for animal rights.” Advances in Animal Welfare Science 1986/87. Springer, Dordrecht, 1987. 179-189.

Pollan, Michael. In defense of food: An eater’s manifesto. Penguin, 2008.

Skau, Jutta KH, et al. “Effects of animal source food and micronutrient fortification in complementary food products on body composition, iron status, and linear growth: a randomized trial in Cambodia.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 101.4 (2015): 742-751.

Williams, Anne, et al. “Breastmilk Vitamin B12 Concentration is Low among Women in Western Kenya and is Not Associated with Animal Source Food Intake or Food Insecurity.” The FASEB Journal 29.1 Supplement (2015): 133-4.