Vegetarianism Scientific And Spiritual Basis

Here's a comprehensive summary of the provided text, "Vegetarianism: The Scientific and Spiritual Basis" by Jashwant B. Mehta, organized by chapter for clarity:

Overall Aim: The book argues for vegetarianism by presenting a multi-faceted case based on scientific evidence, health benefits, economic and environmental considerations, ethical principles, and spiritual/religious teachings.

Chapter 1: Introduction

• Historical Context: Vegetarianism has ancient roots in Indian religions like Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. It was also practiced and preached by influential figures in ancient Greece, such as Pythagoras and Hippocrates, who valued the sanctity of life and recognized the benefits of plant-based diets.
• Defining Vegetarianism: The chapter clarifies that vegetarianism involves abstaining from flesh food. It then outlines variations:
  • Lacto-ovo vegetarians: Eat plant foods, dairy, and eggs, but not meat, poultry, or fish.
  • Lacto-vegetarians: Exclude eggs and meat but include dairy.
  • Vegans: Consume only plant-based foods, excluding all animal products, including dairy.
  • Some vegetarians also avoid honey due to concerns about bee welfare.
• Broader Ethical Concerns: Many vegetarians extend their principles to avoiding products like fur, leather, wool, and silk, due to the suffering or killing of animals in their production.
• Four Pillars of Vegetarianism: The book will explore arguments for vegetarianism based on physiological, health, economic/environmental, and ethical/spiritual/religious aspects.

Chapter II: Physiological Aspect

• Human Physiology: The book argues that human physiology is more aligned with herbivorous animals than carnivorous ones. This is supported by comparisons:
  • Absence of claws.
  • Perspiration through skin pores.
  • Lack of sharp front teeth for tearing; presence of flat molars for grinding.
  • Jaw movement: Sideways and up-and-down for grinding vs. only up-and-down.
  • Intestinal tract length: Humans have longer intestines (6-12 times body length) suited for digesting plant matter, which decays slower than meat. Carnivores have shorter intestines (3 times body length) to quickly expel decaying meat.
  • Stomach acid: Humans have weaker stomach acid compared to carnivores.
  • Salivary glands: Humans have well-developed salivary glands with ptyalin to pre-digest grains and fruits, unlike carnivores.
  • Water consumption: Humans drink by sucking with lips, not lapping.
• Cooking and Raw Meat: A key argument is that humans, unlike carnivores and omnivores, find raw, bloody meat disgusting and therefore cook it. If humans were naturally meant to eat meat, they would prefer it raw.

Chapter III: Health Aspect

• Nutritional Requirements: Food provides nutrients, energy, and repair for the body. Essential components include protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water.
• Debunking Myths: Contrary to the belief that non-vegetarian diets provide more strength, research shows that well-planned vegetarian diets can supply all necessary nutrients, including protein, while non-vegetarian diets carry greater health risks.
• Key Nutrients and Their Roles:
  • Calories: Units of energy.
  • Carbohydrates: Primary energy source, aids fat utilization.
  • Proteins: Essential for muscle building and cell structure.
  • Fats: Energy storage, but excess can burden organs.
  • Vitamins: Protective, prevent diseases.
  • Minerals: Aid bone formation, hemoglobin, metabolism.
  • Fibers: Crucial for digestion, preventing constipation, reducing cholesterol, regulating blood pressure, and controlling diabetes. Vegetarian diets are rich in fiber.
  • Water: Essential for detoxification, temperature regulation, and oxygen transport.
• Components of a Vegetarian Diet: Cereals, vegetables, legumes (excellent protein source, comparable to meat), fruits, nuts, oilseeds, milk, and milk products.
• Nutritional Value Tables: The book provides detailed tables comparing the nutritional content (protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, energy) of various vegetarian foods against non-vegetarian options.
• Cholesterol: Meats and egg yolks are high in LDL ("bad") cholesterol, a primary cause of heart disease. The book lists cholesterol content in various foods.
• Beneficial Effects of Specific Foods: The text highlights the health benefits of fruits and vegetables like bananas, garlic, lemons, mushrooms, onions, papaya, potatoes, pumpkin, spinach, and sprouts, as well as turmeric, mustard, and curd.
• Advantages of Vegetarian Diets:
  • Lower saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein.
  • Higher folate, vitamins C and E, carotenoids, and phytochemicals.
  • Reduced risk of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, and certain cancers (especially colon and breast cancer).
  • Can help reverse heart disease and lower blood pressure.
  • Vegetarians generally experience better health outcomes, fewer hospital visits, and lower rates of bacterial infections like salmonella and E. coli.
  • Ptomaine poisoning from decaying animal protein is avoided.
• Risks of Non-Vegetarian Diet:
  • Contamination: Meat, chicken, and prawns can be contaminated with bacteria, lead, and mercury.
  • Preservatives: Meat industry uses carcinogenic preservatives to mask spoilage.
  • Foodborne Illnesses: Risks of Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli, and toxoplasmosis.
  • Disease Transmission: Mad Cow Disease and Bird Flu are cited as examples.
  • Freezing and Refreezing: Meat quality deteriorates, and bacterial load can increase.
  • Heart Disease: Strong correlation between meat consumption and heart attacks due to high cholesterol and fat.
  • Osteoporosis: Excess protein in non-vegetarian diets can interfere with calcium absorption.
  • Pesticides: Meat contains significantly higher levels of pesticides than plant foods.
• Specific Groups and Longevity:
  • Seventh-Day Adventists: A religiously vegetarian group, studies show they have significantly lower rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, colon cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and prostate cancer.
  • Longest Living Cultures: Groups like the Vilcambas, Abkhasians, and Hunzas, who are largely vegetarian, exhibit remarkably high life expectancies and remain active and disease-free into old age.
• Precautions for Vegetarians: Reduce intake of high-fat dairy products. Ensure adequate protein intake, especially for those with high activity levels.
• Phytoestrogens: Found in plants, they can help balance hormones, leading to fewer menopausal symptoms in vegetarian women.
• Pesticides: By eating animal products, one ingests concentrated pesticides.

Chapter IV: Vegetarian Sports Personalities & Animal Kingdom

• Vegetarian Athletes: The chapter lists numerous successful athletes across various sports (tennis, wrestling, bodybuilding, swimming, marathon running, triathlons, athletics, cricket, karate, boxing, skiing) who are vegetarians or vegans, demonstrating that a vegetarian diet supports peak physical performance. Examples include Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker, Carl Lewis, Anil Kumble, and Edwin Moses.
• Vegetarian Animals: The book highlights strong and energetic animals like bulls, rhinos, hippopotamuses, gorillas, elephants, horses, and camels as natural vegetarians, supporting the idea that plant-based diets confer strength. It also notes that these animals are generally docile and peaceful.

Chapter V: Economic / Environmental Aspects

• Misconception about Food Shortages: The belief that global vegetarianism would lead to food shortages is debunked. The meat industry consumes vast quantities of grains suitable for human consumption.
• Grain Consumption: In the USA, a large percentage of corn, oats, and barley is fed to livestock, not humans. This inefficient conversion of grains into meat represents a significant waste.
• Global Hunger: If the grain fed to livestock in the US and other countries were redirected to human consumption, it could alleviate global malnutrition and hunger.
• Resource Misuse: Animal farming squanders precious resources like water, land, and fossil fuels. Producing 1 kg of meat requires significantly more water than producing 1 kg of wheat. Land used for grazing and fodder crops could be used for grain production for humans.
• Deforestation: Seven acres of forest are cleared for livestock grazing or feed production for every acre cleared for human infrastructure in the US.
• Fishery Products: A significant portion of fish catch is used for animal feed. The fishing industry faces overharvesting and depletion of marine resources.

Chapter VI: Ethical / Spiritual Aspects

• Animal Suffering: The chapter details the immense suffering animals endure before and during slaughter, including inhumane transport, rough handling, confinement, and cruel slaughtering methods.
• Poultry and Dairy Farming: It describes the unethical practices in poultry farms (cages, artificial lighting, de-beaking, separation of chicks) and dairy farms (hormone injections, calf deprivation).
• Fishing Industry Cruelties: Describes methods like boiling fish alive, cutting up live crabs, and removing shark fins.
• Views of Eminent Thinkers: Quotes from philosophers, scientists, and poets like Henry David Thoreau, Jeremy Bentham, Leonardo da Vinci, Plutarch, Percy Shelley, Albert Einstein, Annie Besant, Mahatma Gandhi, and Rabindranath Tagore emphasize the ethical imperative to avoid animal cruelty and suffering.
• Notable Vegetarians: Mentions prominent figures like Albert Schweitzer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Leo Tolstoy, Amitabh Bachchan, Sir Paul McCartney, and Indian leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and Dr. Abdul Kalam.
• Religious Perspectives:
  • Hinduism: Preaches ahimsa (non-violence). Manu-Smriti and Saint Tiruvalluvar advocate abstaining from meat. Many Hindu communities, particularly Brahmins and Vaishnavs, are vegetarian. Cow family is revered for its services.
  • Jainism: Most emphatic about ahimsa and reverence for all life, from microscopic organisms to larger animals. Vegetarianism is central. The influence of Jainism has significantly contributed to vegetarianism in India. However, the author notes the extreme austerity practiced by some Jain monks.
  • Buddhism: Also preaches ahimsa and compassion. Lord Buddha and Lord Mahavir were contemporaries. While Jains are strictly vegetarian, many Buddhists historically accepted meat from animals that died naturally, a practice that has unfortunately led to widespread meat consumption in some Buddhist communities. There's a growing trend toward vegetarianism within Buddhism.
  • Judeo-Christian Religions (Islam, Judaism, Christianity): While advocating kindness to creatures, vegetarianism isn't explicitly mandated. Reasons cited include geographical limitations in the Middle East for plant growth and the historical belief that non-vegetarian diets provided more strength. The prohibition of pork in Islam is attributed to health concerns.
• Cross-Religious Support: Despite differences in explicit religious mandates, compassion for living beings is a common thread across major religions, and many people of all faiths are adopting vegetarianism for ethical or health reasons.

Chapter VII: Ritual of Animal and Bird Sacrifices Performed in the Name of Religion

• Religious Justification for Sacrifice: The chapter critiques the practice of animal sacrifice in religious rituals, citing quotes from Lord Buddha, Kabir, the Quran, and Prophet Muhammad that condemn such practices or prioritize acts of compassion and inner sacrifice.
• Examples: The practice is prevalent during Eid-ul-Azha (Bakri-Id) for Muslims and in some rural and tribal Hindu communities.
• The True Meaning of Sacrifice: An article by Firoz Bakht Ahmed published in The Times of India argues that the true sacrifice in Eid-ul-Azha is the sacrifice of one's self and resources for the less fortunate, not the literal killing of animals. The story of Abraham and Ishmael is interpreted as a test of faith, not a command for animal slaughter.
• Alternative to Animal Sacrifice: Suggestions are made to replace animal sacrifice with monetary donations to charity, preserving the spirit of sacrifice without the cruelty.
• Critique of Modern Practices: The author and others express dismay at the common practice of animal sacrifice during festivals, viewing it as a mockery of Abraham's devotion and a cruel spectacle.

Chapter VIII: The International Vegetarianism Movement

• Historical Development: The movement has strong support in Christian countries like Great Britain, Europe, and the USA, with early proponents like George Cheyne and the founding of the Vegetarian Society.
• International Organizations: The International Vegetarian Union (IVU), Asian Vegetarian Union, and national Vegetarian Societies play a crucial role in promoting vegetarianism globally, publishing guides to vegetarian-friendly establishments.
• Ethical and Welfare Groups: Organizations like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and Vegetarian Society (Reverence for Life) actively campaign for vegetarianism as part of animal welfare efforts.
• Interfaith Support: The book highlights that organizations promoting vegetarianism often have members from diverse religious backgrounds (e.g., Muslim, Parsi, Hindu), demonstrating a common ground in compassion.

About the Author: Jashwant B. Mehta is an architect and consulting engineer with a passion for democracy, civil engineering, and eye donation, in addition to vegetarianism.

Final Message: The book comprehensively builds a case for vegetarianism, demonstrating its benefits from scientific, health, economic, environmental, ethical, and spiritual standpoints, encouraging readers to adopt a more compassionate and healthier lifestyle.