Vegetarianism
A study of human anatomy and physiology reveals that human beings are
basically vegetarian animals. Following is a comparison between herbivorous
and carnivorous animals:
1. Like vegetarian animals, our small and large intestine is four times
longer than our body length whereas in case of carnivores it is about the
same size. As a result non vegetarian food (compared to vegetarian food) has
to remain in the human intestine for a longer period of time since it takes
a longer time to digest than vegetarian food. The shorter intestine of
carnivores is more suited to the digestion of non vegetarian food.
2. We do not have fangs which carnivores have them for biting into flesh.
Human canines are not true canines. They are quite small.
3. Human saliva is alkaline containing ptyalin to digest carbohydrates
whereas in carnivores the saliva is acidic.
4. For digesting highly proteinous flesh diet gastric secretion of
carnivores is highly acidic, whereas human gastric secretion is one fourth
of the former.
5. Human beings do not have claws for tearing flesh like carnivores.
6. Carnivores liver secretes a much larger quantity of bile into the gut to
deal with high fat meat diet.
Thus, by looking at the above comparison, we can come to the conclusion that
human body is more suited to vegetarianism.
