Essay Example on Plant-Based Diets: A Growing Trend for Better Health and Wellbeing

A few years ago, the vegetarian lifestyle and plant-based diets in the western world was practiced by a small group of people (Williams and Patel, 2017). Based on situations, vegetarian diets were met with acceptance and hostility in equal measures. However, in the recent past, an increasing number of people have realized the significance of a plant-based diet. Plant-based diets not only lead to better health but also bring a positive impact on other aspects of life. Plant-based foods have been found to minimize the risk of contracting various acute diseases. Moreover, plant based-food require fewer resources for production compared to meat products. This paper examines the extent to which the government should encourage citizens to adopt the vegetarian lifestyle while balancing the public health, environmental benefits and freedom of choice.

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The government should encourage people to be vegetarians because meat production has a substantial negative impact on the environment. Humans consume about 230 million tons of meat in a year (Williams and Patel, 2017). The most commonly consumed animals include cows, pigs, chicken and sheep. These animals need vast amounts of food and water during production. Moreover, the animals produce large quantities of greenhouse gases such as methane and volumes of solid waste. The 2006 UN report on livestock production indicates that livestock produced about 18% of total global emissions (Joyce et al., 2012). This means that livestock produced more environmentally harmful gases than vehicles and planes combined. The report shows that meat-eating imposes massive stress on the ecological system.

Livestock production requires more land than human food production. The human population is expected to rise by 3 billion in 2050 (McMacken and Shah, 2017). This means that more land would be needed to produce food for the increasing population. Today more land is put under livestock and livestock food production compared to land used to produce human food. A Cornell University study indicates that about 13 million hectares of land in the United States were used to produce beans, vegetables, fruits, and rice for human consumption (Joyce et al., 2012).

In comparison, 302 hectares was used for livestock and livestock food production (Lynch, Johnston, and Wharton, 2018). Farm animals are poor converters of food into meat. A pig requires about 8.5 kilograms of feed to produce 1kg of meat (Joyce et al., 2012). As such, meat production is unsustainable and put much pressure on the ecosystem.

Meat production has negative impacts on the environment. In some regions, farmers keep a large number of animals in a small piece of land leading to overgrazing and massive soil destruction. The destruction of topsoil leads to erosion which eventually causes desertification. Overgrazing leads to loss of soil fertility. In some countries such as the US and Australia, animals are enclosed in small rooms devoid of enough oxygen and sunlight. These animals consume large quantities of water to produce meat and other animal products. A dairy cow requires about 1000 litres of water to produce one litre of milk while about 229 pounds of water are needed to produce one pound of potatoes for human consumption (Bussoni et al., 2019). As such, the production of livestock products requires more water and other natural resources when compared to vegetarian -based foods.

Report from public health indicates that vegetarians have less cardiovascular problems, less susceptible to cancer, reduced mortality rates compared to meat-eaters. Vegetarians have lower chances of developing type 2 diabetes and lower rates of metabolic syndromes (McMacken and Shah 2017). Vegetarian diet provides the body with first-class elements required for proper health. Vegetarians have high immunity because the vitamins and minerals they get from the plant-based diet are self -sufficient (Williams and Patel 2017). Although, some vitamins such as B12 lack in a mostly plant-based diet, some food combinations can provide such nutritional requirements. Moreover, some of the lacking nutrients are not the main mineral or vitamin requirements in the body. As such, a vegetarian has good health and less susceptible to diseases compared to the meat-eaters.

Citizens should be encouraged to eat a plant-based diet because livestock production leads to deforestation. Different countries have cut down trees to provide land for growing animal feed. A research done by What is feeding our food shows that about 6 million hectares of forest land are converted into animal feed lands each year (Bussoni et al., 2019). Also, an equivalent amount of wetland is cleared to prepare the land for animal food. Over the last 30 years, vast chunks of tropical rain forests have cleared to graze cattle and grow palm oil and soya (Davis and Rausser, 2020). In European countries, China, Japan, and US millions of hectares of trees have been cut to provide burgers and animal feeds.

The consumption of meat makes humans prone to diseases. Animal wastes contain many disease-causing microorganisms such as fecal coliform, salmonella, and Ecoli (Marlina et al., 2018). These pathogens can be transferred to humans through run-off water, manure, or personal contact with the animal. Moreover, thousands of antibiotics are added to animal food each year to speed up the growth process of the animals. The animal feeds cause the development and rise of resistant bacteria. When resistant bacteria enter the human body, they render drug treatment hard (Muthukumar and Mandal, 2017). People become prone to diseases that are difficult to treat. As such, it is prudent for the government to encourage citizens to adopt a vegetarian diet.

Commercial livestock product leads to poisoning of the earth. Industrial agriculture is now widely practiced in many western countries. Livestock and poultry industries can generate huge amount of wastes within a short time. A cow egests about 40kg of manure for one kilogram of edible beef that it produces (Craddock, Probst, and Peoples, 2016). In factory farms many animals are crowded in a small place. Therefore, the waste produced is much and causes the poisoning of the earth. Moreover, factory farms channel their wastes into lagoons that leak or overflow polluting underground water sources and rivers with nitrogen and phosphorous elements. The mixture of these elements leads to pollution of water thus making it unfit for human consumption.

Cattle production leads to destruction of air. There are extreme smells that originate from factory farms. Although cattle and cattle waste produce greenhouse gases such as carbon(iv) oxide and methane, they also exude other gases that pollute the air. In US alone the animal production contributes 37% of all pesticides use (Craddock, Probst, and Peoples, 2016). Moreover, the livestock industry consumes about half of the antibiotics manufactured and is responsible for nitrogen and phosphorous emissions in fresh water. Also, about two thirds of man-made ammonia are produced by the livestock industry. Ammonia is the major cause of acid rain. Large scale factory farming has been found to be a major cause of ozone pollution (Blanco et al., 2019). Therefore, it is advisable to embrace the vegetarian diet because it has fewer negative impacts on the environment as opposed to meat production.

It is indisputable that vegetarian diet has fewer adverse environmental effects compared to meat. Vegetarian diet provides the body with all the necessary vitamins and minerals for survival. A vegetarian diet is rich in fruits and vegetables that assists to lower the level of inflammation in the body, improve blood level and reduce the risk of contracting diabetes and other lifestyle diseases. Nutritionists now agree that a plant-based diet can provide valuable sources of proteins and other nutrients required by the body. Plant-based diet is safe for all life stages including childhood and pregnancy. Vegetarian foods cause less environmental destruction in their production compared to animal products. Therefore, the government should go to the full extent to encourage citizens to adopt a vegetarian diet.

References

Blanco, G., Cortes-Avizanda, A., Frias, O., Arrondo, E. and Donazar, J.A., 2019. Livestock farming practices modulate vulture diet-disease interactions. Global ecology and conservation, 17, p.e00518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00518

Bussoni, A., Alvarez, J., Cubbage, F., Ferreira, G. and Picasso, V., 2019. Diverse strategies for integration of forestry and livestock production. Agroforestry systems, 93(1), pp.333-344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-017-0092-7

Craddock, J.C., Probst, Y.C. and Peoples, G.E., 2016. Vegetarian and omnivorous nutrition-Comparing physical performance. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism, 26(3), pp.212-220. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2015-0231

Davis, J. and Rausser, G., 2020. Amending conservation programs through expanding choice architecture: A case study of forestry and livestock producers. Agricultural Systems, 177, p.102678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2019.102678

Joyce, A., Dixon, S., Comfort, J. and Hallett, J., 2012. Reducing the environmental impact of dietary choice: Perspectives from a behavioural and social change approach. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/978672

Lynch, H., Johnston, C. and Wharton, C., 2018. Plant-based diets: Considerations for environmental impact, protein quality, and exercise performance. Nutrients, 10(12), p.1841. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10121841

Marlina, E.T., Kurnani, T.B.A., Hidayati, Y.A., Rahmah, K.N. and Harlia, E., 2018. The potential of various livestock waste as sources of methanogenic bacteria. Journal of Powder Technology and Advanced Functional Materials, 1(1), pp.19-23. https://doi.org/10.29253/jptafm.1.1.2018.3

McMacken, M. and Shah, S., 2017. A plant-based diet for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. Journal of Geriatric Cardiology: JGC, 14(5), p.342. https://doi.org/10.11909/j.issn.1671-5411.2017.05.009

Muthukumar, M. and Mandal, P.K., 2017. Concerns and consequences of industrial livestock and meat production. Journal of Meat Science, 12(2), pp.1-9. Retrieved from http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:jms&volume=12&issue=2&article=001

Williams, K.A. and Patel, H., 2017. Healthy plant-based diet: what does it really mean? https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2017.06.006