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9
10
Yes No
Debate Score:19
Arguments:16
Total Votes:19
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 Yes (7)
 
 No (8)

Debate Creator

RuskiLogic(9) pic



Are humans meant to eat meat?

This debate is not about the morals/ethics, but from a purely scientific stand point, have humans evolved to eat meat?

Yes

Side Score: 9
VS.

No

Side Score: 10
2 points

I'll get back with you on this after I finish my hamburger

Side: Yes

Absolutely. God would not have created t-bone steaks if we weren't.

PS- do you want that medium rare, or well done?

Side: Yes
1 point

There is excellent and substantial biological and anthropological evidence that we homo sapiens evolved primarily as omnivores, after first beginning on a herbivore diet. Several physical factors buttress this claim, including our dentition and our DNA.

More so, many anthropologists go a step further: in claiming that not only is eating meat natural for us, it has proven to be highly beneficial, and could very well have been a primary if not indispensable aid in us vanquishing our rivals, such as Neanderthal Man about 40,000 years ago.

The theory goes that it was the protein and the other nutrients, such as fat (yes, fat!) that helped our brains evolve and grow, which allowed us to plan and strategize better. This included being able to learn things like planning for winter and hunting, as well as warfare tactics. The pre-frontal cortex especially benefits from meat nutrients, and this by no mere coincidence is the part of the brain where our planning and reasoning takes place.

A link is provided here that expands a bit on this notion, if you're interested. thanks!

http://www.npr.org/2010/08/02/128849908/ food-for-thought-meat-based-diet-made-us-smarter

Side: Yes
DBCooper(2194) Disputed
1 point

Why is it you Democrats have such opposition to meat. Your knowledge comes from NPR that is to funny.

Side: No
Saintnow(3684) Clarified
1 point

The Bible said man is omnivorous thousands of years before evolutionists tried to justify eating meat. I don't need evolution to excuse my hamburger. I thank God for my hamburger and make no excuses for eating it. Why do evolutionists try to make excuses? They don't want to be held responsible for their sins?

Side: Yes
Saintnow(3684) Disputed
1 point

The Bible said man is omnivorous thousands of years before evolutionists tried to justify eating meat. I don't need evolution to excuse my hamburger. I thank God for my hamburger and make no excuses for eating it. Why do evolutionists try to make excuses? They don't want to be held responsible for their sins?

Side: No
1 point

It's not if we were "meant" to eat meat. It's simply if you "choose" to or not. You don't have to eat meat. There's no such thing as humans were meant to eat or not eat meat. You can eat whatever you want to eat. It's just that some things might kill you and other things might bring you adequate sustenance and nutrition. There is no such thing as humans were meant to eat. It's more like animal meat was meant for human consumption.

Side: Yes
SlapShot(2608) Disputed
1 point

you need to read my post above, sir.

There IS such a thing as a certain animal species who "was meant to eat meat, contrary to what you said.

Works like this, amigo: if a carnivorous diet is seen to actually improve the health and performance of the animal, as opposed to a herbivorous diet or even a fruitarian diet, and also enables that animal to achieve optimal performance levels--both mentally and physically--then that animal WAS MEANT to eat meat.

As in: at a cellular level it enjoys superior performance and fitness while in a carnivorous diet. And yes--it IS on a cellular and even smaller, a DNA level, that determines what the optimal diet is for a certain species. Its level of activity also comes into play here.

This fact is, again, witnessed in the example of my above post, where I spoke of the theory that we homo sapiens actually evolved bigger and better brains after changing from a herbivorous to an omnivorous diet. These brains leading to better cognitive skills, which enabled us to thrive over our rivals.

Hope this helps.

SS

Side: No
DBCooper(2194) Disputed
1 point

You want the NPR to speak for you because you can't speak for yourself.

Side: Yes
Saintnow(3684) Disputed
1 point

The Bible said man is omnivorous thousands of years before evolutionists tried to justify eating meat. I don't need evolution to excuse my hamburger. I thank God for my hamburger and make no excuses for eating it. Why do evolutionists try to make excuses? They don't want to be held responsible for their sins?

Side: Yes
1 point

The homo-sapiens evolved through hunting animals whether they be prey or predator and using both their meat and resources to fortify their position in the animal kingdom. We can see this currently in many ways, firstly, humans have four types of teeth, one of which is called the "canine" this type of tooth was basically made to rip and tear food apart. These canines are the teeth you see in most if not all predatory animals. Moreover, the canines appear in a child at around 16-20 months of age. Furthermore, if you look back, we could see that our ancestors didn't have the technology that we have to day (duh) which means the number of plants that they could use efficiently was dramatically less than the number of resources of meat. We could see that there are early showings of herding massive number of lamb,sheep, whatever could be eaten. Furthermore, the first signs of the use of weapons (whether it be for defense or offence) were seen was back in 400,000 BC in a part of Germany (near Schöningen) and they weren't used for simple defense.

In conclusion, we know that our incisors were made to shred and tear meat, our ancestors didn't have the technology we now have to fully extract all resources from plants to satisfy their needs as humans, and there were early signs of herding and using weapons to gather these materials.

Side: Yes
Saintnow(3684) Disputed
1 point

All I need to know is that God said every creature is meat for me and I can thank Him for it. Why in the world would I want to believe in evolution?

The Bible said man is omnivorous thousands of years before evolutionists tried to justify eating meat. I don't need evolution to excuse my hamburger. I thank God for my hamburger and make no excuses for eating it. Why do evolutionists try to make excuses? They don't want to be held responsible for their sins?

Side: No
Saintnow(3684) Disputed
1 point

The Bible said man is omnivorous thousands of years before evolutionists tried to justify eating meat. I don't need evolution to excuse my hamburger. I thank God for my hamburger and make no excuses for eating it. Why do evolutionists try to make excuses? They don't want to be held responsible for their sins?

Side: No
2 points

Humans are born with exactly 0 carnivorous instincts. We do not have claws, or teeth sharp enough to rip into the flesh of a live animal. If you could go outside and hunt down an animal with your bare hands, no tools or weapons, just your own instincts, then you would be labeled as a carnivore/omnivore. If you could rip into the flesh of that animal and eat the entire thing, not just the parts that you "like", then you would be labeled as a carnivore/omnivore. However, humans are incapable of eating almost every type of meat without it being cooked and covered in some sort of seasoning to hide the taste of flesh.

If you placed a chicken and an apple in front of a two year old, which one would the child instinctively try to pet or play with? And which one would the child instinctively eat? Eating meat is a learned behavior. Over time, we are taught to ignore the extreme cruelty relating to the meat industry until we are entirely desensitized and completely believe we have thought this way since birth.

Our jaws move side to side. Animals who eat meat, however, have jaws that ONLY move up and down. Our stomachs most closely resemble the stomachs of natural herbivores. Carnivores have shorter stomachs that are meant to get the meat out of the animal's body as fast as possible, so none of the "bad stuff", such as cholesterol, affects the animal's health. Lets just say, I have never heard of an animal in the wild having heart disease...

The argument stating the purposes of us having canines is for ripping meat is entirely inaccurate. Plenty of herbivores, such as monkeys, have canines, and they are definitely not used for hunting an animal.

Side: No
2 points

There are a lot of misconceptions and false information when it comes to humans eating meat. As stated above, there is indisputable evidence that humans are herbivores. No real carnivore has to cook meat or use tools to kill their food. Their bodies are naturally able to digest it. We can say that humans have adapted to eat meat, however, our bodies were never meant for that. We don't contain the enzyme necessary for digesting meat, which is present in all carnivores and omnivores. Also, meat (and dairy) cause the body to lose calcium, as the body must waste calcium to neutralize the acidity created by the meat (and dairy). If humans are omnivorous or carnivorous, then there would be no problems caused by eating meat. Carnivores don't get arthritis from over consumption of meat. However, humans can consume fruits and vegetables in large quantities and never suffer any type of sicknesses or disease. And all the nutrients that people claim can only be found in meat can be found in an herbivorous diet. I added a link containing the information on nutrition.

Supporting Evidence: Herbivorous diet has everything the body needs (adaptt.org)
Side: No