Is it Healthier to be an Omnivore or a Vegetarian? - Science WAC Essay

Introduction

Having an omnivore's diet is a lot more beneficial than pursuing a vegetarian diet. This is because of the several nutrients that are provided by meat, that you can't find in plants. This includes protein, Vitamin B12, and other crucial nutrients for your body. In an Omnivore's diet, the protein in meat is easily utilized in your body, giving you healthier bones, muscles, and brain. Overall, an Omnivore's diet is much more beneficial than a vegetarians diet. Here's why.

Reason #1

Meat provides several vitamins that are essential for you body. These vitamins include vitamin B12, B13,B6, iron, and many others. Vitamin B12 can only be found in a diet consisting of animal foods. This is supported in the article "Is It Healthier to Be a Vegetarian or an Omnivore?" by SENCER where they say "Without meat in the diet, humans cut out vitamin B12 and limit DHA/EPA (active forms of omega-3 fats), nutrients which promote health." This essentially proves my point of not getting enough of these vitamins. in another article called  "7 Reasons not to avoid meat" By Kris Gunnars he believes that we have evolved through history as being omnivores, and our digestive systems have developed to become used to this behavior. This was stated in the article when he said "Throughout evolution, humans and pre-humans have been eating meat. Our digestive systems are well equipped to make full use of the fats, proteins and nutrients found in animal foods." This concludes my first reason, of not getting enough of these nutrients in a vegetarian diet.

Reason #2

Another thing that an omnivore diet provides is creatine. This creatine provides energy for your cells, as well as it benefits your brain, and muscles. Again, said in the article "Is It Healthier to Be a Vegetarian or an Omnivore?" Authored by SENCER, they also explains that your muscles, brain, and bones are benefited from this creatine in you body, and largely benefit the organs, and/or body systems. This is further explained in the article, when they say " Meat products contain creatine and carnosine, which are beneficial to the brain and muscles." This conclude my second reason, of not getting enough support from creatine.

Reason #3

Adequate amounts of proteins and calories are essential in any diet, and an omnivore diet seams to be better in supplying you with these. Calories and proteins are high in this diet, providing your body with high quality proteins, as well as adequate amounts of calories. In Kris Gunnars article, he also supported this claim. This was said in the article in "A leading concern for those who prefer a vegetarian diet is making sure adequate nutrients are supplied, particularly calories and protein." Because meat consists of these high quality proteins, you are able to stimulate growth in your bones and muscles, as well as creatine does. These are the reasons why lack of calories and proteins in my 3rd reason.

Counter Arguments

Many may argue that a vegetarian diet is the healthier diet, because it reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, as well as other disease linked with animal fats. In the article "Should People Become Vegetarian" By ProCon.org, they said "People found that eating red meat was associated with an increased risk of death from cancer and cardiovascular disease." This fact was also supported in the article made by SENCER, where they explain "studies have shown an increased incidence of chronic disease among those who eat meat." As the fact is presented in processed meat, there is no evidence for un-processed meats. This is yet again another fact presented by Kris Gunnars article, where he said "In the past few decades, meat has been blamed for all sorts of diseases. But we've been eating meat for a long time and blaming new health problems on old foods doesn't make much sense." He elaborates more on this towards the end of the article, where he explains " If you want to avoid chronic disease, then it makes sense to avoid processed meat as much as possible. But unprocessed meats seems to be fine." This is my counter arguement for the claim against cardiovascular disease.

Conclusion

To conclude this essay, you can clearly see that the omnivore diet is a lot more beneficial for you life. In this diet, you are provided with high quality vitamins, proteins, calories, and creatine. All of these are largely beneficial to your muscular, nervous, and skeletal system. So, you can conclude that the benefits of an omnivorous diet outweighs the vegetarian diet.