Six Arguments for a Greener Diet: How a Plant-based Diet Could Save Your Health and the Environment

258 Pages·2006·36.58 MB·English

by  Michael F. Jacobson, Center For Science In The Public Interest

32575_cvr 7/12/06 6:50 PM Page 1
$14.95 (Canada: $21) ISBN 0-89329-049-1
his careful examination of scientific studies finds that eating more
Tplant foods and fewer fatty animal products can lead to extra years
of healthy living. Happily, that same diet leads to much less food
poisoning, water pollution, air pollution, and global warming. And,
because fewer cows, pigs, and chickens would need to be raised, there
would be less suffering on factory farms and in slaughterhouses.
“Six Arguments is a great description of the links between our diet and
serious environmental and health problems. I hope that readers and policy
makers will implement the book’s many recommendations.”
Walter Willett, M.D.
Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health
“While there are serious differences of opinion about issues relating to the
animal foods component of the American diet, the provocative policy
discussions in this book should be must reading for anyone interested in
the future of food and agriculture.”
Dan Glickman
former Secretary, U.S. Department of Agriculture
“Six Arguments for a Greener Diet is a great guide to the powerful impact
that our dietary choices—especially high meat consumption—have on our
environmental footprint.”
Robert S. Lawrence, M.D.
Director, Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., is co-founder and executive director of the Center for Science in
the Public Interest (CSPI), the nonprofit health advocacy organization that publishes the world’s
largest-circulation nutrition newsletter, Nutrition Action Healthletter. CSPI advocates nutritious
and safe diets and campaigns for policies to protect the public health and environment. It led the
campaigns for laws requiring Nutrition Facts and trans-fat labeling on packaged foods, requiring
health warnings on alcoholic beverages, and defining “organic” foods. It publishes attention-getting
studies, including exposés of the nutritional quality of restaurant meals and movie theater popcorn.
Michael Jacobson is the author/co-author of Restaurant Confidential, Marketing Madness, What
Are We Feeding Our Kids?, and The Fast-Food Guide.
www.EatingGreen.org
Cover design by Debra Brink; book design by Nita Congress
Six Arguments for a Greener Diet
Six Arguments for a Greener Diet
How a More Plant-Based Diet Could Save
Your Health and the Environment
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Copyright © 2006 by Center for Science in the Public Interest
First Printing, July 2006
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), founded in 1971, is a nonproft
organization that conducts innovative education, research, and advocacy programs
in the area of nutrition, food safety, environment, and alcoholic beverages. CSPI
is supported by the 900,000 subscribers in the United States and Canada to its
Nutrition Action Healthleter and by foundation grants.
Center for Science in the Public Interest
1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW, #300
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: [phone]; fax: [phone]
Email:
The Web of Animal-Based
Foods and Problems
Natural gas,
ores
Fertilizer Pesticides
Air, soil
& water
Risks to
pollution
farmers &
wildlife
Irrigation
water
Ground-
water
depletion Antibiotics,
hormones
Animal
feed
Soil
erosion
Health &
ecological
risks
Global
Animal warming
cruelty
(methane)
Meat,
Manure dairy,
eggs
Soil Air Water Food Cancer Heart
pollution pollution pollution poisoning disease
Eating Green: By the Numbers
(All fgures apply to the United States, except where noted, and are approximate. See text for sources.)
Health
3 years: how much longer vegetarian Seventh-day Adventists live than non-
vegetarian Seventh-day Adventists
4.9 servings: the servings of fruits and vegetables consumed daily, compared to
the recommended 5 to 10
16 percent: the decreased mortality from heart disease associated with eating
one additional serving of fruits or vegetables each day
24 percent: how much lower the rate of fatal heart attacks is in vegetarians com-
pared to non-vegetarians
25 percent: the proportion of food-poisoning deaths due to pathogens from ani-
mals or their manure
33 percent: the decrease in beef consumption since 1976
50 percent: how much less dietary fber Americans consume than is recommended
51 percent: the reduction in risk of heart attack for people eating nuts fve or
more times per week compared to less than once a week
90 percent: the proportion of chickens contaminated with Campylobacter bacteria
100 percent: how much fattier meat is from a typical steer that’s fed grain rather
than grass
199 pounds: the combined amount of meat, poultry, and seafood produced per
American (2003)
1,100: the mortalities due each year to foodborne illnesses linked to meat, poul-
try, dairy, and egg products
46,000: the number of illnesses due annually to antibiotic-resistant strains of Sal-
monella and Campylobacter
63,000: the number of deaths from coronary heart disease caused annually by the
fat and cholesterol in meat, dairy, poultry, and eggs
$7 billion: the annual medical and related costs of foodborne illnesses
$37 billion: the annual cost of drugs to treat high blood pressure, heart disease,
and diabetes
$50 billion: the annual cost of coronary bypass operations and angioplasties
Environment
1 pound: the amount of fertilizer needed to produce 3 pounds of cooked beef
5 times as much: the irrigation water used to grow feed grains compared to fruits
and vegetables
5 tons: the soil lost annually to erosion on an average acre of cropland
7 pounds: the amount of corn needed to add 1 pound of weight to feedlot cattle
(some of that weight gain is not edible meat)
19 percent: the proportion of all methane, a greenhouse gas, emitted by cattle
and other livestock
41 percent: the share of irrigated land planted in livestock feed crops
66 percent: the proportion of grain that ends up as livestock feed at home or
abroad
331: the number of odor-causing chemicals in hog manure
4,500 gallons: the rain and irrigation water needed to produce a quarter-pound
of raw beef
8,500 square miles: the size of the “dead zone” created in the Gulf of Mexico by
fertilizer runoff carried by the Mississippi from the upper Midwest
33 million: the number of cars needed to produce the same level of global warm-
ing as is caused by the methane gas emitted by livestock and their manure
22 billion pounds: the amount of fertilizer used annually to grow feed grains for
American livestock
3.3 trillion pounds: the amount of livestock manure produced annually
17 trillion gallons: the amount of irrigation water used annually to produce feed
for U.S. livestock
Animal Welfare
0.5 square feet: the amount of space allotted to the average layer hen
30: the number of chickens and turkeys consumed annually by the average
American
13,200: the number of chickens killed each hour in a modern slaughterhouse
50,000: the number of broiler chickens in the largest growing sheds
140 million: the number of cattle, pigs, and sheep slaughtered each year
Contents
Acknowledgments  iii
Abbreviations  v
Preface: Greener Diets for a Healthier World  vii
The Context
The Fatted Steer  3
The Arguments
#1. Less Chronic Disease and Better Overall Health  17
#2. Less Foodborne Illness  59
#3. Better Soil  73
#4. More and Cleaner Water  87
#5. Cleaner Air  103
#6. Less Animal Suffering  113
Making Change
Changing Your Own Diet  143
Changing Government Policies  151
i