DePompa's Double Standard

Recent blog posts in USA Today have highlighted the talking points of Vegan vs. Non. USA Today blogger, Physician, and vegan - Dr. Patrice Green - wrote on Thurday:

"Replacing meat, egg and dairy products with low-fat, high-fiber vegetarian foods is a simple solution for improving America's health. Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated the wide-ranging benefits of a plant-based diet, including lower rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and several cancers."

To this vegan, this sounds completely reasonable. Everything Dr. Green says mirrors my own independent research, as well as the professional research of the and ADA and more.

However, feeling that research and a medical degree were simply not enough, her fellow USA Today blogger Mark DePompa wrote in rebuttal:

"Shame on USA TODAY reader Patrice Green, who used her credentials as a physician to lecture readers on eating healthy vs. genetically engineered food. Her argument was based on a vegan diet meeting her definition of healthy...Humans are omnivores. Our bodies are made to eat meat and vegetables. Although many people use their vegan diet as the healthy alternative to meat, there is no consensus on that diet being the healthiest option. Denying yourself meat and dairy might help the waistline, but plenty of meat eaters don't have weight issues."

Now, I am a little confused? Vegan detractors have long argued that our claims remain largely unsubstantiated by medical science. Now, along comes a member of the medical community and substantiates some of our claims and now she is being publicly 'shamed.' These are often the same people who grasp fleetingly on every new report or study saying that it's okay to eat eggs now, or that alcohol isn't as bad as we thought, or that the Atkins diet will actually  benefit your heart. But the strangest part about DePompa's arguments are that they are totally baseless. Dr. Green never once mentioned weight loss in her article, instead basing her assertions on the proven benefits of a vegan diet in treating and preventing heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. I am sorry to say, Mark, the case is closed on this one. The reports are in; the ink dry. If you want to continue to enjoy your steak with a clear conscious you had better tune-out the media. 

It is clear: In the United states, if you manage to avoid cancer, heart disease, car accidents, or complications from diabetes you are not very likely to die any time soon, Overwhelmingly these are the things killing our citizens, and (aside from car accidents) all of them can addressed by 'going vegan.' DePompa continues on to say that there is "No clear consensus" about a vegan diet being superior, so Green was erroneous in promoting it. Whether that is true or not, I think it is safe to say that there is a clear consensus that animal products are dangerous to our health. 'Moderation' is dietary code for 'dangerous' and almost all dietitians call for moderating the use of animal fats in our diets as a key to long-term health. As for DePoma's assertion that humans are Omnivorous, being 'designed' to eat meat and vegetables I offer up this evidence: Human's cannot eat meat safely without cooking it. For a vast majority of our evolutionary history we have not had the benefit as fire as a tool. Raw meat is unappealing to most humans, who do not find it acceptable to eat until cut into nearly unidentifiable pieces and cooked. This is not the behavior of a predator. When we see road kill, we are most often disturbed, not hungered. This is not the behavior of scavengers. We, as humans, have the dullest canine teeth of any primate (primates being almost entirely herbivorous) and do not produce high enough levels of urea to suggest that we are carnivores.  My fingernails, much like yours, are ideal for peeling fruit, not killing. Aside from lacking a 'clear consensus' on the issue of humans being omnivorous, I submit that there has hardly been a census taken on the subject. 

We all may of had that uncle who drank and smoke, and ate bacon every day and lived to 85. But if you are like me, you also had that uncle who didn't drink or smoke, worked in the great out-doors, was thin, trim, and good natured - and after his second battle with cancer succumbed to it at 48. If you look around you in America and see healthy, happy, thriving people you may need to dramatically redefine what those terms mean to you.