Vitamin C - Why humans are not real omnivores

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   Herbivore Lionposted 13 years ago

   An omnivore is not a creature that just happens to eat both plants and meat; it is a creature that can thrive on a diet made up entirely of meat or entirely of plants. In order to do this you must be able to produce both vitamin C and the amino acid taurine within your body. Carnivores can produce vitamin C but not taurine. With herbivores it's the other way round. Scurvy happened to humans as a result of not getting enough vitamin C into their bodies, but no ship's cat ever got scurvy as they are naturally carnivorous.
   
   Animals are placed in the categories of herbivore, omnivore and carnivore due to what they NEED to eat, not due to what they CAN eat. If animals were put in dietary categories based entirely on what they CAN consume then pretty much all of them would be classified as omnivores. Cows for example are forced to eat dog and sheep meat in factory farms and in the wild they must occasionally consume the odd insect when eating grass. And while domestic cats are obligate carnivores they do willfully enjoy the odd fruit or vegetable.
   
   
   
   
   
   

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      martinrocks_88posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Really? cat is an omnivore? i wasn't aware of that and i have never seen a cat eat any fruits.

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         Herbivore Lionposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Please re-read the post. Cats are not omnivores but can eat a vegan diet if it is supplemented with synthesized taurine which is the same type of taurine used by the regular cat food industry because the meat is of such low quality it loses most of its natural taurine.
         
         http://www.veggiepets.com/shop/about-ve … -cats.html

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            Melissa A Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Poor cats.

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               Herbivore Lionposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Given any thought to the miserable farm animals used to feed cats? Nutrition wise vegan cat food is no more artificial than regular cat food. A good thing though it is not made up of the diseased rejected parts of animals. Also if you believe it cruel to feed carnivores vegetables then presumably you would think it cruel to feed herbivores meat which is what many farm factory farm animals are fed.
               
               Another point most if not all commercial pet food is padded out with grains and vegetables so that would mean most owners are already cruelly feeding their pets vegetables.

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                  Melissa A Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Sounds like your issue is with bad pet food, not with feeding animals animals. I purchase the highest quality food I can afford, it's expensive enough to purchase meat for humans that is humanely raised. I do not support bad pet food or factory farming anymore than feeding obligate carnivores the improper diet for ethical, cultural, or religious reasons. I look for pet foods that are not corn and soy based, preferably with human grade ingredients. Although, carnivores can certainly eat and benefit from many forms of plant based foods. This is just not the ONLY source of nutrition they should receive, and I think the same goes for many people.

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   Greek Oneposted 13 years ago

   ..but man, is steak yummy!!!!
   
   Can't we just re-classify steak as a vegetable so everyone can be happy?
   
   

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      Herbivore Lionposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That would be a perversion of science.

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      martinrocks_88posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Gonna sign up a petition for this great cause..LOL. STAKES!!!!

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      Herbivore Lionposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The ultimate point of this post is to disprove the commonly held presumptions that humans are omnivores. The canine argument is rather ridiculous as horses and camels have canines. Obviously they don't eat meat. Watch here:
      
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSeMRQTjcsA

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         Melissa A Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Science does not work with an agenda.

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         Herbivore Lionposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         "Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity." - Nikola Tesla, the man who invented the 20th century.
         All science clearly has an agenda. There is just good agenda and evil agenda. The invention of fire and the wheel were about the betterment of humanity and therefore good. Vivisection is about sadistic imbeciles making a lot of money out of torturing animals and therefore evil.

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            Kangaroo_Jaseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Fire - deemed to be a result of nature and naturally occurring phenomenon resulted in the discovery of, not the invention of. We humans, in later times, learned and discovered how to harness it better.

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            Melissa A Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Gee, I did not say anything about vivisection. I said something about people seeing what they want to see, in terms of science. It's called "wishful thinking", the opposite of intellectual through process.

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   Greek Oneposted 13 years ago

   As the ultimate vegetarian, I eat carnivores so as to do my part in ridding the world of meat-eating species....
   
   one bite at a time

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      martinrocks_88posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      LOL

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   knolyourselfposted 13 years ago

   I'm a Laplander; I have to eat meat.

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   kirstenblogposted 13 years ago

   As Bill Bailey says -
   I'm a vegetarian. I'm not strict; I eat fish, and duck. Well, they're nearly fish, aren't they? They're semi-submerged a lot of the time, they spend a lot of time in the water, they're virtually fish, really. And pigs, cows, sheep, anything that lives near water, I'm not strict. I'm sort of like a post-modern vegetarian; I eat meat ironically.

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