Should people be vegetarians?

Date: Saturday March 14th 2015

Hi everyone, had a really great debate this morning, the topic was "Should people be vegetarians?".  For purposes of this discussion vegetarian was defined as someone that could eat eggs, drink milk etc, but would not eat meat, chicken, beef, pork etc.

Team A: China : Miranda | US : Rick

Team B:  China: Angie, Judie | Spain : Oscar

Team C:  China: Tata, Alina | Hong Kong: Selly | Argentina: Johny | India: Sunita | Pakistan : Sid

Team A's position: There is less impact on wildlife, especially in countries where bushmeat makes up a significant portion of the diet; it is healthier, lower diseases etc; vegetables and fruit provide significant nutrients etc.

Team B's position: Meat is the best source of B-12, iron and essential elements; more expensive to be a vegetarian; people are not always healthier

Team C provided many critical comments, especially to Team A :).   These included: people's needs are different, including gender differences and there is also an evolutionary design of the human body to be meat eaters.  Being a vegetarian does not by itself make someone healthier, there are other life style factors exercise etc.  Tata quoted a Harvard Study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/20479151/

Johny provided some references as well, located at: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/should-humans-eat-meat-excerpt/

Conclusion: Ultimately, no one on Team C was persuaded to join Team A.  Being a Vegetarian is a personal choice.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/should-humans-eat-meat-excerpt/

Below is the link to listen to our chat

Should people be vegetarians? – Recording File

For people who did not join the live discussion, feel free to contribute the ideas in comment blanks below.