"pearl" wrote in message
...
"Rubystars" wrote in message
om...

Humans are natural omnivores.

"Evidence suggests that eating even small amounts of
animal- based foods is linked at least for many individuals
to significantly higher rates of cancers and cardiovascular
diseases typically found in the United States."
http://www.news.cornell.edu/general/...ramid.ssl.html
- were humans *natural* omnivores, that is, adapted to efficiently
digest and derive nutrients from animal flesh without adverse effects,
the above wouldn't be the case.

I think you're wrong there. In hunter-gatherer societies, which humans were
for most of our history, most of the food is of plant origin, but meat is
still consumed at regular intervals. A successful hunt brings home meat to
be shared, but not every day. Gatherers also pick up eggs when possible. I
think it's the over-consumption of meat that is the problem, not meat
itself. If we based all of our meals (with rare exceptions) around avocados,
coconuts, and fried tofu, (instead of beef, chicken, and pork) with side
dishes to complement them, then you'd see a ton of health problems.that way
too.

Fires for cooking meat go all the way back to Homo erectus, and even further
back are tools being made by Homo habilis to cut meat up. Even chimpanzees,
which share a common ancestor with us around 5 million years ago, eat
termites regularly and sometimes kill monkeys or other prey.

Hunting weapons and animal-product artifacts can be found from other
ancestors and relatives, Homo heidelbergensis, for example. Our sister
species (now extinct) Homo neanderthalensis (alternately known as Homo
sapiens neanderthalensis) ate a very heavy meat diet and wore skins. One of
the characteristics of modern humans is that they not only used stone, but
also antler, bone, and ivory. One of the earliest ways of saving water was
inside of an ostrich shell (a practice still continued today by some people
in Africa).

"Animal flesh" doesn't have adverse effects. Overconsumption of any type of
food does. Fish provide many essential nutrients including those Omega fatty
acids that are so good for people. Beef is rich in iron. Baked chicken is
low in fat and also very nutritious. Other meats also have benefits, when
eaten in moderation.

Dairy products are not only high in calcium but also protein and other
things that are good for people, especially when fortified with extra
vitamins. Eggs are a nutritional powerhouse, giving almost everything except
vitamin C and fiber. They need to be nutritional to provide food for the
growing embryos inside (if they were fertile).

Snip
The hominids successfully adapted to open savanna and woodland
environments, developing a series of different strategies for predator
defense, foraging, and social behavior. One of these behavioral
adaptations was possibly a shift to accomodate quantities of meat
in the diet, to augment plant resources.

Meat is a lot easier to digest than plant matter. Herbivores have much
longer intestines and more specialized teeth than we do. They may even have
multiple chambers or "stomachs." Our puny appendix in no way compares to
that of a koala, for example, and we don't even need it to be healthy.

We have both tearing teeth and grinding teeth (though not strong enough to
grind tough grains without processing).

Much of the archaeological evidence also points to a shift in dietary
composition, although direct evidence of meat eating is rarely found.
Instead, meat eating has been inferred from many different sources.
One source is through the interpretation of presence and quantity of
different skeletal elements found in living floors (supposed places of
hominid occupation). High densities of bones found in association
with stone tools have led researchers to believe that processing and
consumption of carcasses took place at these sites.

When there are scraper marks on the bones and the marrow has been extracted,
it's pretty darn certain.

However,
interpretation of this information can often be misleading, particularly
if taphonomy has not been adequately investigated. Accumulations
of bones and stone tools, while intriguing as evidence of hominid
meat-eating, could also be the result of unrelated processes. Careful
examination of the surrounding matrix is required to determine
depositional integrity."
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/anth...h12/chap12.htm

Spears and knives and hide scrapers and hand axes, and tools made of bone
and antler, and statues made of ivory weren't mentioned in that article. I
wonder why?

-Rubystars