From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Mon Jun 04 2001 - 11:27:02 MDT
On Mon, Jun 04, 2001 at 12:55:53AM -0500, Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> Animal proteins are more complicated than plant proteins. This is why they
> are called "complete" proteins, because they contain all 22 amino acids and
> are pre-formed into completed proteins. Vegetable proteins are much simpler
> proteins. They are called "incomplete" proteins because they contain fewer
> numbers of amino acids and are not pre-formed into completed protein. The
> body can convert these simpler proteins into individual aminos or into other
> aminos more easily than it can break down more complex protein structures.
> (That is, the complex structures take more time and more steps to break
> down.)
Huh? This does not fit with my knowledge of biochemistry. As far as I
know plant proteins are just as complex as animal proteins. What do you
mean by "completed proteins"? That they are cross-linked with other
proteins? The number of amino acid types used do not affect the speed
proteases break down the protein. Also, the lectins found in many plants
slow protease activity.
> > > Animal diseases can also be absorbed from animals. Eating meat is
> almost
> > > like getting an indirect blood transfusion from the animal.
> >
> > What a claim! It is almost like getting a blood transfusion in what way?
>
> If you eat a pig with trichinosis, you can get trichinosis. If you eat a
> cow with mad cow disease, you can get mad cow disease. (They used to
> believe this was not true, but about 100 people in Europe have now
> contracted this disease.) If you eat a cow with high cholesterol, you will
> have high cholesterol. If you eat a cow with high salt levels, you will
> have high salt levels. If you eat a cow with mineral or pesticide
> poisoning, you will ingest these same poisons. Basically, whatever chemical
> or pathogen gets absorbed by cow mammals will also tend to be absorbed by
> human mammals. This is not really a controversial claim. This is why we
> inspect meat before we eat it, because diseased meat can make people sick.
Remember that many pathogens are highly species specific. That is why we
don't get foot-and-mouth disease (or rather, why in the rare cases it
does occur in humans is a very mild condition) or most other illnesses
that hurt livestock.
Also, the metabolism and especially digestion of a grazing herbivore is
rather different from our own, making it dangerous to just claim that
unwanted chemicals in meat will transfer in the same concentrations to
our own body. That is affected by a lot of factors.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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