Vegetarians: A Dietary Minority by Karl Krahnke All over the world, and for many different reasons, there are millions of people who rarely or never eat meat. These people are called vegetarians. To people who eat meat, being a vegetarian may seem like a very strange way to live, but most vegetarians are very happy with their choice of diet. They choose their diets for several different reasons, and, in fact, there are different kinds of vegetarians. Some vegetarians eat almost anything except food that actually comes from the killing of live animals. Their diets may or may not include fish and other seafood, but usually include milk and other dairy ( 乳制品的 ) products and eggs. Some vegetarians are only sometimes vegetarians. They eat meat products occasionally, on social and special occasions, but they generally try to avoid doing so. On the other hand, there are some extreme vegetarians who avoid eating anything that comes from animals, including milk, cheese, and eggs. One of the first questions many vegetarians are asked is how they stay healthy. Meat-eaters often believe that meat is such an important source of protein ( 蛋白质 ) and vitamins that vegetarians must have difficulty staying healthy. However, only extreme vegetarians, who live on only grains and green vegetables, seem to have any real health problems. Extreme vegetarians are sometimes very thin and have a shortage of B-vitamins. Less extreme vegetarians are usually in better health than most meat-eaters. Recent research is proving that we need less protein than scientists once thought. Young men were once recommended to eat between 50 to 100 grams of protein a day. Recent recommendations from the World Health Organization are between 30 and 40 grams, and many studies show that young men who eat as little as 20 grams of protein a day can be quite healthy. Since many non-meat foods are good sources of protein, it is not difficult for a vegetarian to get as much protein as he or she needs. Combinations of beans and other legumes ( 豆 ) and cheese and other dairy products are excellent sources of protein. Many traditional vegetarian diets, such as are common in parts of India, are made up of peas or beans and yogurt ( 酸奶酪 ) . In fact, vegetarians have an enormous health advantage. One of the major health problems in modern societies is not too little protein but too much food, especially in the form of animal fats. Medical evidence suggests that animal fats, including butter, contribute to the development of cholesterol ( 胆固醇 ) in the human body. High amounts of cholesterol seem to be part of the cause of heart disease. Most vegetarians have low levels of cholesterol. High amounts of animal fats also seem to lead to certain kinds of cancer, and vegetarians typically have less of these cancers than people who eat a lot of meat. Overall, studies comparing the health of vegetarians and meat-eaters show that the meat-eaters are twice as likely to die of heart disease as vegetarians are. Better health is one reason that people choose to become vegetarians. Another reason is religion. Some religions prohibit ( 禁止 ) the eating of meat. The largest of these is the Hindu religion, which has about 600 million believers in the world. Although not all Hindus are vegetarian, many are, and there are many believers of other religions such as Buddhism and even some Christian religions who also do not eat meat. Many vegetarians do not eat meat simply because they do not like the taste of it. They have no religious or philosophical reasons; they just do not like meat. Another important reason that vegetarians give for not eating meat is the health advantages that were given above. Lastly, there are many people who do not eat meat because they just do not like the idea of killing animals for food. They believe that life, all life, is valuable , and that we do not have to destroy life to feed ourselves when there are other good sources of food. There is also an economic argument for vegetarianism: Animals are not good sources of food because they use too much land that could be used for growing food plants and they eat plants that could be used for food. For example, a piece of land can produce five times as much protein if rice is grown on it than if the land is used to raise animals for food. Where conditions are right, then, we can produce three to five times as much food by using the land for growing food plants rather than for raising animals. How many vegetarians are there? It is difficult to say, and some vegetarians feel very lonely, especially when they go out to a restaurant with a group of meat-eating friends. But in the United States about 3.5 to 4 percent of the population say that they are vegetarians. In other countries the percentage of vegetarians varies according to the religion and culture and availability of meat. Vegetarians are found everywhere among people who can choose what they eat. Vegetarianism is not just for some religious groups or those who are very concerned about their health. Many athletes, politicians, artists, and entertainers are vegetarians. Past and present vegetarians include P aul McCartney, one of the members of the musical group known as the Beatles; Mahatma Gandhi; Kenneth Kaunda, the president of Zambia; a number of Marathon runners and weight lifters; and Adolf Hitler.