Talk:Plant-based food/Pending FAQs

FAQ - Nutrition

"What about minerals? Doesn't phytic acid get in the way of absorption?"

Start with: Not enough to be a problem... Also mention: Vitamin C and iron; RDAs set conservatively enough to account for phytates; ULs also conservative enough that somewhat exceeding them is safe in the context of phytates(...)( in other words, RDAs account for worst-case low absorption; ULs account for worst-case high absorption; studies are based on "healthy for 95% of the population" and you would know if you're in the other 5% (TALK: verify. Research: what conditions would the 5% typically include?) )

"What about B12?"

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"But humans are omnivores tho?"

Omnivore means that we can digest plants or animals. (...)( The body does not care where we get our nutrients, as long as we get them. ) We can get all our nutrients from plants if we want to.

"But GMO?"

• gmo is not harmful (link to some page)
• btw most farm animals are fed gmo crops, so if that's your concern then meat isn't going to solve it unless you're rich enough for all-organic meat

FAQ - Ecology

"What about all the [rainforest] deforestation involved in soy production?"

• most deforestation is to make room for cattle ranching; soy is much further down the list
• soy can be grown in other places that don't threaten rainforests
• takes more crops (including soy) to make an omnivore diet than a plant-based one anyway 💬 discussion maybe even say: "Takes more soy to make meat than to make tofu" - much simpler to write but first I gotta verify whether it's true or not.

"But animals are fed crappy grains, not food-grade"

Not true. In general, anything that's actually unsafe for humans is also unsafe for animals too (especially ones that humans eat). Context: Excludes crop residues - but we'll elaborate on that part elsewhere. TODO: merge this with non-pending FAQ

FAQ - Animals

"What about all the animals killed in harvesting crops?"

TODO:

1. Mention that it takes more crops to make an omnivore diet than it does to make a plant-based diet.
2. Still research anyway to see actual statisitcs about field animal deaths.
3. Open up the discussion about sentience being a continuum: Is the death of 1 mouse morally equal to the death of 1 cow? I would say no (even though but both lives matter to some degree). Different creatures have different capacity for conscious experience (it probably loosely correlates with brain size but i'm sure there are other factors as well).
4. Even if it turns out that grass-fed beef involves fewer deaths per unit of protein (if we disregard the sentience continnum), don't forget that cows would not be able to produce enough protein to feed 8 billion people even if all land was grazed. So since we need some crops to feed the world, better to use fewer crops (via plant-based diets).

"But what about lions, tigers, wolves and other carnivores, do you think they shouldn't eat meat?"

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FAQ - Other

"Is it hypocritical when vegans are ok with abortion?"

TODO: talk about 24 week mark, and status quo of abortion doctor policies

"But what about indiginous peoples, do you think they shouldn't eat meat?"

Indiginous people are less than 5% of the world's population. If they were the only ones eating meat, we wouldn't be in this environmental mess we're in. They Earth can sustain a few hundred million hunter-gatherers, but not 8 billion hunter-gatherers (animals would go extinct left right and center). To feed 8 billion people sustainably, we need plant agriculture. (this point comes up elsewhere as well, so maybe make this its own page?)

"but i heard that plants feel pain? i read some article that plants produce chemical signals in response to damage?" 💬 discussion ALT: "but I heard that plants have feelings too?"

Those chemical signals within plants are no more complex than the chemical signals within the tissues of an UNCONSCIOUS person or animal. 💬 discussion ALT: Regarding those studies showing that plants can "send signals in response to damage" - this is analogous to animal wound healing, not consciousness. 💬 discussion maybe also address the finding about signals between plants You might be thinking of these articles: (todo: add links). None of the sources say that plants feel actual pain. That's just journalists misinterpreting it. In any case, omnivore diets kill more plants than plant-based diets. Lastly, no one in their right mind would think that mowing the lawn is morally equivalent to kicking a puppy (for example).

"but a social media influencer told me that raising kids vegan is child abuse?"

As long as the child's nutritional needs are met, it's not abuse. say this better: Just because you read some story of some parents starving their kids on a "vegan" diet, doesn't mean that's normal for vegan diets. There are other stories of parents starving their kids on a diet that contains meat. 💬 discussion rephrase all?

"but someone said veganism is first-world privilege?"

• meat (even the cheaper kind) is far more expensive than cheap plant-based food
• grain-fed meat is an inefficient use of crops, only rich countries can afford to eat a lot of it

"what about honey?"

Some points to mention: 1. "but bees are needed for pollenation" - Pollinator bees produce as much honey as they need for themselves. When beekeepers harvest this honey, they have to replace it with some other sugar source (typically corn syrup based). If that's good enough for bees, it's good enough for humans (btw link to nutrition page about why empty calories can still be part of a healthy diet). 2. The aformented problem may be overcome by breeding bees specifically for honey production. But this makes them worse pollenators. You can't optimize for two things. Most honey comes from farms that don't provide pollenation services. Most pollenation service providers don't sell honey on any significant scale. 3. "but honey is antimicrobial" - so is any concentrated sugar source. Bacteria & molds don't grow because the water activity is too low. Slight acidity of honey helps too, which is easily recreatable with plant-based sweeteners. Btw compare the nutrition of honey, cane sugar, etc; in any case, the nutrients aren't very significant (but that's fine, as empty calories in moderation can still be part of a healthy diet). 4. In any case, if you want to eat honey, no one's stopping you. It's not a major part of status quo environmental degredation, compared to animal factory farming. (Although per calorie it's still not so great, and would be a lot worse if we tried to scale up the honey industry to match the sugar industry; would be worse than the sugar industry because it takes more land to grow crops to make the same amount of honey compared to sugar)

"but no ethical consumption under capitalism? there's child slavery involved in chocolate too, how about that?"

No ethical mass-consumption of meat under socialism either. 💬 discussion Elaborate: Although there are ways to raise animals that are less cruel than factory farms, the lack the high-productivity of factory farms. If we want to abolish factory farms, we are going to have to consume far less meat/dairy/eggs overall.

Yes ethical mass-consumption of chocolate under socialism btw. 💬 discussion the following is a maybe-no-longer-relevant TODO: teach the difference between boycotting companies (nearly futile) vs boycotting products (effective and necessary). show why. 💬 discussion btw, what about boycotting countries? could be relevant to some other pages such as the BDS movement

"what about palm oil?"

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