Nutritionalexpertsnolongerdisputeaboutwhetheranimal
fleshis essential;theynowagreethatitisnot. Ifordinary
people still have misgivings about doing without it, these
misgivingsarebasedonignorance.Mostoftenthisignorance
is about the nature
ofprotein.Wearefrequentlytoldthatproteinisanimportant
elementinasounddiet,andthatmeatishighinprotein.Both
thesestatementsaretrue,buttherearetwootherthingsthat
wearetoldlessoften.ThefirstisthattheaverageAmerican
eats too much protein. The protein intake of the average
American exceedsthegenerous level recommendedby the
NationalAcademyofSciencesby 45 percent.Otherestimates
say that most Americans consume between two and four
times as much meat as the body can use. Excess protein
cannotbestored.Someofitisexcreted,andsome maybe
convertedbythebodytocarbohydrate,whichisanexpensive
way to increase one’s carbohydrate intake.^34
Thesecondthingtoknowaboutproteinisthatmeatisonly
one amonga great variety of foodscontaining protein,its
chiefdistinctionbeingthat itisthemostexpensive.It was
oncethoughtthatmeatproteinwasofsuperiorquality,butas
long ago as 1950 the British Medical Association’s
Committee on Nutrition stated:
It is generally accepted that it is immaterial whether the
essentialproteinunitsarederivedfromplantoranimalfoods,
providedthattheysupplyanappropriatemixtureoftheunits
in assimilable form.^35
More recent research has providedfurther confirmation of
thisconclusion.Wenowknowthatthenutritionalvalueof
proteinconsistsintheessentialaminoacidsitcontains,since