EATING RIGHT: EIGHT PRINCIPLES OF FOOD AND HEAlTH 231As you can see, plant foods have dramatically more antioxidants,
fiber and minerals than animal foods. In fact, animal foods are almost
completely devoid of several of these nutrients. Animal foods, on the
other hand, have much more cholesterol and fat. They also have slightly
more protein than plant foods, along with more B]2 and vitamin D, al-
though the vitamin D is largely due to artificial fortification in milk.
Of course, there are some exceptions: some nuts and seeds are high in
fat and protein (e.g., peanuts, sesame seeds) while some animal-based
foods are low in fat, usually because they are stripped of their fat by ar-
tificial processing (e.g., skim milk). But if one looks a little more closely,
the fat and the protein of nuts and seeds are different: they are more
healthful than the fat and protein of animal foods. They also are accom-
panied by some interesting antioxidant substances. On the other hand,
processed, low-fat, animal-based foods still have some cholesterol, lots
of protein and very little or no antioxidants and dietary fiber, just like
other animal-based foods. Since nutrients are primarily responsible for
the healthful effects of foods and because of these major differences in
nutrient composition between animal-and plant-based foods, isn't it
therefore reasonable to assume that we should expect to see distinctly
different effects on our bodies depending on which variety of foods we
consume?
By definition, for a food chemical to be an essential nutrient, it must
meet two requirements:- the chemical is necessary for healthy human functioning
- the chemical must be something our bodies cannot make on their
own, and therefore must be obtained from an outside source
One example of a chemical that is not essential is cholesterol, a com-
ponent of animal-based food that is nonexistent in plant-based food.
While cholesterol is essential for health, our bodies can make all that
we require; so we do not need to consume any in food. Therefore, it is
not an essential nutrient.
There are four nutrients which animal-based foods have that plant-
based foods, for the most part, do not: cholesterol and vitamins A, D
and B 12 • Three of these are nonessential nutrients. As discussed above,
cholesterol is made by our bodies naturally. Vitamin A can be readily
made by our bodies from beta-carotene, and vitamin D can be readily
made by our bodies simply by exposing our skin to about fifteen min-
utes of sunshine every couple days. Both of these vitamins are toxic if