Are Humans Designed to Eat Meat? Dr. Milton Mills, MD

Dr. Milton Mills, MD presents “Are Humans Designed to Eat Meat?” at the February, 2016 Advanced Study Weekend in Santa Rosa, California, a conference led by doctors–for doctors–to learn how to reverse disease and improve health in all areas. 

About Dr. Milton Mills, MD

Dr. Milton Mills, M.D., is an intensive/critical care doctor in Washington D.C., and has served previously as Associate Director of Preventive Medicine and as a member of the National Advisory Board for Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). He has been a major contributor to position papers presented by PCRM to the United States Department of Agriculture regarding Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and has been the lead plaintiff in PCRM’s class action lawsuit that asks for warning labels on milk.

Dr. Mills earned his medical degree at Stanford University School of Medicine, and completed an Internal Medicine residency at Georgetown University Hospital. He has published several research journal articles dealing with racial bias in federal nutrition policy. He frequently donates his time via practicing at free medical clinics, and travels widely, speaking at hospitals, churches and community centers throughout the country. He was featured in the recent attention-getting film “What the Health,” and will also appear in the upcoming film “The Silent Vegan.” (Source: Plant-based Prevention of Disease) 

In his presentation, Dr. Mills brings forth a volume of peer-reviewed scientific, biological and medical research to support his claim that humans are herbivores not carnivores, or omnivores. 

Humans have the classic dimensions and characteristics of a plant-eater, not a meat eater. Meat eating is influenced culturally and historically, but the human body is and was not designed to eat meat or dairy foods, only plant-based foods. Here’s why:

CARNIVORES

(Wolves, Coyotes, Lions, Tigers, Cats, Dogs, etc.)

• Have a streamlined shape that allows them to run fast
• Have an armored front or chest
• Have thick, muscular, strong neck
• Have forward deployed weapons facilitate attack
• Run at top speeds of 35 mph, enables ambush and capture of prey
• Have sharp claws to grab, wound prey
• When not actively chasing prey, carnivores rest and sleep
• Have permanently flexed joints facilitate rapid acceleration for pursuit
• Must use muscle energy to resist gravity
• Have lightened limbs and small feet to reduce the energy cost of running
• Have super acute hearing to help locate prey
• Have eyes that are optimized for best night vision, binocular vision for excellent depth vision, that is why carnivores mainly hunt at night
• Have a sense of smell that is 100,000 times more powerful than humans
• Carnivores have very short gestation periods, and have multiple babies or litters
• Babies grow very rapidly due to high protein milk
• Have teeth are designed for ripping, tearing and cutting
• Have jaws that do NOT chew – the Jaw has minimal side-to-side motion and cannot move forward
• Have saliva that has no enzymes
• Have giant canine teeth, all teeth are sharp – not flat
• Carnivores have extremely strong jaws and bite-force, crushing bones without being dislocated
• Swallow chunks and bones without choking or lacerations
• Lap up water
• Carnivores have very short straight digestive tracks in order to eat meat, digest meat and eliminate it very quickly, so it will not be toxic to the animal
• Can go for very long periods between meals, often days, without becoming weakened 
• Have a huge capacity stomach, which is necessary to make hunting practical due to hunting’s inherent inefficiency; their stomach can hold 20-30% of an animal’s body weight. A wolf can consume 21,500 calories of meat in a single meal. This allows the meal to last for days, until their next kill
• Carnivores can identify prey that has cancers, metabolic disorders, and diseases; they do this intentionally to strengthen gene pool of the species

HERBIVORES

(Elephants, rhinos, horses, giraffes, hippos, bison, etc.)

The largest, strongest animals on Earth are all herbivores – elephants, rhinos, horses, giraffes, etc. All protein is made from plants. Any protein that you get from an animal source comes directly from the plants and grains they eat. The animal consumes the plant first and human carnivores then consume the animal, which is a very secondary access to the plant. Instead humans should go directly to the plant to consume the plant themselves, instead of through the animal, which also carries with it saturated fat, cholesterol, bacteria, disease, drugs, antibiotics, hormones—all dangerous to health.

• Designed for foraging and can walk long distances at low energy cost
• Tend to remain active during the day
• Live in large multi-family social groups
• Limbs are straight and long, and very lightweight
• Many have color vision
• Are very fast runners
• Invulnerable Herbivores (Elephants, rhinos, etc.)
  • Are large and powerful, immune to predation
  • Have thick and heavy limbs, skin is hairless 
  • Have large and heavy feet
• Have jaws specialize in grinding and chewing, not ripping, tearing and swallowing wholes
• Can suck up water quickly
• Must swallow small amounts of soft food at a time
• Have a much longer colon or intestine, often pouched structure and angular configuration, so can absorb water, break down fiber, absorb vitamins. 
• Cannot hold enough calories to last even one single day
• Herbivores have small stomachs, so must eat several times every day to meet their caloric needs. But not all herbivores have or need multiple stomachs like ruminants

HUMANS (are Herbivores)

• Humans are the consummate foragers – we are more efficient walkers than any other animal
• We are designed for walking while foraging
• We are not designed to chase animals and kill them
• We have unprotected “exposed” anatomy
• We have flattened, non-aerodynamic body with a lithe, flexible neck
• Women/pregnancy make hunting impractical if not impossible
• Females of every species is always able to procure the diet she need to live, carry a pregnancy and raise young
• We have long gestation period is typical of a large herbivore
• Single births are the “rule;” multiple births or litters are the rule with carnivores
• Human’s milk has much less protein than even cow’s milk. The fat in cow’s milk is highly saturated, but human milk is not
• We must swallow small amount of soft food / 90% of people choke to death on meat
• We have very long digestive tracks, for moving food slowly – meat does not get digested and eliminated quickly enough 
• We have spade-like incisors (front teeth) designed for cropping and peeling fruit and vegetables
• We have canine teeth are small and flattened, to further function like incisors as opposed to canines for killing an animal and eating meat
• We have molars are flat, short for chewing
• Human jaws are like other herbivores – not at all like carnivores
• We have small capacity stomachs, must eat multiple times a day
• We have an appendix, carnivores do not
• Humans easily develop heart disease when we eat a diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol 

Omnivores (Bears, raccoons)

The presentation does not focus on omnivores, instead on the distinction between carnivores and herbivores.

• These animals eat both plants and animals. They cannot eat diets super high in roughage. Humans are not Omnivores.

Published: February 2016

Film Length: 1 Hour / 18 Minutes

Quotes from the Video Presentation

“Countries with the highest meat consumption also have the highest level of Alzheimer’s. People who consume a plant-based diet or vegan diet have the lowest incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.”

“Calcium is found in all green leafy plant foods, you do not need to consume dairy or cow’s milk to get calcium.”

“All protein is made by plant foods. All protein comes from plant foods. If you are eating a healthy plant-based diet, there is plenty of protein in plant foods. People who make the excuse about ‘not getting enough protein,’ is only an excuse. They don’t want to change.”

“The chronic diseases that inflict us are the consequences of our own actions.”

“After only three months on a plant-based diet, your body shows an increase in Telemorase activity.” (Dr. Dean Ornish, MD) 

“Humans do not need to supplement their diet with animal meat or parts, because a plant-based diet is very high in protein and is a better source of protein than animals.”

“Isn’t it better to do the simple thing and eat the plant-based foods we were meant to in the first place? Rather than get triple and quadruple bi-pass surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation, angioplasty, etc.”

“Carnivores are optimized for predation. Herbivores are optimized for foraging. All animals must procure food in an energy-efficient manner.”

“Herbivores see the most lush, verdant, healthy and/or beautiful foliage because it has the most nutrition.”

“Predation using an “herbivore mentality” is environmentally destruction because it depletes the prey species “gene pool” of the best, strongest animals. This is why we are destroying the Earth and driving these animals toward extinction.”

“True carnivores or predators seek out lame, old, diseased, or very young prey, because it is the easiest to capture and kill, and requires the least energy. They also look for food that is already dead. Carnivores weed out the less fit animals, strengthening the gene pool.”

“Humans have the mindset of an herbivore, because we look for the healthiest, more beautiful, more robust plants because we equate these qualities to good health.”

“Your diet helps control your DNA. You pass your dietary influences to your children, they are heritable.”

“We have abdicated our health to marketing campaigns telling us how to eat.”

“You canlearn to like things that are healthy and won’t destroy the planet.”

“Chimpanzees – Need to supplement their plant diet with ants. Primarily their diet is fruit, which is very low in protein, so yes, they need to supplement their diet with ants.”

“Soy – What soy is the best? Is it safe to eat? 1) If soy were deadly, then Japan and China would be the sickest place on Earth, and instead they are some of the longest-lived people in the world. I do think soy as part of the diet is very healthy. All of the studies I have seen, show a protective benefit to the human body.” (Tofu, tempeh, soy milk)