Pescetarianism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pescetarianism is a dietary choice, in which a person — known as a pescetarian — eats fish or other non-mammalian aquatic animals but will not eat terrestrial animals or marine mammals. Some animal products like eggs and dairy may be part of a pescetarian diet.

Terms like pesco-vegetarianism are sometimes used to describe pescetarianism, to emphasize that pescetarians abstain from eating the flesh of land animals. However, these terms are controversial and lesser-used, in part because they imply that pescetarianism is a type of vegetarianism. The Vegetarian Society, which initiated popular use of the term vegetarian as early as 1847, does not consider pescetarianism a valid vegetarian diet.[1] Some other entities accept pescetarianism as a valid vegetarian diet, including MedicineOnline.com,[2] Vegetarian.LifeTips.com,[3] and the Centre for Cancer Education.[4] The definitions of "vegetarian" in authoritative, mainstream dictionaries vary.[5]

Contents

[edit] Rationale

[edit] Health benefits

One of the most commonly cited reasons is that of health, based on findings that red meat is detrimental to health in many cases due to non-lean red meats containing high amounts of saturated fats.[6][7] Furthermore, eating certain kinds of fish raises HDL levels,[8][9] and some fish are a convenient source of omega-3 fatty acids,[10] and have numerous health benefits in one food variety.[11]

It can be claimed conversely that fish also contain toxins such as mercury and PCBs,[12] though a careful selection of fish can ensure a low-risk or toxin-free product.[13][14]

[edit] Differentiating seafood from other animal food sources

Pescatarians may claim that seafood is acceptable to consume while land-dwelling animals are not. Generally these arguments fall into two categories: the belief that the ethics of slaughtering and consuming animals don't apply to sea-dwelling creatures, or that the environmental impact of farming sea-dwelling creatures is acceptable.

[edit] Ability to feel pain

Further information: Pain and nociception in other species, Pain reception in fish, and Lobster#Capacity for pain and suffering

Some pescetarians believe that eating mammals and birds is unethical but eating fish is not. Scientific studies supposedly seeking to answer the question of whether fish and other aquatic animals feel pain have yielded mixed conclusions.

[edit] Environmental ethics

 This section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)

Some pescetarians view red meat as an inefficient food source. Most cattle, pigs and chickens[15] that supply the United States meat market are not free range. Instead, they are fed grains that are grown for the sole purpose of animal feed. The amount of calories in the grain needed to feed a cow, pig, or chicken (to a lesser extent) greatly exceeds the nutritional value of the meat these animals provide. Were this grain to be used for human consumption instead, far more food could be provided.

This view is complicated by the fact that farming carnivorous fish species requires large inputs of wild fish for feed. Demand for "wild caught" fish may reflect this concern as well as a broader ethical position of rejecting the farming of animals, and the perceived health benefit of avoiding farmed varieties of some species such as salmon. Wild caught sealife is however, subject to contamination from whatever toxins are in the waters, such as PCBs and mercury.

A 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ("Livestock's Long Shadow") estimates that livestock are responsible for roughly 18 percent of the global warming effect,[16] outstripping even the contribution of transportation. The main greenhouse gases produced by livestock are methane — the natural result of digestion — and the nitrogen emitted by manure, as well as nitrous oxides. Furthermore, the deforestation needed for grazing lands also contributes to global warming, by eliminating the CO2 sinks that forests provide. Thus some pescetarians choose their diet in an attempt to reduce "livestock's long shadow."

[edit] Comparisons to other diets

Pescetarianism is similar to a traditional Mediterranean diet, which focuses on seafood, grains, fruits, and vegetables. However, the Mediterranean diet does not entirely exclude meat from land animals as pescetarianism does. While pescetarians and vegetarians often cite similar reasons in selecting their dietary choices, pescetarianism is not a type of vegetarian diet.[17] Vegetarians do not consume the flesh of any animal, including sea animals; any diet that includes fish or other sea animals is not a vegetarian diet. However, since pescetarians do not eat mammal-meat or bird-meat, they experience many of the same social pressures as vegetarians, so that the two groups may sometimes seemingly have common interests. Occasionally — and controversially — terms such as pesco-vegetarian and semi-vegetarian have been used in place of the term pescetarian.

While both groups often cite environmental issues as a rationale behind their diets, pescetarian and vegetarian diets can be each environmentally imperfect if precautions are not taken, due to the problems of overfishing, by-catch and in both diets, habitat destruction through arable farming.

[edit] Terminology

The root of pesco- is ultimately from piscis the Latin for fish. However, the vowel e suggests that it has been taken via other Romance languages such as Spanish (pescado) or Italian (pesce).

"Pescetarian" is perhaps the most popular term for the diet. (While the Italian pesce is pronounced /ˈpeˌʃe/, the English term is usually pronounced with a hard "c".) "Pescavore" is also a common term, formed by analogy with "carnivore".

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "VEGETARIANS DO NOT EAT FISH!" The "fish campaign" webpage of the Vegetarian Society
  2. ^ "Vegetarianism Medical Information" from MedicineOnline.com
  3. ^ "What is a pesco-vegetarian?" from Vegetarian.LifeTips.com
  4. ^ Definition of "pescovegetarian" from the Centre for Cancer Education's Online Medical Dictionary
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, vol. 2 (6th ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 3506  defines "vegetarian" (noun) as "A person who on principle abstains from animal food; esp. one who avoids meat but will consume dairy produce and eggs and sometimes also fish (cf. VEGAN noun)."
    Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, vol. 2 (5th ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 3511  has the same definition.
  6. ^ E Giovannucci, EB Rimm, MJ Stampfer, GA Colditz, A Ascherio and WC Willett, "Intake of fat, meat, and fiber in relation to risk of colon cancer in men"., Cancer Research 54, 2390-2397, (May 1, 1994)
  7. ^ Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD, JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPh and Walter C. Willett, MD, DrPh, "Types of Dietary Fat and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: A Critical Review"., Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 20, No. 1, 5-19 (2001)
  8. ^ Paul J Nestel, "Fish oil and cardiovascular disease: lipids and arterial function"., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 71, No. 1, 228S-231S, (January 2000)
  9. ^ Sacks FM, Hebert P, Appel LJ, Borhani NO, Applegate WB, Cohen JD, Cutler JA, Kirchner KA, Kuller LH, Roth KJ, et al., "Short report: the effect of fish oil on blood pressure and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels in phase I of the Trials of Hypertension Prevention"., Journal of Hypertension, 209-13, ( Feb 12, 1994)
  10. ^ Frank B. Hu, MD; Leslie Bronner, MD; Walter C. Willett, MD; Meir J. Stampfer, MD; Kathryn M. Rexrode, MD; Christine M. Albert, MD; David Hunter, MD; JoAnn E. Manson, MD, "Fish and Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women"., JAMA. 2002;287:1815-1821.
  11. ^ Get Hooked on Fish! by Sue Gilbert, MS, Nutritionis
  12. ^ Committee on the Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, National Research Council, "Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury"., ISBN 0-309-07140-2 (2000)
  13. ^ Experts Say Consumers Can Eat Around Toxins In Fish - Science Daily
  14. ^ Mercury: Are Fish safe to eat? by Gloria Tsang R.D.
  15. ^ United Egg Producers, "United Egg Producers Animal Husbandry Guidelines"., 2005
  16. ^ Food and Agriculture Organization, "Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options"., 2006
  17. ^ The Vegetarian Society - vegetarians don't eat fish - index page

[edit] External links