Pollotarianism

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Pollotarianism (also called pollo-vegetarianism) is a neologism to denote a dietary choice, in which a person does not consume mammalian meat such as beef, pork, and lamb, but does consume chicken or other poultry. Pollo-vegetarians tend to include non-flesh animal products such as dairy and eggs in their diet, as well.

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[edit] Terminology

Terms for this diet arose in response to growing numbers of people (particularly in the United States) who have restricted diets that do not meet the definition of more restrictive diets such as vegetarianism or veganism.

Some people consider the term pollo-vegetarian (which is sometimes used to describe the diet) to be a misnomer, because they read the term as indicating a specific kind of vegetarian, whereas the central tenet of vegetarianism is abstinence from eating any animal flesh (except, perhaps, fish[1]). Other people consider the term pollo-vegetarian to be accurate, because they read the term as describing people who eat both chicken and vegetables.

The word pollo is derived from the Latin for chicken. "Pesce-pollotarianism" is a pejorative[citation needed] neologism that means one who includes both chicken and fish in their diets as well as non-meats (see flexitarianism), but pescetarianism and pollotarianism are separate entities.

[edit] Rationale

There are many rationales for maintaining a pollo-vegetarian diet. One 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. [2] [3]

For some the rationale is ethics: believing that either the treatment, or simply the killing and eating, of mass market "meat" mammals is unethical. The rationalization for eating chickens in this case is usually to include consumption of some sort of a complete protein in their diet. Some believe that the treatment (specifically the caging) of mass market meat mammals is unethical, and only eat free-range chickens that are not caged.

Many communities and societies may have religious and/or cultural taboos against eating red meat from one or more animals.

[edit] References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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)
  3. ^ 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)

[edit] See also