Most people still mistakenly believe that humans are meat-eaters by design. However, an objective comparison between the characteristics of naturally vegetarian animals and naturally carnivorous ones, as shown below, reveals that this belief is false:
| Characteristic | Carnivore | Vegetarian | Human |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appendages | Claws | Hands/hoofs | Hands |
| Intestines | Short - to rapidly excrete putrefying flesh | Long - to fully digest nutrients in plant foods | Long - to fully digest nutrients in plant foods; flesh foods cause constipation |
| To cool body | Pants | Sweats | Sweats |
| Manual dexterity | None | Grasping hands capable of using tools or weapons | Grasping hands capable of using tools or weapons |
| Vitamin C | Manufactured internally | Obtained solely from diet | Obtained solely from diet |
| Water intake | Laps water | Sips water | Sips water |
| Excrement | Putrid | Inoffensive | Offensiveness depends on diet |
| Eating habits | Large meals taken infrequently | Snack feeder | Varies widely |
| Diet | Consumes flesh exclusively | Exist largely on fruits and nuts | Depends on environment; highly adaptable |
| Food preference | Salty/fatty food | Sweet-toothed | Likes both sweet and salty/fatty food |
| Relationship with food | Bolts food down | Likes to combine flavours, savour food, experiment with variety | Likes to combine flavours, savour food, experiment with variety |
| Brain power | Small brains, less capable of adaptive behaviour | Large brains, able to rationalise | Large brains, able to rationalise |
In 1990, William Clifford Roberts, the distinguished editor in chief of The American Journal of Cardiology, wrote:
Although human beings eat meat we are not natural carnivores. We were intended to eat plants, fruits and starches! No matter how much fat carnivores eat, they do not develop atheroschlerosis. It's virtually impossible, for example, to produce atheroschlerosis in the dog even when 100 grams of cholesterol are added to its meat ration. (This amount of cholesterol is approximately 200 times the average amount that human beings in the USA eat each day!) In contrast, herbivores rapidly develop atheroschlerosis if they are fed foods, namely fat and cholesterol, intended for carnivores...
Thus, although we think we are one and we act as if we are one, human beings are not natural carnivores. When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores.