Page 42 - Fall2011

could lead to other problems. Today, a carton of “Egg Beaters” costs twice number of important considerations, quite apart
as much as a dozen eggs and still does not equal the nutritional value of from the questionable willingness on the part of
the real thing. the public to eat wheat, corn and soybeans in the
A comparison of the biological value of substitutes for eggs, meat, place of meat, milk, and eggs. The simple truth
and milk as protein sources brings up a concern for the consumer. Claims is that the animal-oriented agricultural system
are made or implied that cholesterol-free substitutes will lower cholesterol as it has evolved over two centuries in America
levels in the blood with no clinical tests by the producers having been made makes a more efficient use of available land to
as proof of its total nutritional value. provide essential, high-quality protein, with
fewer surplus calories, and at a lower cost, than
PlAnT ProTEin And AgriCulTurE any other system that has presently been devised.
if we increase our consumption of plant proteins, we would need to in the u.S., a large area of the West is grass-
increase the acreage devoted to raising plants, but some problems of a land that can only be used to feed animals. not
practical nature in the way agriculture currently is practiced would occur. enough water is available to grow crops. grazing
The limits of agriculture should be taken into consideration in diet recom- animals can maximize efficiency in the produc-
mendations. Agriculture is defined as the cultivation of land as in raising tion of nutrients. Feeder cattle are raised on land
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crops, husbandry, and tillage farming. unfortunately, only about 20 percent that is not fit for wheat, corn or soybeans. U.S.
of the land in the u.S. can be cultivated for crops, but 26 percent can be grasslands are either fertilized or sewn with al-
used to pasture livestock. Half of the cropland is used to grow feed for falfa or clover to provide increased forage yields.
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livestock. in realistic terms, any major effort to supply additional plant The fact is that animal agriculture is huge
protein for human consumption in the u.S. would require dismantling the the world over. China, Thailand and Vietnam
nation’s agricultural system, since most of American agriculture is directly account for more than half the pigs and one-
or indirectly involved in producing livestock either through direct grazing third the chickens produced worldwide. Brazil
on grasslands or by growing feed on cultivated land. is expected to become the world’s largest meat
Critics of our country’s agricultural system persistently argue that in- exporter. in a world of rapidly increasing popu-
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stead of continuing to use our valuable farmland to grow feeds for animals, lation and a potentially shrinking food supply,
we should follow the example of the Chinese and concentrate on growing animal food products are presently an asset to
vegetable protein to be consumed directly by humans. The claim is often adequate nutrition. Animals are converters of
repeated that each pound of beef we eat costs four pounds of grain that inedible proteins to edible ones. Animals can
should be going to feed people. By turning the land to the production of carry on this operation more economically than
food crops for direct human consumption the argument goes, we would have food scientists to date. one should think of
cut our intake of animal fat and cholesterol and at the same time increase animals as “screening and processing devices,”
the total food supply by eliminating the inefficiency inherent in animal which provide acceptable sources of nutrients.
production. This view, as agro-economists have often shown, overlooks a The rapid expansion in urban development

FIGURE 15: Amino Acid comparisons of cheese pizza and FIGURE 16: Comparison of 50g beans+50g of corn with
beef hamburger. 1 100g of beef or 100g whole egg. 1
Beef Hamburger Cheese Pizza with Regular Crust 100 g Eggs Whole 50 g Navy Beans + 50 g corn 100 g Beef

1. Histidine; 2. Isoleucine; 3. Leucine; 4. Lysine; 5. Methionine g Cystine; 6. Phenylalanine g Tyrosine; 7. Threonine; 8. Tryptophan; 9. Valine g/100g
42 Wise Traditions FALL 2011 FALL 2011 Wise Traditions

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