The background and pro and con arguments were written by ProCon.org staff based upon input from the following footnotes (directly referenced) and sources (used for general research and not directly referenced):
Vernon R. Young and Peter L. Pellett, "Plant Proteins in Relation to Human Protein and Amino Acid Nutrition," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1994
Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Instututes of Health, "Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Iron" (224 KB) , ods.od.nih.gov (accessed Dec. 13, 2010)
Aloys L.A. Sesink, Denise S.M.L. Termont, et al., "Red Meat and Colon Cancer: The Cytotoxic and Hyperproliferative Effects of Dietary Heme," Cancer Research, Nov. 15, 1999
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), "Protecting Your Bones" (47 KB) , www.pcrm.org (accessed Dec. 13, 2010)
David S. Goldfarb and Fredric L. Cole, "Prevention of Recurrent Nephrolithiasis," American Family Physician, Nov. 15, 1999
Timothy J. Key, et al., "Mortality in Vegetarians and Nonvegetarians: Detailed Findings from a Collaborative Analysis of 5 Prospective Studies," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1999
David JA Jenkins, Cyril WC Kendall, and Augustine Marchie, et al., "Type 2 Diabetes and the Vegetarian Diet," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2003
EA Spencer, et al., "Diet and Body Mass Index in 38,000 EPIC-Oxford Meat-Eaters, Fish-Eaters, Vegetarians and Vegans," International Journal of Obesity, 2003
Lynne U. Sneddon, et al., "Do Fishes Have Nociceptors? Evidence for the Evolution of a Vertebrate Sensory System," Proceedings of the Royal Academy of London, Apr. 30, 2003
Boris Worm, et al., "Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services," Science, Nov. 3, 2006
David Pimentel and Marcia Pimentel, "Sustainability of Meat-Based and Plant-Based Diets and the Environment," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2003
Union of Concerned Scientists, "Roundup Ready Soybeans," www.ucsusa.org (accessed Jan. 19, 2011)
David Pimentel, "Environmental and Economic Costs of the Application of Pesticides Primarily in the United States," Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2005
Wolfgang Hermann, et al., "Vitamin B-12 Status, Particularly Holotranscobalamin II and Methylmalonic Acid Concentrations, and Hyperhomocysteinemia in Vegetarians," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2003
Karen Collins, "Fish Isn't the Only Way to Get ‘Good’ Fat Omega-3. It's Also Found in Seeds and Nut Oils, But Is It as Effective?," www.msnbc.com, Sep. 8, 2006
Gwendolyn Barcelo-Coblijn, Eric J Murphy, Rgia Othman, et al., "Flaxseed Oil and Fish-Oil Capsule Consumption Alters Human Red Blood Cell n-3 Fatty Acid Composition," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2008
Sally Fallon Morell, "Twenty-Two Reasons Not to Go Vegetarian," www.westonaprice.org (accessed Mar. 7, 2011)
Jenny Chang-Claude, Silke Hermann, Ursula Eilber, et al., "Lifestyle Determinants and Mortality in German Vegetarians and Health-Conscious Persons: Results of a 21-Year Follow-Up," Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Apr. 11, 2005
Hillary Mayell, "Evolving to Eat Mush: How Meat Changed Our Bodies," National Geographic, Feb. 18, 2005
Sally Fallon Morell and Mary G. Enig, "Vitamin A Saga," www.westonaprice.org, Mar. 29, 2002
Sabrina J Hickenbottom, et al., "Variability In Conversion of Beta Carotene to Vitamin A In Men As Measured by Using a Double-Tracer Study Design," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2002
State Environmental Resource Center, "Biodiversity Policy Issues Package," www.serconline.org (accessed Mar. 9, 2011)
National Cattlemen's Beef Association, "Proteins Are Not Created Equal," www.beefnutrition, 2009
Milton R. Mills, "The Comparative Anatomy of Eating," www.vegsource.com, Nov. 21, 2009
Katharine Milton, "A Hypothesis to Explain the Role of Meat-Eating in Human Evolution," Evolutionary Biology, 1999
Erik J. Lindbloom, "Long-Term Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet," American Family Physician, Apr. 1, 2009
Pramil N. Singh, Joan Sabaté, and Gary E Fraser, "Does Low Meat Consumption Increase Life Expectancy in Humans?," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2003
Cargill, "High-Quality Products," www.cargill.com (accessed Mar. 30, 2011)
Temple Grandin, "Animal Welfare in Slaughter Plants," Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of American Association of Bovine Practitioners, 1996
Ingrid Newkirk, "Temple Grandin: Helping the Animals We Can't Save," prime.peta.org, Feb. 14, 2010
American Meat Institute, "Meat Matters: Animal Welfare in the Meat Industry," www.meatmattersinfo.org, Oct. 2007
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), "Environmental Interactions with Agricultural Production: Grazing Lands and Environmental Quality," www.ers.usda.gov, Nov. 20, 2008
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Earthjustice, "Livestock Grazing and the Environment" (142 KB) , www.earthjustice.org (accessed Mar. 31, 2011)
Center for Consumer Freedom, "About Us: What Is the Center for Consumer Freedom," www.consumerfreedom.com (accessed Apr. 7, 2011)
Weston A. Price Foundation, "About the Foundation," www.westonaprice.org, Jan. 1, 2000
Elizabeth Kolbert, "Should You Eat Meat?," The New Yorker, Nov. 9, 2009
David Martosko, "I'll Have a Hamburger - Hold the Scare Tactics," www.consumerfreedom.com, July 2, 2009
Derrick Jensen, "The Plants Respond: An Interview with Cleve Backster," The Sun, July 1997
Constitutional Rights Foundation, "Upton Sinclair's The Jungle: Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry," www.crf-usa.org, Fall 2008
Mary Enig and Sally Fallon, "The Truth About Saturated Fats," www.health-report.co.uk (accessed Apr. 12, 2011)
Edward Giovannucci, Eric B. Rimm, Meir J. Stampfer, et al., "Intake of Fat, Meat, and Fiber in Relation to Risk of Colon Cancer in Men," Cancer Research, May 1, 1994
Helmi Risku-Norja, et al., "Dietary Choices and Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Assessment of Impact of Vegetarian and Organic Options at National Scale," Progress in Industrial Ecology, 2009
Roger Segelken, "US Could Feed 800 Million People with Grain That Livestock Eat," www.cornell.edu, Aug. 7, 1997
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), "Hunger: Frequently Asked Questions," www.fao.org (accessed Apr. 13, 2011)
United States Department of Labor, "Industries with the Highest Nonfatal Total Cases, Incidence Rates for Injuries and Illnesses, Private Industry, 1998," stats.bls.gov, Dec. 1999
Erick Schlosser, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, 2001
Human Rights Watch, "Abuses Against Workers Taint US Meat and Poultry," www.hrw.org, Jan. 24, 2005
Steven L. Davis, "The Least Harm Principle May Require That Humans Consume a Diet Containing Large Herbivores, Not a Vegan Diet," Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 2003
David S. Martin, "From Omnivore to Vegan: The Dietary Education of Bill Clinton," www.cnn.com, Aug. 18, 2011
William Stroup, PhD, "Meat, Ethics, and the Case of John Wesley," in Orthodoxy and Heresy in Eighteenth Century Society: Essays from the DeBartolo Conference, Eds. Regina Hewitt and Pat Rogers, 2002
An Pan, PhD, and Qui Sun, MD, ScD, et al., "Red Meat Consumption and Mortality," Archives of Internal Medicine, Mar. 12, 2012
Rob M. van Dam, MSC, et al., "Dietary Fat and Meat Intake in Relation to Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Men," Diabetes Care, Mar. 2002
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), "Meat and Meat Products in Human Nutrition in Developing Countries," www.fao.org, 1992
Susan E. Berkow, PhD, and Neal Barnard, MD, "Vegetarian Diets and Weight Status," Nutrition Reviews, Apr. 2006
University of Maryland Medical Center, "Omega-3 Fatty Acid," www.umm.edu (accessed Feb. 27, 2013)
Earth Policy Institute, "Peak Meat: US Meat Consumption Falling," www.earth-policy.org, Mar. 7, 2012
Frank Newport, "In US, 5% Consider Themselves Vegetarians," www.gallup.com, July 26, 2012
Lisa Watson, ND, "40 Vegan Calcium Sources," www.drlisawatson.com (accessed Mar. 27, 2012)
"Natural/Organic Share of Total Beef (Dollar) 4th Quarter 2012," www.beefretail.org (accessed Apr. 10, 2013)
Michael J. Orlich, MD, et al., "Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and Mortality in Adventist Health Study 2," JAMA Internal Medicine, June 3, 2013
Sources:
United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Information Center, "Vegetarian Nutrition Resource List: April 2008," www.nal.usda.gov, Apr. 2008
Paul N. Appleby, Margaret Thorogood, et al., "The Oxford Vegetarian Study: An Overview," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1999
Center for Consumer Freedom, "PETA Washes Its Hands of Reality (Again)," www.consumerfreedom.com, Apr. 20, 2010
John Robbins, Diet For a New America - The Food Revolution, 1998
Juliet Eilperin, "World's Fish Supply Running Out, Researchers Warn," Washington Post, Nov. 3, 2006
Charles Eisenstein, "The Ethics of Eating Meat: A Radical View," Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and the Healing Arts, Summer 2002
Lierre Keith, "The Truth About Vegetarianism," www.motherearthnews.com, June/July 2010