Are humans omnivores?
Historically humans have been classified as omnivores, and I’m not going to argue if that’s right or wrong. I’m not a scientist, and I don’t play one on TV either. But I am going to present you with some scientific studies, facts, and data showing how it’s not so cut and dry, and that maybe humans more closely resemble herbivores. But even if we are omnivores, that doesn’t mean we have to eat meat.
But that aside, let’s say we are omnivores, and just think about what that means. An omnivore is just an animal that is naturally able to eat both plants and meat, that’s it. You’ll notice that the definition doesn’t say that an omnivore has to eat meat. An omnivore can survive and even thrive without eating meat (Side note: only an obligate carnivore has to eat meat in order to survive, and humans are absolutely not obligate carnivores).
Being an omnivore just means that our bodies CAN digest meat, not that we HAVE to nor that we should. Here are some other things that our bodies can do, that most of us generally agree we should avoid:
Girls can get pregnant at 10-12 years old, carry the baby to term, and become mothers
Pre-teen and teenage boys can impregnate girls/women and become fathers
We can eat and digest human meat, and our bodies don’t see it as any different from cow meat, chicken meat, dog meat, etc. So should we become cannibals and eat human meat? (Please say no)
Our bodies are biologically capable of all of these things, but would anyone here argue that we should do any of them? (Again, please say no). I bring up these extreme examples specifically to show that just because “our bodies can do it” doesn’t mean “our bodies should do it.”
So “should we do it” aside, there are also some interesting biological issues worth discussing too. Even though we are classified as omnivores, some would argue that we are actually much closer to herbivores (and others say frugivores, but I don’t cover that here) in many ways than we are to other omnivores.
Here’s an article from “Dauntless Dialogue” where the author makes the case that humans are more aptly classified as herbivores: https://dauntlessdialogue.com/anatomical-evidence-demonstrating-that-humans-are-herbivores/
In the scientific study titled “Twenty questions on atherosclerosis”, the creators of the study talk about the disease and how it affects humans, even though it only affects herbivores. They talk about how humans have characteristics of herbivores despite being classified as omnivores: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1312295
An article from “Animals Deserve Absolute Protection Today and Tomorrow (ADAPTT)” makes the case for humans being herbivores: https://www.adaptt.org/veganism/humans-are-herbivores.html
But wait, if humans are herbivores, then how can we eat meat? Well, the short answer is that many herbivores eat meat when it is available:
It’s not like herbivores can’t eat meat or that they’ll die if they do, it’s just that their bodies are not well suited for it. Herbivores absolutely can and do eat meat.
But humans have always eaten meat, right? I’ve written a separate article on that subject. It covers both the fallacious nature of that argument itself, plus the fact that our ancestors ate a much more plant-based diet than you were taught.
So are humans omnivores or herbivores? Honestly, it doesn’t really matter (to me), but the important part of the discussion is to remember that just because “we can do it” doesn’t mean “we have to do it.” And what does matter is that we don’t need to eat animals to survive or even thrive.
