Latest revision as of 03:28, 22 December 2017

Health

It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood and for athletes. Plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable than diets rich in animal products because they use fewer natural resources and are associated with much less environmental damage. Vegetarians and vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity. Low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nuts, and seeds (all rich in fiber and phytochemicals) are characteristics of vegetarian and vegan diets that produce lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and better serum glucose control. These factors contribute to reduction of chronic disease. Vegans need reliable sources of vitamin B-12, such as fortified foods or supplements.[1]

Animal Consciousness

The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness

The absence of a neocortex does not appear to preclude an organism from experiencing affective states. Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing the neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Nonhuman animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates.[2]

Plants

"Plant neurobiology: no brain, no gain?" a letter countering the pseudoscientific claims of "plant neurobiology", signed by 36 prominent scientists in the fields of Botony/plant science and molecular biology & Genetics from 33 institutions around the world.

We maintain that plant neurobiology does not add to our understanding of plant physiology, plant cell biology or signaling. We begin by stating simply that there is no evidence for structures such as neurons, synapses or a brain in plants.

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So, are we better informed scientifically about these unknowns, or better guided towards their resolution, by the plant neurobiology concept? Plant cells do share features in common with all biological cells, including neurons. To name just a few: plant cells show action potentials, their membranes harbor voltage-gated ion channels, and there is evidence of neurotransmitter-like substances. Equally, in a broader sense, signal transduction and transmission over distance is a property of plants and animals. Although at the molecular level the same general principles apply and some important parallels can be drawn between the two major organismal groups, this does not imply a priori that comparable structures for signal propagation exist at the cellular, tissue and organ levels. A careful analysis of our current knowledge of plant and animal physiology, cell biology and signaling provides no evidence of such structures. New concepts and fields of research develop from the synthesis of creative thinking and cautious scientific analysis. True success is measured by the ability to foster new experimental approaches that are founded on the solid grounding of previous studies. What long-term scientific benefits will the plant science research community gain from the concept of ‘plant neurobiology’? We suggest these will be limited until plant neurobiology is no longer founded on superficial analogies and questionable extrapolations. We recognize the importance of a vigorous and healthy dialog and accept that, as a catch-phrase, ‘plant neurobiology’ has served a purpose as an initial forum for discussions on the mechanisms involved in plant signaling. We now urge the proponents of plant neurobiology to reevaluate critically the concept and to develop an intellectually rigorous foundation for it.[3]