Animal source foods include many food items that come from an animal source such as meat, milk, eggs, honey, cheese and yogurt. Many individuals do not consume ASF or consume little ASF by either personal choice or necessity, as ASF may not be accessible or available to these people.
Nutrition of animal source foods
Aside from preformed vitamin A, vitamin B12 and vitamin D, all vitamins found in animal source foods may also be found in plant-derived foods. Examples are tofu to replace meat, and certain seaweeds and vegetables as respectively kombu and kale to replace dairy foods as milk. There are some nutrients which are rare to find in sufficient density in plant based foods. One example would be zinc, the exception would be pumpkin seeds that have been soaked for improved digestion. The increased fiber in these foods can also make absorption difficult. Deficiencies are very possible in these nutrients if vegetarians are not very careful and willing to eat sufficient quantities of these exceptional plant based foods. A good way to find these foods would be to search for them on one of the online, nutrient analyzing databases. An example would be nutritiondata.com. Most humans eat an omnivorous diet though some civilisations have eaten only animal foods. Although a healthy diet containing all essential macro and micronutrients may be possible by only consuming a plant based diet, some populations are unable to consume an adequate quantity or variety of these plant based items to obtain appropriate amounts of nutrients, particularly those that are found in high concentrations in ASF. Frequently, the most vulnerable populations to these micronutrient deficiencies are pregnant women, infants, and children in developing countries. In the 1980s the Nutrition Collaborative Research Support Program found that six micronutrients were low in the mostly vegetarian diets of children in malnourished areas of Egypt, Mexico, and Kenya. These six micronutrients are vitamin A, vitamin B12, riboflavin, calcium, iron and zinc. ASF are the only food source of Vitamin B12. ASF also provide high biological valueprotein, energy, fat compared with plant food sources.
All six micronutrients richly found in ASF, vitamin A, vitamin B12, riboflavin, calcium, iron and zinc play a critical role in the growth and development of children. Inadequate stores of these micronutrients, either resulting from inadequate intake or poor absorption, is associated with poor growth, anemias, rickets, night blindness, impaired cognitive functioning, neuromuscular deficits, diminished work capacity, psychiatric disorders and death. Some of these effects, such as impaired cognitive development from an iron deficiency, are irreversible. However, ASF foods have been shown to raise the risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity and other preventable diseases due to the high levels of saturated fat and cholesterol.
Animal source food supplementation
Micronutrient deficiency is associated in poor early cognitive development. Programs designed to address these micronutrient deficiencies should be targeted to infants, children, and pregnant women. To address these significant micronutrient deficiencies, some global health researchers and practitioners developed and piloted a snack program in Kenya school children. However, some communities are vegetarians for religious or cultural reasons. Efforts must be made to develop culturally appropriate interventions to address the micronutrient deficiencies in these populations, such as through food fortification.
According to a 2006 United Nations initiative, the livestock industry sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." As such, using plant-derived foods is typically considered better for the interests of the environment. Despite this, the raising of certain animals can be more environmentally sound than others. According to the Farralones Institute's report from 1976, raising rabbits, and chickens for food can still be quite sustainable. As such, the production of meat and other produce, such as eggs, may still be considered environmentally friendly. In addition, raising goats can also be environmentally quite friendly and has been favored by certain environmental activists, such as Mahatma Gandhi.
