Passing down vegetarianism to further generations and evolution of the species?

Question

Let's take a group of people and say they are all vegetarian. They have kids who are also vegetarian who will, in turn, have kids who will be veg in the future, and so on and so forth...

In thousands or perhaps millions of years with this type of vegetarian breeding, do you think the vegetarian groups and omnivore groups would branch off and become unique species? Can diet alone determine our species' destiny and evolution?

Answer 1

possibly.....but like hollywood said, that assumes that veg*ns will only procreate with other veg*ns.....otherwise it would destroy the chain.  sorry, but my hubby is back to eating meat....(we're going to raise our kids veg though).

anyway, i think people are looking at this too broadly.  while it may not influence our hair color, skin color, or the shape of our noses......our diet DOES influence our digestive system, and this has been proven through evolution (i'm a Christian, but I believe that evolution was God's mechanism for creation).  

over thousands of years small differences in ways of life can change the way a person's organs function.  for example, several tribes that live near the ocean in southeast asia have developed the ability to see clearly in salt water (see link below), as it has advantages for fishing.  other tribes in the andes mountains are known to have much larger lung capacity than anywhere else in the world (second link).   WE OURSELVES have aspects of our body that once served a purpose and later ceased to do so: the appendix, the eyebrows, etc.

there is no reason that eating a drastically different diet would not causes changes in the way our digestive systems function.  i would guess those changes would be:

a thinner (if not absent) oblique layer of muscle in the wall of the stomach (the stomach has three muscular layers, the oblique layer is used as a churning mechanism to digest meats)

decreased secretions of protein-dissolving enzymes in the stomach

possibly an even longer intestinal tract and enlargement of the appendix (to better digest plant matter)

very interesting question!!  i'll definitely be turning this over in my head for days.  i actually did a paper for a philosophy of science course in college where i wrote about how medicating and/or curing terminal/lifelong diseases (including my own) is allowing for procreation by those who would normally have died due to natural selection before the possibility of procreation......so we're essentially changing the course of our own evolution and allowing for the "weaker" members of our species to survive and pass on their genes.  i love this kind of stuff!!  thanks for making us really think today.

(by the way, all of this is assuming that these veg*ns were isolated from the introduction of meats or meat products.....highly unlikely, and it would take many thousands of years to see any change)

Answer 2

I think it could definitley happen. More and more people are becoming vegeterian due to friends,family,internet,tv, all the technology we have today helps everyone. My dad eats tofu and says he could become a pesceterian pretty easily..he wont because he thinks it makes him less manly but whatever. My friend recently became one because when I talk about it I make good points that she cant fight, plus the videos shes seen and everything. I think its just expanding and it great. We will ALWAYS have meat eaters though, those who really dont care what happens to the animals, those who just cant resist the taste. Evolution does tie into this where our bodies will change to digest more plant matter and maybe even omni's will change where they will have a harder time digesting meat. Im not huge on science so these are just ideas. Very good question though. I was thinking the same thing since recently this guy was talking about our ancestors and how if we all stopped generations would struggle or whatever.

Answer 3

Hmm. I will assume that the group of vegetarians is the community of vegetarians that exist today. Assuming that the group/ community of vegetarians date only vegetarians, and strongly believe in vegetarian ethics & values, I think it is perfectly plausible for there to be many more vegetarians in the future. Ethics, moral codes & family values are passed from generation to generation. Of course, this is a hypothetical situation, but who's to say it won't happen?  

I see the vegetarian diet as the product of evolution. It has never been easier to be vegetarian nowadays. Caveman certainly didn't have the modern conveniences we have. But with the *knowledge* and resources we have today, it is perfectly possible. So I already view the vegetarian diet as one we have adapted to, in a sense, rather than something that can evolve further.

Sorry if I waffled!

[edit] I'm not sure. It's open to debate, but maybe future vegetarians will be even healthier than today's veg*n generation- who knows? Technology and knowledge of nutrition is increasing all the time. I think vegetarianism is unique already. It owes some of it's growing popularity to it's 'uniqueness'. If that makes sense. I find it fascinating that some people thrive on a meat free diet, whilst others struggle or cannot manage it. The reasons for this may be simply 'in the mind' or physiological (meat dependancy?) : )

Wow! Fabulous makes some great points. Especially when she mentions this- ''longer intestinal tract..to digest plant matter''. Herbivores such as rabbits have longer intestines, and it is said that the appendix (in humans) was used to help digest tough plants such as grass. This could mean that if humans became predomanantly a plant eating species, it is possible that our digestive tract will get longer! If this was to happen, it would be a physiological change.

(This reminds me of the Nutritional Physiology examination I took a few weeks ago!)

Answer 4

its not likely that one healthy diet vs another healthy diet will lead to two separate sub groups of  humans, just the same way smokers arnt different people than non-smokers

after all people have been smoking for thousands of years and its not changed a sub group of human

the same couple be said for any diet...are those that choose not to eat broccoli going to become a different group of people than those that eat broccoli

There will be evolutionary splits in the human race but i doubt it will be determined by whether you eat meat or not

Answer 5

This is a fascinating question and one I hadn't thought about. I'll be asking my professors about this one = )

I tried doing some reading online but found little except this...well...article, if you will. It is an article written by an anthroplogist who claims a lot of things about evolution and meat-eating with added commentary by Professor at the University of California. It is VERY long, opinionated, with a lot of big, scientific words- so be warned. The Professor attempts to argue that meat-eating has no always been in our diets and diets do NOT influence evolution, but are a product of it- hence if our bodies are designed to eat a frugivorous diet then eating meat will cause health problems. Admittedly, I have to agree with this logic- if you don't do some research and you'll realize the world of dietary health is urging us to eat more fruits and veggies- not meat- at least that is how it appears to me.

http://www.ecologos.org/meat-eating.htm

It looks like there is a bit of research out there on 7th Day Adventists who are vegetarian/vegan by religious belief and has often been passed down through families/generations and in decently sized populations so I urge you to study up on that as well- studies show they are typically healthier, and live longer. Granted, not all are vegetarian and typically, those who are, abstain from smoking and other unhealthy habits.

Hollywood and Fab- interesting views. I wish there was a lot more research out there on this. It's fascinating.

Answer 6

Assuming that vegetarians and/or vegans were separated from the meat eaters, after millions of years I am sure there'd be differences. Any population that is isolated from another will branch off into a sub-species.

I doubt this will happen however. Civilization is too global now for such strong divides.

Answer 7

Interesting.

Evolution and adaptation to one's diet and environment occur over hundreds and even thousands of years, with very small changes happening, one after another. The cradle of mankind is in Africa, after all, but as people spread out their skin color changed to adapt to how much sunlight they'd be exposed to and how much vitamin D they'd be able to absorb, their eyes and noses changed shape in response to insects, sand and other environmental concerns.

To completely speculate, seeing as how nobody can predict quite how these things will play out, I'd assume we'd begin to have a functioning appendix again. Our ancestral species were herbivores, and the appendix acted like a second stomach to digest plant cellulose and grasses, much like other herbivores. We'd probably regain function and be able to draw so many of the complex nutritional benefits from grass that other animals do (right now mature grasses are largely indigestible for us).

I'd also assume a decrease in stomach acidity because it requires far less stomach acid to digest a vegetarian meal than one with meat in it. Perhaps other biological adaptations.

I am not sure what we will do with vitamin B12, because our bodies really need it. B12 is made by bacteria, but we are a very hygenic species and we continue to become more and more phobic of germs and bacteria. We rinse and wash our produce, we want no contact with waste, and if we won't eat meat, which swarms with B12 and plenty of other bacteria and pathogens, we won't have any contact at all with the bacteria.

Most herbivores get their B12 from contact with waste, since our intestines make B12 but it is too far down in our tract to absorb. Since animals aren't hygenic to say the least, most eat plants that had contact with waste and have B12 on it, or have contact with it in other ways.

I am not sure how we could ever adapt to not need B12, looking at the vital function it plays in our bodies. Even non-human herbivores need it. I think we would have to keep supplementing it, but if you look at food trends, people want food riddled with supplements and enriched with vitamins anyway. Most products, from candy bars to flour, has added vitamins and components. We hardly eat a thing in it's natural state anymore. I've even seen tongue-in-cheek scenarios about the future that predict all our meals will come in formless pill/shake/bar like forms, with perfect nutritional balance.

We'd probably never survive long enough as a species to see any extreme changes from our current nature - after all, human beings make for an excellent vegetarian either way, it's not really a stretch for our bodies to do it. Our bodies would go through h**l on a meat-only diet, for instance, but a vegetarian diet hardly throws us a curveball. The reason I say that we won't see the change is because we have made such a tremendous shift in industry, population size and environmental damage in the past 100 years or so that there's no way we'd survive long enough as a species. Whether through some drug-resistant disease of our own making, a nuclear weapon, or just pure lack of natural resources brought on through our own wastefulness, our time line is going to be over soon. While some species have been around for 50 million years or more, I don't think we'll make it anywhere near as long - we are destructive, and nature will correct itself and we'll be gone, hopefully before we bring the planet down with it.

Answer 8

What a freaking awesome question!  I never thought of that before, nor I have a very good answer.  I can tell you that my husband and I will definitely be talking about that later :)

You always have the best answers too.  Maybe you recognize me as a fellow serious answerer on here.  Sorry about the grammar and have a nice day.  Thanks for the beginning of a really cool philosophical conversation I can have with my husband :)

Answer 9

Nope, because we meat eaters are going to choke out all the sunlight and kill all the vegetable matter LONG before you get the opportunity to evolve.

Sucks doesn't it...

Answer 10

Take a look at the people who lived in the Hunza region of Pakistan, as a country they were all vegetarian for centuries, until "discovered" in the 1920's by exploreres. They had amazing health and lived to be over 100 years old, but they were just like us in every other way.

Answer 11

Reading this question reminded me of a cartoon I saw in the seventies of a cage full of rats who sat in meditation wearing love beads and beatific smiles. The men in lab coats stood under a sign that said FDA. One said to the other: "This is our Vegetarian Experiment!"

Frankly, I see the changes as being more sociological and spiritual rather than physical. and I see that as a matter of evolving consciousness of the interconnectedness of all life.

Bring it on!

.