[aperson]

Originally Posted by Marik von B

It's technically possible to get all your necessary protein from plant matter, but you have to be selective and careful. Protein is also only a small part of why it's good to eat meat. Meat contains an assortment of other nutrients and compounds in a form that is far more absorbable to the body than plant matter.

The bio-industry does raise and slaughter animals quickly and poorly, meaning that nutrients are less accumulated in the meat that you see on store-shelves. But if you were to examine a steak made from an older free-roaming animal, it'll contain a significant amount of useful nutrients like creatine that you can't find in plants.

Statistics on this subject are meaningless. You can't compare the general population with a small group of people who are very selective about what they're eating, and expect the latter to not be healthier. Talk to any statistician and even they will admit that their job is mostly deception

The Mediterranean Diet is named such because it is what lots of people in the Mediterranean region have just been naturally eating. It is heavily plant based with limited meat consumption. Granted, you will also need to control for other confounding factors like location, climate, societal norms, etc..., but would you imagine that statisticians literally get paid to look for correlated error!?

"Statistics on the subject are meaningless" is something you'd hear from an antivaxxer not a nutritionist tbh!!!