Pescetarianism

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Pescetarianism is a dietary choice, in which a person — known as a pescetarian — will not eat the flesh of any animals other than types of seafood. Other animal products like eggs and dairy may be part of a pescetarian diet. Pescetarianism is the chosen diet of some people for various reasons; most commonly cited are health benefits^{[citation needed]}. Terms like pescevegetarianism^[1] and pesco-vegetarianism are sometimes used to describe pescetarianism, to emphasize that most pescetarians eat vegetables in addition to seafood. These terms are controversial because they imply that pescetarianism is a type of vegetarianism but the Vegetarian Society has stated that they do not consider pescetarianism a valid vegetarian diet.^[2]

Contents 1 Rationale 1.1 Health benefits 1.2 Differentiating seafood from other animal food sources 1.2.1 Ability to feel pain 1.2.2 Environmental ethics 2 Comparisons to other diets 3 Terminology 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Rationale

[edit] Health benefits

One of the most commonly cited reasons is that of health, based on findings that red meat is detrimental to health in many cases due to non-lean red meats containing high amounts of saturated fats.^[3][4] Furthermore, eating certain kinds of fish raises HDL levels,^[5][6] and some fish are a convenient source of omega-3 fatty acids,^[7] and have numerous health benefits in one food variety.^[8] Some health websites also state that a pescetarian diet is healthier than vegetarian and vegan ones.^[9]

It can be claimed conversely that fish also contain toxins such as mercury and PCBs,^[10] though a careful selection of fish can ensure a low-risk or toxin-free product.^[11][12]

[edit] Differentiating seafood from other animal food sources

Pescatarians may claim that seafood is acceptable to consume while land-dwelling animals are not. Generally these arguments fall into two categories: the belief that the ethics of slaughtering and consuming animals don't apply to sea-dwelling creatures, or that the environmental impact of farming sea-dwelling creatures is acceptable.

[edit] Ability to feel pain

Further information: Pain and nociception in other species, Pain reception in fish, and Lobster#Capacity for pain and suffering

Some pescetarians believe that eating mammals and birds is unethical but eating fish is not. Scientific studies seeking to answer the question of whether fish and other aquatic animals feel pain have yielded mixed conclusions.

[edit] Environmental ethics

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This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)

Some pescetarians view red meat as an inefficient food source. Most cattle, pork and chickens^[13] that supply the United States meat market are not free range. Instead, they are fed grains that are grown for the sole purpose of animal feed. The amount of calories in the grain needed to feed a cow, pig, or chicken (to a lesser extent) greatly exceeds the nutritional value of the meat these animals provide. Were this grain to be used for human consumption instead, far more food could be provided.

Considerations of overpopulation and the restricted amount of arable land usually play a role in this pescetarian rationale.^{[citation needed]}

This view is complicated by the fact that farming carnivorous fish species requires large inputs of wild fish for feed. Demand for "wild caught" fish may reflect this concern as well as a broader ethical position of rejecting the farming of animals, and the perceived health benefit of avoiding farmed varieties of some species such as salmon. Many pescetarians therefore choose only wild caught fish^{[citation needed]}, or use guides such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood WATCH to evaluate the practices of fisheries.

A 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ("Livestock's Long Shadow") estimates that livestock are responsible for roughly 18 percent of the global warming effect^[14], outstripping even the contribution of transportation. The main greenhouse gases produced by livestock are methane — the natural result of bovine digestion — and the nitrogen emitted by manure. Furthermore, the deforestation needed for grazing lands also contributes to global warming, by eliminating the CO₂ sinks that forests provide. Thus some pescetarians choose their diet in an attempt to reduce "livestock's long shadow."

[edit] Comparisons to other diets

Pescetarianism is similar to a traditional Mediterranean diet, which focuses on seafood, grains, fruits, and vegetables. However, the Mediterranean diet does not entirely exclude meat from land animals as pescetarianism does. While pescetarians and vegetarians often cite similar reasons in selecting their dietary choices, pescetarianism is not a type of vegetarian diet.^[15] Vegetarians do not consume the flesh of any animal, including sea animals; any diet that includes fish or other sea animals is not a vegetarian diet. However, since pescetarians do not eat mammal-meat or bird-meat, they experience many of the same social pressures as vegetarians, so that the two groups may sometimes have common interests. Occasionally—and controversially—terms such as pesco-vegetarian and semi-vegetarian have been used in place of the term pescetarian.

While both groups often cite environmental issues as a rationale behind their diets, pescetarian and vegetarian diets can be each environmentally unfriendly if precautions are not taken, due to the problems of overfishing, by-catch and in both diets, habitat destruction through arable farming. For this reason, some pescetarians focus on eating species that are most sustainably fished and avoid many farmed fish (e.g. salmon).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Terminology

The root of pesco- is ultimately from piscis the Latin for fish. However, the vowel e suggests that it has been taken via other Romance languages such as Spanish (pescado) or Italian (pesce).

"Pescetarian" is perhaps the most popular term for the diet. (While the Italian pesce is pronounced /ˈpeˌʃe/, the English term is usually pronounced with a hard "c".) "Pescavore" is also a common term, formed by analogy with "carnivore". Less commonly used terms found include "aquatarian," which has recently gained popularity in Washington, DC, and "fishetarian," which was used in print as early as 1992, and "vegequarian."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Flexitarianism
• Pollotarianism
• Semi-vegetarianism

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• What is a pescetarian?
• Pescetarian Lifede:Pescetarismus

es:Pescetarianismo fr:Pesco-végétarien no:Pescetarianisme pl:Pescowegetarianizm