Employees of the US National Academy of Sciences answered the question of what would happen if all the inhabitants of the Earth suddenly stopped eating meat and switched exclusively to vegetarian or vegan food. The forecasts are disappointing - people will start to get sick more often, life expectancy will decrease, the Independent reports.
As scientists write, if animal husbandry is completely abolished, food for people will not be less, as you might think, but more, by 23 percent. This will happen due to the fact that people will start feeding on all the crops that are currently being fed to livestock.
This will lead to the fact that the average inhabitant of the Earth will consume more magnesium, copper, carbohydrates and the amino acid cysteine. At the same time, due to the rejection of meat in the human body, there will be a lack of vitamins B12, A, D and other useful substances.
It should be noted that scientists considered vitamins and compounds that will enter the body exclusively through food. The researchers did not take into account the possible human intake of pills, dietary supplements and other artificial means.
Almost any vegetarian will say that plant foods can replace vitamins in meat, but American researchers believe that this only works on an individual level. On the scale of all mankind, this task seems almost impossible, scientists are sure.
Thus, only a small percentage of the world's population will be able to eat healthy and correctly, the rest of the inhabitants of the Earth will have to suffer and get sick.