Category: General News

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News, Vegan Recipes

UK: UN COP26 Climate Summit – vegan eating can reduce food-related carbon emissions by 73%. Eating meat and dairy is part of what got us into this mess. So Why No Vegan Food At the Summit ???? – Take Action Below.

Important Note – we have just tried to e mail and telephone the office of Alok Sharma, and everything seems to be closed down – we are even told the wrong number by phone; which we took from his official ‘contact’ area on his site !! – strange. Lets hope he is getting the message about all this. Thus, the action links given below may not now work at present. All I can say is keep trying now and again.

Regards Mark

WAV Comment – Is this not like inviting the senior arsonist as a principal guest to the firefighters annual ball ?

What the hell are these people on ? – and they call themselves experts and politicians who are supposed to be dealing with the climate situation !

The United Nations’ COP26 climate summit—which will be the largest summit that the U.K. has ever hosted—is fast approaching, and we learned that there’s a plan to serve animal-derived food at the convention, even though animal agriculture is devastating for animals and the planet.

Vegan foods have a far smaller carbon footprint than their animal-derived counterparts. Speak out today to ensure that the COP26 climate summit sets a good example for the world to follow. See action below.

The 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP26) Climate Change Conference is fast approaching. Urge the president of COP26, Alok Sharma, to set a meaningful example during this climate crisis by serving a fully vegan menu at the event.

Eating Vegan Is Better for the Environment
The fishing, meat, dairy, and egg industries are not only cruel to animals but also catastrophic for the environment. For decades, the U.N. has identified animal agriculture as a leading cause of deforestation, pollution, ocean dead zones, habitat loss, species extinction, and the spread of zoonotic diseases.

Vegan foods have a far smaller carbon footprint than their animal-derived counterparts—even when comparing imported plant proteins to flesh from grass-fed, locally farmed animals—and a switch to vegan eating can reduce food-related carbon emissions by 73%. Quite simply, eating meat and dairy is part of what got us into this mess.

Animals can feel pain in the same way as humans. Just like us, they value their lives and don’t want to suffer.

In her natural environment, a hen will cluck to her chicks before they even hatch while sitting on the eggs in her nest. They peep back to her and to each other through their shells. In the ways that matter, humans and other animals are the same. There is no moral justification for exploiting animals for human purposes.

The COP26 Climate Summit Should Set an Example
Given everything that we now know about the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment, serving meat, dairy, or eggs at a climate change summit would be like distributing cigarettes at a health convention.

Plant foods are the way forward, and a vegan menu would not only allow attendees to dine with a clear conscience but also set an important example for the world to follow.

Take action and tell Sharma to serve only vegan food at the event.

Send emails to:

Alok Sharma
alok.sharma.mp@parliament.uk

Take action against this mentality:

Urge the COP26 Climate Summit to Serve a Fully Vegan Menu | PETA

General News

60 seconds about circus

For many people, a visit to the circus is a welcome distraction from everyday life.
With the animals in the circus, on the other hand, it looks completely different.
They suffer from constant transport, inadequate and unsuitable husbandry conditions and from training that is based on violence and coercion.

Lifelong for your entertainment- Four Paws

Which animals are allowed in the circus?
In Germany in 2012, a total of more than 900 wild animals were kept in 141 of around 330 traveling circuses – camel-like animals are not even included here.
According to a recent EU-wide survey, Germany is the country with the most wildlife circuses, with an estimated 75 circus companies.
Nevertheless, there is so far no law in this country that fundamentally prohibits or even restricts the keeping of animals in the circus.
The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) presented a draft for a ban in autumn 2020, but it falls far short of the mark, as only the acquisition of certain species of wild animals in traveling circuses is to be banned.

Bad housing conditions and inadequate controls
In particular, a circus can never meet the demands of wild animals on their natural habitat.
Violent dressage, tiny cage wagons and constant transports characterize the life of animals in the circus.

Constant changes of location and stressful transports
Up to 50 changes of location per year and the associated transport are associated with great stress and physical strain for the animals – especially for large mammals such as elephants, rhinos or giraffes.
Animal-friendly keeping of wild animals is impossible in traveling circuses because the basic needs of these animals cannot be met.

Continue reading “60 seconds about circus” →

Environmental, Farm Animals, General News

How Many CO2 Emissions Does the Meat Industry Produce? (Hint: Way More Than You Think).

How Many CO2 Emissions Does the Meat Industry Produce? (Hint: Way More Than You Think)

What we eat impacts our planet – but how destructive is the meat industry?

The effects of the climate crisis are becoming more obvious and more severe. As a result, researchers are eager to dissect the climate breakdown, not only to better understand it, but to find ways to intervene. 

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a leading driver of the issue. In fact, CO2 makes up the largest portion of anthropogenic (human caused) greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). IPCC is the world’s leading authority on climate science. 

For decades, it’s been widely accepted that transportation is a huge part of the carbon problem, and it is. But another field’s carbon footprint is also problematic – the meat industry. But how many CO2 emissions does animal agriculture actually produce? And is it enough that we must curb our eating habits?

What is carbon dioxide?

Carbon dioxide is an acidic colorless gas that occurs naturally in the Earth’s atmosphere. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, making it integral to life on Earth.

CO2 is harmless in small amounts, but human activity causes levels of the gas to surge. Writing for Forbes, chemical engineer Robert Rapier highlighted that global carbon dioxide emissions have tripled in the last 55 years, sitting at 32.3 billion metric tons last year.

Why is carbon dioxide harmful?

CO2 is a greenhouse gas, meaning it creates a cover that traps heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. When concentrations are too high, the planet’s carbon cycle can’t process it efficiently enough. This causes global temperatures to increase, a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. 

Global climate change has led to loss of sea ice, rising sea levels, and more frequent and severe heat waves and droughts, according to NASA. Climate breakdown is also linked to stronger hurricanes, flash flooding, increased wildfires, erosion in coastal areas, ocean acidification, and biodiversity loss, the government agency highlights. 

“The effects of human-caused global warming are happening now, are irreversible on the timescale of people alive today, and will worsen in the decades to come,” NASA sums up.

How much carbon dioxide does meat produce?

Awareness of the transportation and fossil fuel industries’ impact on the environment has been growing for decades. But a sector that often slips under the radar is animal agriculture. 

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global livestock production makes up 14.5 percent of all anthropogenic (human caused) emissions – 7.1 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.

There is some debate surrounding the widely accepted FAO figure of 14.5 percent. Research published this year claims that this figure is ‘now out of date’. The article argues that the minimum estimate for animal agriculture’s emissions should be updated to 16.5 percent. 

“Some will contest the importance of a few percentage points. Yet even the difference between 14.5 and 16.5 percent is the difference between animal agriculture being responsible for close to one in seven, or one in six of all emissions,” the article reads.

Which foods have the lowest carbon footprint?

In 2019, researchers published the most comprehensive analysis to date of farming’s environmental impact. Looking at emissions per 100 grams of protein, beef emits just under 50kg of CO2 equivalents, according to the analysis. Lamb and mutton emit just under 20kg, while farmed prawns and pig meat emit 18.19kg and 7.61kg respectively. 

For context, grains emit 2.71kg of CO2 equivalents per 100g of protein and soybeans emit 1.98kg.  And peas – a common ingredient in plant-based meat (like Beyond Burgers) – emit just 0.44kg. 

Comparing emissions per kilogram of food (rather than per 100g of protein), plant-based sources are still significantly lower than animal-based ones. 

Producing a kilogram of beef emits 60kg of CO2 equivalents, the researchers concluded, while pea production emits just 1kg per kilogram of food. 

Lamb, poultry, and pork generate 20kg, 6kg, and 7kg of CO2 equivalents respectively. Contrastingly, root vegetables and apples both produce 0.4kg. Rice (4kg), tomatoes (1.4kg), nuts (0.3kg) and bananas (0.7kg), to name a few, also carry a smaller carbon footprint.

“A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use,” Joseph Poore, who led the study, said in a statement. He added that the impact of ditching animal products is ‘far bigger’ than flying less or opting for an electric car. 

How Many CO2 Emissions Does the Meat Industry Produce? (Hint: Way More Than You Think) – Plant Based News

Regards Mark

Farm Animals, General News, Uncategorized

The Unemployed Epidemiologist Who Predicted the Pandemic.
The Unemployed Epidemiologist Who Predicted the Pandemic by Stacey

With thanks to Stacey at ‘Our Compass’ as always;

https://our-compass.org/2021/09/13/the-unemployed-epidemiologist-who-predicted-the-pandemic/

Regards Mark

This is a 5 page post – pages can be selected from the numbers at the end.

Source The Nation

By Eamon Whalen

In early March 2020, Rob Wallace, an evolutionary biologist who had been adrift after an unceremonious exit from the University of Minnesota, flew to New Orleans and then got on a bus to Jackson, Miss., where he was scheduled to speak at an event on health and racial injustice. Wallace, who turned 50 this summer, has been studying and writing about infectious diseases and their origins for half his life. For almost as long, he’s been warning that the practices of industrial agriculture would lead to a deadly pandemic on the scale of Covid-19—or worse. “A pandemic may now be all but inevitable,” he wrote of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in 2007. ”In what would be a catastrophic failure on the part of governments and health ministries worldwide, millions may die.”

Before his trip to Jackson, Wallace had been closely monitoring the outbreak of a novel virus in Wuhan. Though he’d been spooked by a news report that showed a delivery driver in China practicing extreme social distancing, he went ahead with the trip. As an underpaid academic, he needed the money, and as an American, he didn’t expect anything to happen to him. “I too had been infused with a peculiarly American moment, wherein financial desperation meets imperial exceptionalism,” he wrote.

When Wallace returned from his trip, he threw himself back into writing and research with such fervor that he managed to ignore a pounding headache. When the shortness of breath started, his teenage son yelled at him through the computer screen to see a doctor. After he filled out an online questionnaire, Wallace was diagnosed with Covid-19 over the phone.

He’d been infected with something he’d been warning about for years, and like so many around the country and the world, all he could do was to hope to keep breathing. “No test. No antiviral. No masks and no gloves provided. No community health practitioner stopping by to check on me,” Wallace wrote.

“You can intellectually understand something but still not assimilate the oncoming damage,” he told me later, as he recalled the “sour vindication” of having his worst fears come true. “So there’s an aspect of rage, and an arrival at an understanding.”

I met Wallace for coffee on an afternoon in late June. We sat on benches under the shade on the campus of a liberal arts college near his home in St. Paul, Minn. He was dressed in a pale-red short-sleeve shirt, dark jeans, and sneakers. He wore rectangular black-rimmed glasses and a Minnesota Twins baseball hat and had a five o’clock shadow

Wallace looks more like a dad on the way to his kid’s Little League game than a lab-coat-wearing scientist who used to consult with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United Nations. That could be because he hasn’t had a job in academia for more than a decade, a circumstance he attributes to his decision to take the implications of his scholarship seriously.

That’s why the book Wallace published last October came with a provocative title—Dead Epidemiologists: On the Origins of Covid-19. Though there are many “brilliant, bright, amazing, and hardworking” epidemiologists whose work he cites, their impact is limited, Wallace said: “They are in the business of cleaning up the mess the system brought about, and that’s the extent to which they’re willing to go.” In his first essay on Covid, “Notes on a Novel Coronavirus,” published in January 2020, Wallace wrote that an epidemiologist is like a “stable boy with a shovel following around elephants at the circus.”

“As an epidemiologist, you’re supposed to want to put yourself out of business,” Wallace said. “Everyone has bills to pay; I understand that. But the extent to which your corruption might lead to a pathogen that could kill a billion people—that’s where my line is.” While he’s not the only Cassandra whose warnings of a pandemic like Covid-19 went unheeded, there are few as clear-eyed about where to direct the blame. “Agribusiness is at war with public health,” he wrote in the March 2020 essay “Covid-19 and the Circuits of Capital,” and if no serious action is taken, the interval before the next pandemic will be “far shorter…than the hundred-year lull since 1918.”

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Farm Animals, General News

The Truth About Cows Raised for Human Consumption.

Watch, rage and repent

Regards Mark

The Truth About Cows Raised for Human Consumption (animalequality.org)

 

 

The public deserves the truth. For this reason, Animal Equality’s investigators take their cameras where the industry does not want you to see.

Animal Equality is committed to exposing the terrible fate of cows, calves, and steers exploited by both the meat industry and the–only seemingly less cruel–milk industry.

Our investigative team has captured images and footage from around the world showing the harsh living conditions, inherent suffering, and brutal abuse that farmed animals endure.

The evidence we have gathered over the years shows calves left outside to die in freezing temperatures in the US, calves beaten and force-fed in the UK, and pregnant cows slaughtered in Brazil.

In addition to documenting animal welfare issues, Animal Equality’s investigative team in Brazil has uncovered the devastating environmental impact of beef production in the Pantanal, one of the world’s most biodiverse areas.

Behind all of this suffering and destruction are industries that treat cows as money-making machines. It’s a system of endless suffering; calves separated from their mothers, females exploited for their milk, and males killed for their meat. That’s why the animal agriculture industry–relentless in its pursuit of profits–is so careful not to reveal what is happening behind closed doors.

The public deserves the truth. For this reason, Animal Equality’s investigators take their cameras where the industry does not want you to see: onto the trucks that transport cows across countries and continents, into the air above the Amazon Rainforest where forests are burned and cleared for cattle farming, and inside factory farms and slaughterhouses. 

Photo – Mark (WAV)
Farm Animals, General News, Vegan Recipes

Vegan Meat Price Parity: Why Cost Not Kindness Will End Animal Agriculture.

 

Vegan Meat Price Parity: Why Cost Not Kindness Will End Animal Agriculture

‘It’s likely that ‘price parity’ between plant-based and animal-derived meats will see the quickest changes made to our food system’

by Dr. Alex Lockwood

 

It will be cost not kindness that ends animal agriculture – but when will we achieve vegan meat price parity?

As much as we care for animals, it’s likely that ‘price parity’ between plant-based and animal-derived meats will see the quickest changes made to our food system

We love cheap food. When asked, we nearly always say we prefer to buy products that are ethical, sustainable, and healthy. But research shows time and again that what actually drives most of our food choices are cost, convenience, and taste.

Most of all, it’s the price. 

Vegan meat price parity

That’s why the question of ‘price parity’ is a hot topic in plant-based food. With price, especially a cheap price, such a driving force in our food choices, the cost of plant-based meats really matters.

Right now, supermarket customers are paying almost 200 percent more for plant-based products in comparison to meat alternatives. 

It’s also why the European dairy lobby is trying to stop plant-based products being sold in ‘dairy’ packaging. If plant-based providers have to use different packaging, this could make plant-based alternatives more difficult to produce and, critically, more expensive to buy.

But lessons from other industries (such as electric cars) show that as technology develops and demand increases, price parity will arrive. But for plant-based meat products, when will that be? Can it really bring an end to the slaughter-based meat products that are currently cheaper and purchased more often?

‘Cheap food paradigm’

We love cheap food. As the UK government’s Behavioral Insights Team wrote in their report ‘A Menu For Change’, price (alongside convenience and taste) is the most important factor for people when shopping. This includes for healthier alternatives.

This isn’t our fault. Supermarkets, advertising, and government policies have spent 70 years creating what food expert Professor Tim Lang calls our ‘cheap food paradigm’. 

This is especially in the UK and US. Along with Singapore, these are the three cheapest food markets in the world. In the UK, we spend only 8 percent of our household budget on food. This is the cheapest in Western Europe. Greeks spend 16 percent, Peruvians 26 percent, and Nigerians 59 percent.

But when you learn that the UK also has the highest food poverty in Europe in terms of people being able to afford a healthy diet, you know something is wrong.

This cheap food paradigm emerged during World War 2. Farmers were asked to grow more food, quickly and cheaply. They were the heroes feeding a country at war, and rebuilding afterward. 

Farmers were doing what they were asked. They began using heavy chemicals and pesticides. They abandoned rotation farming and replaced them with monocultures. Food got increasingly cheap. There were supermarket price wars (continuing today). We lost touch with the true cost of food.

But at what cost?

The true cost of cheap food is a ‘spiraling public health crisis and environmental destruction’ – according to the RSA’s Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. 

Last month’s Chatham House/UN report drove home the point: “Cheap food is driving destruction of the natural world.” The constant demand for economic growth has ‘sustained vicious circles’ of agricultural efficiency, coupled with ‘increased economic competition through the liberalization of trade’.

Cheap foods also tend to be more processed. In the UK, we eat the most ultra-processed foods in Europe, nearly 50 percent of our diets. Compare this to around 11 percent in Italy or 16 percent in Portugal. This massively increases the incidence of Type-2 diabetes and other serious health epidemics.

A price transformation

It’s obvious we need a food transformation. And that includes the price we pay for it. 

What we should do is ask those who can afford more to pay more, while supporting those currently in food poverty to be able to buy better. But that’s another article!

We also know that a whole-foods plant-based diet can be much cheaper than a heavily processed, animal-based diet.

Right now, most meat-eaters overestimate the price of plant-based meat products. And they’re not wholly wrong. 

So if we want to see change happen quickly, we have to get people off the slaughter-based meats and into the plant-based aisles. The quickest way to do that is through pricing.

So when will that happen? It will arrive in three stages.

By 2023: Plant-Based Proteins

Back in 2019, the independent think tank Rethink X launched its report on the future of agriculture. 

Their analysis suggested that price parity between existing plant-based meats (for example, the Impossible Burger) and animal-derived meats would arrive sometime between 2021-23. 

When this happened, they wrote, adoption of more plant-based eating “will tip and accelerate exponentially.”

It is why companies such as Impossible Foods keep slashing their prices to drive demand, knowing that ‘price parity’ will increase not only sales but awareness and acceptability. 

Are we close to the tipping point?

At the moment, buying a vegan supermarket product twice a week would cost an additional £35 a year, a spokesperson for Insure4Sport, who produced research on cost comparisons, told The Times.

Right now, the early-adopter vegan and vegetarian or adventurous meat-eater will pay the premium price for the new plant-based alternatives. That won’t last.

The plant-based producers know they need to compete on price. Demand is growing. In 2019, demand for plant-based meats grew by 18 percent and 11 percent for the plant-based category overall, according to a study from The Good Food Institute.

More people than ever now support improved access to plant-based options. New research last week from The Vegan Society showed one in three (32 percent) believe the government should be promoting vegan and plant-based diets to address the current climate emergency.

Bill Gates recently urged people to buy plant-based products and drive down the price. “You can also send a signal to the market that people want zero-carbon alternatives and are willing to pay for them,” he told the BBC.

The supermarkets will drive this difference. If Tesco’s is setting a target for a 300 percent rise in vegan meat sales, they’ll still want to compete on price.

So perhaps Rethink X’s prediction that we will reach price parity for existing products by 2023 isn’t far off.

But what about the new world of cell-cultured meat, grown in a lab?

Continued on next page

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General News

Germany-Magdeburg Zoo: “It is a crime to imprison great apes”

For about two years the group of ten chimpanzees at Magdeburg Zoo (Germany) has been housed exclusively in an indoor enclosure.
In August 2021, PETA Germany filed a criminal complaint against the zoo officials, because according to the requirements of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for the keeping of mammals, the great apes must also have access to an outdoor enclosure.


According to media reports, the animals are permanently locked inside for security reasons, as two of the chimpanzees broke out of the outdoor enclosure in September 2019.

Safety deficiencies at the chimpanzee house, opened in 2014: monkeys suffer from animal welfare behavior

The zoo officials speak of “zoo-horticultural defects” in the planning of the enclosure, which means that the outdoor enclosure is not escape-proof.
The 3.1 million expensive new chimpanzee house in Magdeburg was only opened in 2014.
In this new building, wooden palisades were erected in the outdoor area, in which small holes formed over the years.
The chimpanzees used this as an opportunity to climb up the stockade and jump out.

Since then, the animals have only been confined in the indoor enclosure in order to avoid further outbreaks and accidents.

The deficiencies are now to be remedied by another new building by 2023, which would again cost the city just under two million euros.
The city council is expected to make a decision on the construction plans in September.
For the chimpanzees, this would mean at least two more years, during which the animals would have to endure under completely indisputable conditions.
The city and zoo of Magdeburg have to find a solution for the welfare of the animals. Now!

We criticize the years of inactivity by the authorities and zoo managers and demand that a solution be found as soon as possible so that the chimpanzees at least don’t have to stay inside.

In addition, we are calling on the city politicians and the zoo to completely phase out the captivity of great apes in the Magdeburg zoo.

“It is a crime to imprison great apes.
They are innocent prisoners who want to be free – attempts to break out like 2019 in Magdeburg are therefore not surprising.

It is absolutely unacceptable that no action has been taken here long ago and that the animals should remain incarcerated in the chimpanzee prison for at least another two years. Instead, the zoo should generally end chimpanzee husbandry. “
Dr. Yvonne Würz, PETA Germany

Great apes can never be kept appropriately in zoos

Appropriate keeping of great apes – our closest relatives in the animal kingdom – is not possible in captivity in zoos.

The needs of great apes are so complex that no zoo can offer them a species-appropriate habitat: In nature, chimpanzees live together in groups with a flexible social structure, which at times can comprise several dozen animals.
They take up a living space that can be up to 65 square kilometers.

It is extremely psychologically stressful for great apes to be forced to “live” in captivity.
The decisive factor here is the captivity situation itself and not the specific housing conditions: Even structural changes such as enlarged enclosures cannot resolve the system-related inadequate housing and the associated animal suffering.

In zoos they therefore often develop significant behavioral disorders such as self-mutilation, compulsive rocking of the upper body and eating their own excrement.

In some cases, zoos give the animals psychotropic drugs so that they can endure the lifelong dreary captivity and their suffering is less noticeable to the visitors.

Contrary to what is often claimed, animals that have spent their lives in the zoo can no longer be released into the wild: In their prisons, they cannot learn important behaviors for survival in nature.

However, zoological institutions invest millions in taxpayers’ money in expensive and questionable breeding programs and costly construction projects.
With measures to preserve the natural habitat of the animals, on the other hand, more great apes could be sustainably protected than is ever possible in zoos.

For great apes, imprisonment in a zoo is equivalent to life imprisonment for us. 🖊️ Sign the petition: https://www.peta.de/kampagnen/menschenaffen/

https://www.peta.de/neuigkeiten/zoo-magdeburg-schimpansen/

And I mean...For a number of years, one scandal has followed another in the Magdeburg Zoo.
Kai Perret, was director of the zoo in Magdeburg from 2003, and was released on January 30, 2020 with immediate effect.
Employees accuse him of endangering animal welfare.

The mayor of Magdeburg wanted to “take the zoo boss out of the line of fire” and released him.
The public prosecutor’s office is now dealing with the allegations.

The first trial came in 2008 when he had three healthy baby tigers killed after it was discovered that they were not purebred!

In his opinion, the tigers did not fit into the international breeding program because the father was not a pure-bred Siberian tiger.
Perret and two employees were charged.

The zoo also made negative headlines in 2019 when two giraffes died and an elephant was seriously injured.
Female giraffe Femke gave birth to a dead calf in May and died shortly afterwards as a result of childbirth.

Cow elephant Mwana was seriously injured in November 2019 when she trapped her trunk in a gate in the enclosure.
Trying to break free, she tore off four inches of her trunk.
A zookeeper had not received this. Only when Mwana roared did he stop the gate.

The veterinary office rated the incident as an accident. A culpable act in terms of animal welfare was not recognized at that time.
The then zoo director Kai Perret said of the incident: “Accident! accidents also happen in nature” !!
In connection with this, a video emerged in which a keeper apparently beats an elephant.

Obviously cruelty to animals has long been a tradition at Magdeburg Zoo.
And because this cruelty to animals brings money into the cash register, no zoo director is interested, regardless of who, whether the chimpanzees remain imprisoned in closed rooms for no reason.

My best regards to all, Venus

General News, Vegan Recipes

England: Viva! Health – Spices With Superpowers, and 5 Energy packed Foods To Kickstart Your Day.

5 spices with superpowers

The science is in and experts agree that spices not only improve the flavour of our food but also enhance our health. This 2019 review stated:

“There is now ample evidence that spices and herbs possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumorigenic, anticarcinogenic, and glucose- and cholesterol-lowering activities as well as properties that affect cognition and mood.”

So let’s take a look at five of the most popular spices and their individual superpowers.

1. Turmeric

A golden spice with a myriad of health benefits, turmeric is a true example of medicinal food.

The superhero compound in turmeric is called curcumin – a very strong antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties. Its antioxidant capacity means it goes around disabling those pesky free radicals that can damage your cells, DNA, enzymes, fatty acids and lead to disease. On top of being a powerful antioxidant, curcumin also stimulates your body’s own defences and antioxidant compounds, making them more effective.

Turmeric has been shown to improve inflammatory bowel conditions such as Crohn’s, IBS or ulcerative colitis, has cancer-inhibiting properties, can protect the heart from cholesterol and may even reduce the symptoms of depression and improve mood.

A big problem is that it’s hard to get enough curcumin from the powder or root alone – even if you use it liberally. But there is a smart solution – always combine it with black pepper. Black pepper contains piperine, which increases our absorption of curcumin by up to 2,000 per cent! Many turmeric supplements contain piperine but it’s good to follow this rule in the kitchen too.

Click here to read more about Turmeric in our A-Z of Foods.

2. Cinnamon

The sweet spice of cinnamon is just as sweet for our health, thanks to the compound cinnamaldehyde.

As well as being a healthy simple swap for sugar to sweeten dishes, several studies suggest it may lower blood sugar levels in those with type 2 diabetes. Cinnamon may also be good for our heart by reducing cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which, according to  , is “especially important for people with diabetes who are at greater risk for developing heart disease.”

Studies show that cinnamon can also help with inflammation, fend off free radicals that can damage your cells, and fight bacteria.

Researchers are also exploring whether cinnamon could be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders as it has been shown to improve cognitive ability.

3. Ginger

One of the most popular ingredients in the world, ginger has a million uses and is amazing for your health.

Ginger contains several potent biochemicals of which gingerols – one of the phenolic compounds – have the strongest effects. Gingerols are very strong antioxidants, protecting our tissues from free radical damage and they have antimicrobial properties, helping fight infection. Gingerols hinder the production of inflammatory molecules in the body, thus being a natural anti-inflammatory, calming angry tissues in our joints, bowels or airways.

Probably the best-known benefit of ginger is that it can help you combat nausea – whether due to stomach upset, motion sickness, pregnancy or even chemotherapy, ginger is the hero you need.

Lower down the digestive tract, it can relieve bloating, cramping and general discomfort. Most people react well to ginger and enjoy its benefits but if you take very high doses, it can cause heartburn. However, small doses have actually been shown to prevent acid reflux and heartburn so it’s all about finding the right balance.

Ginger is a favourite in the time of colds and flus but it can even help with asthma and allergic coughs because it helps to relax the airway muscles so they don’t overly contract, which helpsyou breathe easier and cough less.

It also works wonders for relieving arthritis and has been shown to have a neuroprotective effect – helping to protect our nerves against damage and prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Click here to read more about ginger in our A-Z of Foods.

4. Garlic

Technically not a spice but garlic is too good to ignore. Garlic is a true powerhouse with many sulphur phytochemicals which are stronger than those in onions and offer a number of health benefits.

These phytochemicals act as antioxidants and help protect our bodies from free radicals, the nasty by-products of metabolism, including protecting your blood vessels. They are also anti-inflammatory and help to fight infection.

As well as protecting the walls of our veins and arteries, garlic’s sulphur compounds can do even more. Some of the phytochemicals slightly reduce blood clotting, which helps lower the risk of thrombosis – a blood clot blocking blood supply to a vital organ. If you’re already taking blood-thinning medication though, ask your GP about garlic to stay on the safe side!

Garlic can also moderately reduce the levels of triglycerides (fats) and cholesterol in the blood and helps lower blood pressure by relaxing blood vessel walls. If you’re worried about your heart, garlic is your friend!

Despite all these benefits, garlic is probably best known for its antibacterial properties and rightly so. It helps fight infection but has also been shown to be able to prevent infection by some bacteria and yeast.

Click here to read more about garlic in our A-Z of Foods.

5. Chilli pepper

Chilli peppers contain a compound called capsaicin. It’s what makes them spicy and it’s also what makes them super-spices. A 2015 review examined the health claims made by chilli pepper proponents and found that capsaicin “has intriguing potential for health promotion.”

Chilli peppers have been shown to have beneficial effects on metabolic health, insulin control and weight management, therefore reducing the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, people who already regularly eat spicy food may not experience the same weight loss benefits.

Some studies also suggest that capsaicin has an anti-cancer effect as it “has been shown to alter the expression of several genes involved in cancer cell survival, growth arrest, angiogenesis and metastasis.” Although there have unfortunately been many studies exploring the effects of capsaicin on cancer in animals, more human data is needed.

But it is for its pain relief properties that capsaicin is most commonly lauded. By reducing the number of pain signals sent to the brain, it eases discomfort from conditions such as arthritis and migraines. For this reason, it can be found in many over-the-counter topical pain-relief lotions.

These are just five of many spices that have amazing health benefits and can form part of a healthy plant-based diet. There are many more so mix it up because you know what they say, variety is the spice of life. And if you’re looking for recipes including all of these spices and more, be sure to check out Vegan Recipe Club for some inspiration.

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General News, Vegan Recipes

USA: Vegan Meat Featured On US Menus 1320% More Times Since Before COVID-19.

Vegan Meat Featured On US Menus 1320% More Times Since Before COVID-19

The vegan and vegetarian meat market presents major opportunities for companies across the US

Anew market report demonstrates the ever-growing popularity of plant-based meat substitutes, which present a $14 billion opportunity, the report notes.

AI platform Tastewise put the report together. It stated that the retail market for plant-based foods already sits at $7 billion in the US alone. 

Tastewise found that plant-based meat is appearing on US menus 1,320 percent more compared to before the emergence of COVID-19.

Further, 9.2 percent of restaurants in the US are now plating up vegan meat. Especially in states like California, New York, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, and Oregon. The latter has the highest percentage of restaurants offering meat-free meat.

Most people are reaching for plant-based food for health reasons, the report said.

But sustainability motivations are rapidly rising – increasing by 58 percent year on year. Eating plant-based meat due to climate crisis concerns, in particular, is also growing, by 83 percent year on year.

In contrast, health concerns have dropped 12 percent year on year. 

“Responding to the devastating advance in climate change, many companies are working to reduce the significant climate footprint of the animal-farmed meat industry by innovating ways to move away from animal meat,” Tastewise CEO Alon Chen wrote in the report. 

“This increase in resources devoted to plant-based meat products, combined with consumer demands for real, versatile solutions, results in a timely shift in the way we consume food,” he said. “We’re looking forward to a healthier, more sustainable world of food and beverage, where we all play a part.”

Vegan Meat Featured On US Menus 1320% More Times Since Before COVID-19 – Plant Based News

Regards Mark

Other News:

CHKN Not Chicken Announces Series A Funding to Accelerate Retail and Food Service Distribution of Delicious Plant-Based Chicken

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chkn-not-chicken-announces-series-140500290.html

Vegan Danish with Blueberry Filling

https://namelymarly.com/vegan-danish/

Spike Mendelsohn to ‘plant’ flag with Union Square vegan restaurant

https://nypost.com/2021/09/07/spike-mendelsohn-to-plant-flag-with-union-square-vegan-restaurant/

Plant-based shawarma sandwich

Plant-based shawarma sandwich