Pescetarianism is a dietary choice, in which a person — known as a pescetarian — eats fish or other non-mammalian aquatic animals but will not eat terrestrial animals or marine mammals. This article is primarily about the human diet For a discussion of animal diets see List of feeding behaviours. Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands An aquatic animal is an Animal which lives in water for most or all of the time Terrestrial animals are Animals that live predominantly or entirely on land as compared with Aquatic animals which live predominantly or entirely in the water (e Marine mammals are a diverse group of roughly 120 species of Mammal that are primarily Ocean -dwelling or depend on the ocean for food Some animal products like eggs and dairy may be part of a pescetarian diet.

Terms like pesco-vegetarianism are sometimes used to describe pescetarianism, to emphasize that pescetarians abstain from eating the flesh of land animals. However, these terms are controversial and lesser-used, in part because they imply that pescetarianism is a type of vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes Meat (including game and slaughter by-products Fish (including Shellfish and other sea The Vegetarian Society, which initiated popular use of the term vegetarian as early as 1847, does not consider pescetarianism a valid vegetarian diet. The Vegetarian Society is a British registered charity established on 30 September 1847 with the aim of promoting understanding and respect for ^[1] Some other entities accept pescetarianism as a valid vegetarian diet, including MedicineOnline. com,^[2] Vegetarian. LifeTips. com,^[3] and the Centre for Cancer Education. ^[4] The definitions of "vegetarian" in authoritative, mainstream dictionaries vary. ^[5]

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

Rationale

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. Health is a state of complete physical mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity For mammal meat see Red meat. For the band see Red Meat (band. Saturated fat is Fat that consists of Triglycerides containing only saturated Fatty acids Explanation Fat that occurs ^[6][7] Furthermore, eating certain kinds of fish raises HDL levels,^[8][9] and some fish are a convenient source of omega-3 fatty acids,^[10] and have numerous health benefits in one food variety. Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two High-density lipoproteins ( HDL) is one of the 5 major groups of Lipoproteins ( Chylomicrons, VLDL, IDL, LDL, HDL n −3 fatty acids (popularly referred to as ω−3 fatty acids or omega-3 fatty acids) are a family of unsaturated Fatty acids that ^[11]

It can be claimed conversely that fish also contain toxins such as mercury and PCBs,^[12] though a careful selection of fish can ensure a low-risk or toxin-free product. A toxin ( Greek:, toxikon, lit (poison for use on arrows is a Poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms that is active at very low Polychlorinated biphenyls ( PCB s are a class of Organic compounds with 1 to 10 Chlorine atoms attached to Biphenyl which is a molecule composed ^[13][14]

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.

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. Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience that may be described as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two Clawed lobsters compose a family ( Nephropidae, sometimes also Homaridae) of large marine Crustaceans Lobsters are economically important as Scientific studies supposedly seeking to answer the question of whether fish and other aquatic animals feel pain have yielded mixed conclusions.

Environmental ethics

Some pescetarians view red meat as an inefficient food source. Most cattle, pigs and chickens^[15] that supply the United States meat market are not free range. Free range is a method of Farming Husbandry where the Animals are allowed to roam freely instead of being contained in any manner 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.

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. Wild caught sealife is however, subject to contamination from whatever toxins are in the waters, such as PCBs and mercury.

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,^[16] outstripping even the contribution of transportation. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options is a United Nations report released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations The main greenhouse gases produced by livestock are methane — the natural result of digestion — and the nitrogen emitted by manure, as well as nitrous oxides. 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. "

Comparisons to other diets

Pescetarianism is similar to a traditional Mediterranean diet, which focuses on seafood, grains, fruits, and vegetables. The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional recommendation inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of some of the countries of the Mediterranean Basin. 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. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes Meat (including game and slaughter by-products Fish (including Shellfish and other sea ^[17] 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 seemingly 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 imperfect if precautions are not taken, due to the problems of overfishing, by-catch and in both diets, habitat destruction through arable farming. Overfishing occurs when Fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an acceptable level Habitat destruction is the process in which natural Habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species originally present

Terminology

The root of pesco- is ultimately from piscis the Latin for fish. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two 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". A carnivore (ˈkɑrnɪvɔər meaning 'meat eater' ( Latin carne meaning 'flesh' and vorare meaning 'to devour' is any animal with a diet consisting

See also

• Flexitarianism
• Pollotarianism
• Semi-vegetarianism

References

External links

• What is a pescetarian?
• Pescetarian Life

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