Hundreds of millions of Indians have been vegetarians for centuries without any meaningful difference in health outcomes. Any claim about adverse health effects needs to account for that history.

I have a very bleak view about humanity’s ability to overcome the senseless, mass slaughter and consumption of animals, even in spite of the existential risks of pandemic disease and environmental collapse that continuing to do so poses. But the idea that it’s a biological necessity (outside of a very small percentage of people with specific health conditions), seems easily disproven.