"The Comparative Anatomy of Eating", by Milton R. Mills, M.D.
| Facial
Muscles CARNIVORE: Reduced to allow wide mouth gape OMNIVORE: Reduced HERBIVORE: Well-developed HUMAN: Well-developed Jaw Type CARNIVORE: Angle not expanded OMNIVORE: Angle not expanded HERBIVORE: Expanded angle HUMAN: Expanded angle Jaw Joint Location CARNIVORE: On same plane as molar teeth OMNIVORE: On same plane as molar teeth HERBIVORE: Above the plane of the molars HUMAN: Above the plane of the molars Jaw Motion CARNIVORE: Shearing; minimal side-to-side motion OMNIVORE: Shearing; minimal side-to-side HERBIVORE: No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back HUMAN: No shear; good side-to-side, front-to-back Major Jaw Muscles CARNIVORE: Temporalis OMNIVORE: Temporalis HERBIVORE: Masseter and pterygoids HUMAN: Masseter and pterygoids Mouth Opening vs. Head Size CARNIVORE: Large OMNIVORE: Large HERBIVORE: Small HUMAN: Small Teeth: Incisors CARNIVORE: Short and pointed OMNIVORE: Short and pointed HERBIVORE: Broad, flattened and spade shaped HUMAN: Broad, flattened and spade shaped Teeth: Canines CARNIVORE: Long, sharp and curved OMNIVORE: Long, sharp and curved HERBIVORE: Dull and short or long (for defense), or none HUMAN: Short and blunted Teeth: Molars CARNIVORE: Sharp, jagged and blade shaped OMNIVORE: Sharp blades and/or flattened HERBIVORE: Flattened with cusps vs complex surface HUMAN: Flattened with nodular cusps Chewing |
Saliva |
The Natural Human Diet
According to biologists and anthropologists who study our anatomy and our evolutionary history, humans are herbivores who are not well suited to eating meat.
Unlike natural carnivores, we are physically and psychologically unable to rip animals limb from limb and eat and digest their raw flesh. Even cooked meat is likely to cause human beings, but not natural carnivores, to suffer from food poisoning, heart disease, and other ailments.
People who pride themselves on being part of the human hunter tradition should take a second look at the story of human evolution. Prehistoric evidence indicates that humans developed hunting skills relatively recently and that most of our short, meat-eating past was spent scavenging and eating almost anything in order to survive; even then, meat was a tiny part of our caloric intake.
Humans lack both the physical characteristics of carnivores and the instinct that drives them to kill animals and devour their raw carcasses. Ask yourself: When you see dead animals on the side of the road, are you tempted to stop for a snack? Does the sight of a dead bird make you salivate? Do you daydream about killing cows with your bare hands and eating them raw? If you answered "no" to all of these questions, congratulations—you're a normal human herbivore—like it or not. Humans were simply not designed to eat meat.
(statement from: http://www.goveg.com/naturalhumandiet.asp)