Latest news with #NataliaLawrence
New York Post
14-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Disgusting reason why so many vegetarians won't eat meat
That moo makes 'em eww. A new UK study has uncovered the real reason vegetarians have so much beef with, well, beef — and it's enough to make your stomach turn. 3 A new study has uncovered the real reason vegetarians have so much beef with meat — and it's enough to make your stomach turn. franz12 – Meat-shunners will often tell you they turn down animal flesh for ethical reasons — and while that may be part of it, researchers found there's something far more visceral going on. What they discovered was that vegetarians experience a profound sense of disgust when considering meat consumption, akin to the reaction meat-eaters have toward substances like human flesh, dog meat or poop. Yes, poop. The study, published in the journal Appetite, involved 252 vegetarians and 57 omnivores. Participants were shown images of various foods and were asked to rate their reactions based on two distinct emotions: distaste — a simple aversion to taste, texture or smell — and disgust — a deeper, more visceral repulsion. The findings revealed that while disliked vegetables — such as olives, sprouts, raw aubergine and beetroot — elicited feelings of distaste, meat prompted a strong response among vegetarians, one that was comparable to the disgust meat-eaters felt when presented with images of human flesh or feces. It's worth keeping that image in your mind next time you innocently offer a vegetarian a hot dog. 3 Vegetarians feel the same way about meat as meat-eaters feel about poop, the study says. Angelov – 'This is the most robust evidence to date that we reject meat and vegetables that we find repellent based on different underlying processes,' Natalia Lawrence, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Exeter in the UK, said in a statement. 'Obviously finding meat disgusting can help people avoid eating it, which has health and environmental benefits. Other research we've conducted suggests that these feelings of disgust may develop when people deliberately reduce or avoid eating meat, such as during Veganuary.' 3 The research shows the aversion of meat-shunners may go deeper than a simple sense of ethics. rh2010 – Much like Dry January, Veganuary is a UK-led initiative that encourages Brits to follow a vegan diet for the entire month of January. Research on the health benefits of vegan diets has been mixed. While some studies have found that a plant-based diet can shave years off your biological age, other research indicates it can make you more likely to suffer nutritional deficiencies. The researchers behind this new study believe there's something much more evolutionary at play. 'Meat eaters responded to the idea of eating these truly disgusting substances like feces in the same way that vegetarians responded to images of meat that they didn't want to eat, and this was very different from the way they responded to vegetables they rejected,' said Elisa Becker, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford. 'Although we may think we're rejecting a food simply because we don't want to eat it, we showed that the basis for this rejection is quite different — and we think that's evolved to protect us from pathogens that can lie undetected in meat.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The reason why vegetarians are repelled by meat
Many vegetarians feel disgust towards eating meat similar to the aversion widely felt towards cannibalism, research has found. A study set out to investigate whether there was a difference in the psychological mechanisms by which people reject meat compared with vegetables. In an online study involving 300 people, who were mostly vegetarians, researchers found people who rejected vegetables did so because they felt distaste – a simple aversion to the taste, texture or smell of a food. In contrast, when people disliked and rejected meat that would be considered appetising by omnivores – such as roast chicken or beef steak – they felt the more complex emotion disgust, in a similar way that meat-eaters were disgusted by the idea of eating human meat. Professor Natalia Lawrence, of the University of Exeter, said: 'This is the most robust evidence to date that we reject meat and vegetables that we find repellent based on different underlying processes. 'Obviously, finding meat disgusting can help people avoid eating it, which has health and environmental benefits. 'Other research we've conducted suggests that these feelings of disgust may develop when people deliberately reduce or avoid eating meat, such as during Veganuary.' The study recruited 252 people who reject meat and 57 omnivores who eat meat. Researchers tested responses to images of 11 different foods, such as palatable meat, olives, sprouts, aubergine and beetroot. Participants were asked several questions about how eating each of the foods would make them feel. Each question was linked to either disgust or distaste, which allowed the researchers to make a distinction between what people felt when they rejected different foods. To compare reactions, the meat-eating participants were also shown images of substances overwhelmingly considered disgusting to eat, such as human flesh, dog meat and faeces. Where participants said they would not eat the item pictured, they completed questions to investigate the grounds for rejection. Consistently, people rejected vegetables they did not like based on distaste, and rejected meat and disgust elicitors in a strikingly similar disgust pattern. Dr Elisa Becker, the study's lead author, said: 'Meat eaters responded to the idea of eating these truly disgusting substances like faeces in the same way that vegetarians responded to images of meat that they didn't want to eat, and this was very different from the way they responded to vegetables they rejected. 'Although we may think we're rejecting a food simply because we don't want to eat it, we showed that the basis for this rejection is quite different – and we think that's evolved to protect us from pathogens that can lie undetected in meat.' The paper is published in the journal Appetite. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
