McDonald’s Death Video

By on September 16, 2010 in News 27

I’m no fan of McDonald’s, and as Morgan Spurlock proved, eating too much of the processed junk they pass off as food is calamitous for your health … but this ad from the nonprofit vegan group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine takes criticism of Mickey D’s to a whole new level!

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  • Vox Penii

    pro-vegan doctors? what a joke: humans are omnivores. too much meat is bad (especially red meat), and processed foods in generals are bad, but it’s naive if not disingenuous for a medical professional to promote veganism for humans, which is contrary to all evidence from evolutionary biology.

    from an article by John McArdle, Ph.D, a psychologist who specializes in longitudinal (i.e., long-term) studies of human health:

    Evidence of Humans as Omnivores

    Archeological Record
    As far back as it can be traced, clearly the archeological record indicates an omnivorous diet for humans that included meat. Our ancestry is among the hunter/gatherers from the beginning. Once domestication of food sources began, it included both animals and plants.

    Cell Types
    Relative number and distribution of cell types, as well as structural specializations, are more important than overall length of the intestine to determining a typical diet. Dogs are typical carnivores, but their intestinal characteristics have more in common with omnivores. Wolves eat quite a lot of plant material.

    Fermenting Vats
    Nearly all plant eaters have fermenting vats (enlarged chambers where foods sits and microbes attack it). Ruminants like cattle and deer have forward sacs derived from remodeled esophagus and stomach. Horses, rhinos, and colobine monkeys have posterior, hindgut sacs. Humans have no such specializations.

    Jaws
    Although evidence on the structure and function of human hands and jaws, behavior, and evolutionary history also either support an omnivorous diet or fail to support strict vegetarianism, the best evidence comes from our teeth.

    The short canines in humans are a functional consequence of the enlarged cranium and associated reduction of the size of the jaws. In primates, canines function as both defense weapons and visual threat devices. Interestingly, the primates with the largest canines (gorillas and gelada baboons) both have basically vegetarian diets. In archeological sites, broken human molars are most often confused with broken premolars and molars of pigs, a classic omnivore. On the other hand, some herbivores have well-developed incisors that are often mistaken for those of human teeth when found in archeological excavations.

    Salivary Glands
    These indicate we could be omnivores. Saliva and urine data vary, depending on diet, not taxonomic group.
    Intestines

    Intestinal absorption is a surface area, not linear problem. Dogs (which are carnivores) have intestinal specializations more characteristic of omnivores than carnivores such as cats. The relative number of crypts and cell types is a better indication of diet than simple length. We are intermediate between the two groups.

    Conclusion
    Humans are classic examples of omnivores in all relevant anatomical traits.

    http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/omni.htm#evidence

  • gemmarama

    indeed… don’t mickey d’s do a beanburger too? vegetarianism is not intrinsically healthy – i know plenty of veggies who eat nothing but cheese and carbs.

    meat occasionally, plenty fruit&veg, less carbs, natural not processed foods, blah blah blah… when are people going to get this simple message?

  • JP

    the vegan/vegetarian argument vs McD’s/fast food/burgers has much more to do with the feedlots than is ever really discussed or presented. yep, we are omnivores. if you go kill a cow in the wild and feed your family/village with it – i have no problem with it. as an omnivore we don’t need to eat meat every meal. just because we can eat it doesn’t mean we have to. i think it would be safe to say that up until mid-20th century, most people didn’t eat meat every meal, nor expected to.

    in terms of feedlots/industrial/factory farming, that shit is bad for everyone, except the people making the profits – and its bad for them too, they just don’t’ realize or if they do they don’t care.

  • Andrew

    Anatomical evidence that we are herbivores: http://www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/94656

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    Completely agreed.10,000 years of the civilizing of man has not made meat one bit less tasty.Vegans always remind me of fundamentalists. I’m willing to let them be idiots in their own homes…but they will never be happy until they’re ramming their religion (or in this case, their godawful tofu and soy products) down the rest of our throats.

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

    Yeah…there’s a name the spin doctors must be proud of. I call bullshit on this. I’m all for organic natural food without additives…but that includes meat…which is part of a healthy diet. All I need is one glimpse at the wispy, knock-kneed quivering wrecks that call themselves vegan and I can see the cruel impact of a diet lacking in merit. None of them look even remotely healthy…they are the polar opposite of the dead guy on the slab in the commercial…either form of excess is a mistake.

    I’ll run with the poet Robert W. Service. “All things in moderation…even moderation.”

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WNJO236SF5VLSOB6ZUCBLDBF6M MaxImpactGuns

      yeah my little bro, little sister and brothers gf are all vegan/vegetarians. and they are all like skeletons. they are all pasty white also and look very very unhealthy. i would expect that lack of nutrition from not eating right is going to cause more problems down the road. i am joining the us army next august so i’m already starting to change my diet to get healthier and start working out/running. i <3 a steak like the next guy but i absolutely will not eat mcdonalds anymore. just my 2 cents.

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

    Yeah…there’s a name the spin doctors must be proud of. I call bullshit on this. I’m all for organic natural food without additives…but that includes meat…which is part of a healthy diet. All I need is one glimpse at the wispy, knock-kneed quivering wrecks that call themselves vegan and I can see the cruel impact of a diet lacking in merit. None of them look even remotely healthy…they are the polar opposite of the dead guy on the slab in the commercial…either form of excess is a mistake.

    I’ll run with the poet Robert W. Service. “All things in moderation…even moderation.”

  • GoodDoktorBad

    Nothing has changed. Eat what you will. Reap the consequences. Someday your molecules will be food for something or someone.

    I think the meat industry is pretty foul though -if most of us saw the places our meat comes from, many of us would go vegatarian out of pure revulsion and horror. We don’t kill our own food, some sledge hammer wielding zombies at the slaughter house do. Reminds me of “The HIlls Have Eyes” mutants. I eat meat but little of it.
    I feel healthier and more energetic too. Eating a steak is delicious, but I feel like taking a long nap afterwards.
    People also eat far more protein then they will ever need – much of it ends up in the toilet. Its a matter of moderation. Something people in this country don’t seem to know much about….

  • Anonymous

    Nothing has changed. Eat what you will. Reap the consequences. Someday your molecules will be food for something or someone.

    I think the meat industry is pretty foul though -if most of us saw the places our meat comes from, many of us would go vegatarian out of pure revulsion and horror. We don’t kill our own food, some sledge hammer wielding zombies at the slaughter house do. Reminds me of “The HIlls Have Eyes” mutants. I eat meat but little of it.
    I feel healthier and more energetic too. Eating a steak is delicious, but I feel like taking a long nap afterwards.
    People also eat far more protein then they will ever need – much of it ends up in the toilet. Its a matter of moderation. Something people in this country don’t seem to know much about….

  • http://allshoulders.tumblr.com/ Beasty McAllister

    Like a true patriot, i would like to die eating a cheeseburger. But seriously…Why was the burger still in his hand? How do we know this man didn’t choke?

  • http://hiccupsanddowns.blogspot.com Beasty McAllister

    Like a true patriot, i would like to die eating a cheeseburger. But seriously…Why was the burger still in his hand? How do we know this man didn’t choke?

  • Haystack

    Fast food really isn’t any worse than what you’d get if you made a burger and fries at home. McDonald’s biggest burger is 740 calories–about a third of most people’s recommended intake.

    Spurlock was trying to make himself fat and unhealthy for the sake of his film; overeating when not hungry, etc. Since his film came out other people have tried the same experiment. Some managed to lose weight eating McDonalds (“Portion Size Me”). A controlled experiment on subjects who are 6,000 calories a day (Suprlock consumed 5,000) showed 5-15% weight gain, but no liver disease or baffling medical conditions.

    I don’t have a problem with McDonalds from a health standpoint. The calories/cholesterol/sodium/fat in an extra value meal are what you’d realistically expect from a hamburger and fries, or something similar. If you get fat because you eat hamburgers all the time, that’s on you, not the people who sell them to you.

  • Haystack

    Fast food really isn’t any worse than what you’d get if you made a burger and fries at home. McDonald’s biggest burger is 740 calories–about a third of most people’s recommended intake.

    Spurlock was trying to make himself fat and unhealthy for the sake of his film; overeating when not hungry, etc. Since his film came out other people have tried the same experiment. Some managed to lose weight eating McDonalds (“Portion Size Me”). A controlled experiment on subjects who are 6,000 calories a day (Suprlock consumed 5,000) showed 5-15% weight gain, but no liver disease or baffling medical conditions.

    I don’t have a problem with McDonalds from a health standpoint. The calories/cholesterol/sodium/fat in an extra value meal are what you’d realistically expect from a hamburger and fries, or something similar. If you get fat because you eat hamburgers all the time, that’s on you, not the people who sell them to you.

  • Sgf

    you are talking about meat? everyone else talks about mcdonalds, no meat there…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WNJO236SF5VLSOB6ZUCBLDBF6M MaxImpactGuns

    yeah my little bro, little sister and brothers gf are all vegan/vegetarians. and they are all like skeletons. they are all pasty white also and look very very unhealthy. i would expect that lack of nutrition from not eating right is going to cause more problems down the road. i am joining the us army next august so i’m already starting to change my diet to get healthier and start working out/running. i <3 a steak like the next guy but i absolutely will not eat mcdonalds anymore. just my 2 cents.

  • Tabbykangaroo

    Being vegetarian isn’t unhealthy.
    You just need to have an open mind.
    Vegans, however, are a bit over the top.

  • Tabbykangaroo

    Being vegetarian isn’t unhealthy.
    You just need to have an open mind.
    Vegans, however, are a bit over the top.

  • Dave

    No, I don’t think so. McDonalds get their meat somewhere – and to keep a 99c menu priced insanely low, animals are kept in the worst conditions possible in industrial farms. These are the same conditions that lead to BSE, SARS, Swine Flu, et al.

    Don’t forget – food has dropped 25% in real price terms since the 50s.

  • Dave

    Oh – sorry. See the joke. Yup, it’s rendered animal parts. It can’t legally be called meat, particularly with the volume of additives it’s cut with.

  • gemmarama

    indeed… don’t mickey d’s do a beanburger too? vegetarianism is not intrinsically healthy – i know plenty of veggies who eat nothing but cheese and carbs.

    meat occasionally, plenty fruit&veg, less carbs, natural not processed foods, blah blah blah… when are people going to get this simple message?

  • Andrew

    Anatomical evidence that we are herbivores: http://www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/94656

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    Completely agreed.10,000 years of the civilizing of man has not made meat one bit less tasty.Vegans always remind me of fundamentalists. I’m willing to let them be idiots in their own homes…but they will never be happy until they’re ramming their religion (or in this case, their godawful tofu and soy products) down the rest of our throats.

  • JP

    the vegan/vegetarian argument vs McD’s/fast food/burgers has much more to do with the feedlots than is ever really discussed or presented. yep, we are omnivores. if you go kill a cow in the wild and feed your family/village with it – i have no problem with it. as an omnivore we don’t need to eat meat every meal. just because we can eat it doesn’t mean we have to. i think it would be safe to say that up until mid-20th century, most people didn’t eat meat every meal, nor expected to.

    in terms of feedlots/industrial/factory farming, that shit is bad for everyone, except the people making the profits – and its bad for them too, they just don’t’ realize or if they do they don’t care.

  • Sgf

    you are talking about meat? everyone else talks about mcdonalds, no meat there…

  • Dave

    No, I don’t think so. McDonalds get their meat somewhere – and to keep a 99c menu priced insanely low, animals are kept in the worst conditions possible in industrial farms. These are the same conditions that lead to BSE, SARS, Swine Flu, et al.

    Don’t forget – food has dropped 25% in real price terms since the 50s.

  • Dave

    Oh – sorry. See the joke. Yup, it’s rendered animal parts. It can’t legally be called meat, particularly with the volume of additives it’s cut with.