Here’s How Eating Animals Messes With Your Health

Posted by Calvin on February 25, 2025

The #1 reason you shouldn’t eat animals is bc they can feel pain, fear, joy, and love and don’t deserve to suffer. But consuming dairy, eggs, and flesh is dangerous for you, too. It can lead to miserable diseases, decrease your life expectancy, and keep you from doing the things you love. 😨 Here are 12 health risks of eating animals that will scare the sh*t out of you:

1. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, meat is often contaminated with dangerous bacteria that can make you sick af, like E. coli, listeria, and campylobacter.¹

2. Due to a 💩-load of artery-clogging cholesterol, eating one egg per day is just as bad for your life expectancy as smoking five cigarettes per day.²

3. A study found that eating meat regularly is linked to a 60 percent increase in the risk of heart disease.³ Heart disease is the top killer in the U.S. and can cause exhaustion, pain, trouble breathing or sleeping, or swelling in your legs or stomach. 

4. Meat starts to rot as it makes its way through the human intestines, which increases the risk of colorectal cancer.⁴ 🤢 A study by the American Cancer Society found that humans who ate 3 ounces of beef, lamb, or pork daily were 30 to 40 percent more likely to develop the disease.⁵

5. Scientists have found that humans who regularly chow down on hot dogs, sausages, or other processed or cured meats experience a 70 percent increase in pancreatic cancer rates.⁶

6. Eating meat is associated with a higher risk of dementia.⁷

7. Researchers for the American Cancer Society have found that eating meat raises men’s risk of developing prostate cancer.⁸ The red flags are flying high at this point.

8. A study from Yale University reports that meat-based diets can cause cancer of the stomach and esophagus plus lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic system).⁹

9. Countries with the highest rates of dairy consumption also have the highest rates of osteoporosis.¹⁰ This bone disease can make you more prone to fractures 🦴—if playing sports or exercising is important to you, osteoporosis is one of your biggest opps.

10. Eating 50 grams of processed meat daily increases your risk of getting prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer.⁴

11. The World Health Organization has classified bacon and sausage carcinogenic to humans.¹¹ After reading all the cancer risks of eating meat above…yeah, makes total sense.

12. Type 2 Diabetes can be caused by fat buildup (mostly from animal fats), which makes it impossible for sugar to be absorbed.

We all have friends or fam who have struggled with diseases like the ones mentioned. Letting them know about the health risks of eating animals could save their lives—along with countless pigs, chickens, cows, and other animals used for food.

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Here’s the good news: Cutting animal-derived foods out of your life can help you prevent and sometimes reverse the scary health risks we covered. 😅 Pledge to go vegan to enter your healthy era and get recipes, tips, and stickers.

References:

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025, January 31). Symptoms of food poisoning. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/food-safety/signs-symptoms/?CDC_AAref_Val=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Ffoodsafety%2Fsymptoms.html

2. What the Health. (n.d.). Facts. What the Health. https://www.whatthehealthfilm.com/facts/

3. Gander, K. (2018, April 4). Not all proteins are good for your heart, study finds. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/meat-proteins-heart-disease-risk-plant-based-diets-benefit-cardiovascular-869896

4. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. (n.d.). Processed meat. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. https://www.pcrm.org/good-nutrition/nutrition-information/processed-meat

5. Abrams, Z. (2024, March 14). Large-scale study explores genetic link between colorectal cancer and Meat Intake. Keck School of Medicine of USC. https://keck.usc.edu/news/large-scale-study-explores-genetic-link-between-colorectal-cancer-and-meat-intake/#:~:text=It%20found%20that%20those%20who,or%20processed%20meat%20consumption%20levels

6. Dunlop, C. (2015, October 26). Processed meat and cancer – what you need to know. Cancer Research UK . https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/10/26/processed-meat-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/

7. Li, Y., Li, Y., Gu, X., Liu, Y., Dong, D., Kang, J. H., Wang, M., Eliassen, H., Willett, W. C., Stampfer, M. J., & Wang, D. (2025, January 15). Long-term intake of red meat in relation to dementia risk and cognitive function in US adults. Neurology Journals. https://www-neurology-org.translate.goog/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000210286?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=nl&_x_tr_hl=nl&_x_tr_pto=rq

8. American Cancer Society. (2023, November 22). Prostate cancer risk factors. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/prostate-cancer/causes-risks-prevention/risk-factors.html

9. Yale News. (2001, October 15). Animal-based nutrients linked with higher risk of stomach and esophageal cancers. Yale News. https://news.yale.edu/2001/10/15/animal-based-nutrients-linked-higher-risk-stomach-and-esophageal-cancers

10. Greger , M. (2017, January 31). Why is milk consumption associated with more bone fractures?. Nutrition Facts. https://nutritionfacts.org/blog/why-is-milk-consumption-associated-with-more-bone-fractures/

11. Aubrey, A. (2015, October 26). Bad day for bacon: Processed meats cause cancer, who says. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/26/451211964/bad-day-for-bacon-processed-red-meats-cause-cancer-says-who