Halal Diets

Abstract

Throughout the world, major shifts in dietary patterns are occurring, from carbohydrate-rich staples (cereals, roots, tubers) to vegetable oils, animal products (meat and dairy foods) to sugar. There is also an intake of increased energy supply from cheaper, processed food products. These new diets are a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, obesity and type 2 diabetes, food allergies and some cancers. In order to prevent these diseases, research shows that vegetables and fruit should be the basis of our diets.7 However, our current food systems are providing us with high levels of salt, sugar and fat. Moreover, intensive meat and fish farming methods are using antibiotics in animal feed, both to prevent diseases in industrially raised animals and make those animals grow faster (therefore increasing feed efficiency). A side effect of this process is that these antibiotics also enter the human food chain. Various studies show that antibiotics significantly increase weight and body fat levels. The result of our current diets has been an increase in obesity, diabetes and associated diseases, reaching epidemic proportions in regions like Asia and the Middle East.