(Feb. 9, 2011) — According to the Animal Liberation Front, nine billion chickens, 35 million cattle and 116 million pigs are slaughtered for food in the United States each year. While most of the population is not concerned about animal slaughter, the other 3.2 percent of the adults in the United States follow a vegetarian based diet. “I like eating meat because plain and simple, it’s tasty,” said sophomore David Khachaturian. “I think it is our nature to eat meat because ever since humans first came to be on this earth, they’d have had to mainly live off hunting animals, so eating meat would kind of come naturally for their descendants.” While meat consumption may seem natural, consumers may want to be careful about the amount of meat they are eating. According to the American Journal of Epidemiology, vegetarians have a 30 percent reduced risk of heart-disease compared to meat consumers, aside from other health benefits. Besides the health benefits, many people choose to become vegetarian for moral reasons. Freshman Tina Stephens decided to become vegetarian after she viewed the “meet your meat” video, a short, gory documentary made by the People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals that displays the cruel reality of many slaughterhouses. “I chose to become vegetarian because I stopped liking the taste of meat,” said Stephens. “I just have to help my mom with the cooking because a lot of times I eat stuff totally different for dinner than what they eat.” Meat is also one of the leading causes of pollution and environmental instability. According to mongabay.com, an online collection of environmental science articles, since raising animals requires a large amount of feed, more cattle pastures have been made to keep up with the demand. Cattle ranching is responsible for up to 70 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Environmentalists also point out that meat is responsible for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, depending on the means of production, cows emit 2.3 to 4.7 ounces of methane per pound produced because of the decomposition of manure. That means the production of a half pound of hamburger releases as much greenhouse gases as driving a pick-up truck nearly 10 miles. Meat eaters posses compelling arguments against vegetarianism. According to Scott Gold, author of The Shameless Carnivore , eating meat also has its benefits. As long as you limit your portion size, you can still eat very well. A cut of lean beef includes full protein and high levels of iron, vitamin B, and zinc. Vegetarians need to get these nutrients from other sources such as nuts. Vitamin B12 is only found in animals, and a deficiency can lead to anemia and permanent nerve damage. Despite some issues related to meat consumption, people are still eating flesh for obvious reasons. “Vegetarianism is not for me,” said senior Allen Sarkisyan. “I’d rather have good food than good health.”