There are two narratives about human nutrition.
One is repeated endlessly in public health campaigns, documentaries, and activist slogans.
The other is visible in the actual development outcomes of human populations.
They are not the same story.
Hong Kong, 2026:
- Highest life expectancy in the world: 85.55 years.
- Highest meat consumption per capita in the developed world.
- Roast pork, char siu, roast duck, fish, beef and offal eaten daily.
- Vegetables present as a side dish.
- Smallest landmass of any region on the top-five list.
- No Blue Zone designation.
India, 2026:
- World's largest population of vegetarians, by absolute number.
- World's highest rate of child wasting, at 18.7%.
- World's highest absolute number of stunted children, at 37 million.
- 53.7% of women aged 15-49 anaemic.
- The state of Rajasthan, at 74.9% vegetarian, has 32% of its children stunted and 72% anaemic.
- The state of Kerala, with the highest meat and fish consumption, has the lowest stunting rate in India at 20%.
If plant-based diets produced the outcomes their advocates predict, the data above would look the other way round.
The data above does not look the other way round.
The data above looks exactly like what you would expect if animal protein were the limiting factor in human development.
Which is, broadly speaking, what every population that has industrialised in the last hundred years has demonstrated.
The advocates have not yet addressed this.
The data has been public for fifteen years.