Why Do Judaism and Islam Prohibit Eating Pork and Consuming Blood? Part II: Medical and Demographical Consequences of Prohibition

Abstract

Historical, mythological, traditional, and some theological and hygienic aspects of the prohibition against consuming pork and blood were described in the 2018 paper by Brondz, “Why Judaism and Islam Prohibit Eating Pork and Consuming Blood as a Food?” (Voice of the Publisher, 4(2), 22-31, https://doi.org/10.4236/vp.2018.42003). However, in that paper, the medical and demographic aspects influencing this issue were either not, or insufficiently, discussed. Some of the hygienic aspects are common to the breeding of other domestic animals, yet, whether consumption of their products has been prohibited has not been investigated. It is well known that the Armenian Orthodox Church prohibits eating hare, and in Hinduism, eating cattle or cattle products is prohibited. Herein, the goal is to shed light on the medical significance of the prohibition against pork consumption in Judaism and Islam, the possible demographical implications for Jews and Arabs, and some of the negative influences of this prohibition. Porcine hypodermic fat is white or yellow-white and has a relatively solid consistency. It also contains a significant amount of cholesterol. In humans, cholesterol is both partly synthesized de novo in the liver and partly absorbed by the small intestine from the food. Cholesterol plays an important physiologic role as a basis molecule for the partial resynthesis of many biologically active molecules that control fundamental functions within the endocrine, nerve, skeletomuscular, blood, and other systems.