Letters | China’s must end cruelty to moon bears, and ban the use of wildlife for food or science

The moon bear (or Asian black bear) is currently used as a source of ursodeoxycholic acid (urso from the Latin ursidae for bear and deoxycholic acid, or bile salt).

Bile salts are needed in human digestion to break apart fats. Bile salts are cholesterol derivatives, made in our liver, stored in our gallbladder. But here’s the key: the source of cholesterol is a determining factor. Cholesterol can come from our diet or our liver. If there’s too much dietary cholesterol, this can affect cholesterol production by our liver.

Where is this influx of cholesterol coming from? Animal meat. Just like humans, every single cell in an animal contains cholesterol. We have never consumed as much meat as we do now, so never before have we had to worry about bile salt production.

Instead of recognising this nuance in self-production, we choose to support the idea of a magic pill, sourced from a tortured black bear as a cure. By labelling it “traditional medicine”, we ignore the biochemistry of our own human bodies.