Is Eating ‘Meat’ Killing Us?

Is Meat Killing Us?

In a paper entitled ‘Is Meat Killing Us?’, doctors from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona said a vegan diet had been shown to “reverse” cardiovascular disease, reduce blood pressure and the risk of getting diabetes.
The review, published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, covered studies that looked at the health of a total of 1.5 million people.

A vegan diet has been shown to improve several parameters of health, including reversal of CVD, decreased body-mass index, decreased risk of diabetes, and decreased blood pressure in smaller studies.
A 2003 study found a “decreased risk of 25% to nearly 50% of all-cause mortality for very low meat intake compared with higher meat intake.

Lynne Elliot, chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, said the tide of public opinion was moving in their direction.
She pointed to the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey which found three in 10 people in Britain said they had reduced the amount of meat they eat in the past 12 months with 58% citing “health reasons”.
“For people who want to improve their health, plant-based eating has a lot to offer,” she said in a statement.

“This global review comparing meat and vegetarian diets appears to confirm the findings of similar British studies. Vegetarians have lower rates of significant health problems such as cancer (10% lower) and heart disease (32% lower). But UK studies also indicate that in addition vegetarians have lower rates of other common illnesses such as diabetes, kidney stones and high-blood pressure.”
( Ian Johnston, Science Correspondent, The Independent, May 2016 )

Stripped Of Protective Drugs Will Be Tomorrow’s Potential Death Sentences.

Antibiotics help farm animals grow faster on less food, so their use has long been a staple of industrial farming.
But there is a terrifying downside to this practice.
Antibiotics seem to be transforming innocent farm animals into disease factories.
The animals become sources of deadly microorganisms, such as the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterium, which is resistant to several major classes of antibiotics and has become a real problem in hospitals.

The drugs may work on farms at first, but a few microbes with the genes to resist them can survive and pass this ability to fight off the drugs to a larger group.
Recent research shows that segments of DNA conferring drug resistance can jump between different species and strains of bacteria with disturbing ease.
By simply driving behind chicken transport trucks, scientists collected drug-resistant microbes from the air within their cars.

Early this year scientists discovered that a gene coding for resistance to a last-resort antibiotic has been circulating in the U.S. and was in bacteria infecting a woman in Pennsylvania.
Many researchers worry, and the new findings add fresh urgency to their concerns, that the abundant use of antibiotics on farms is unraveling our ability to cure bacterial infections.
Scientists now say that resistance to drugs can spread more widely than previously thought and firms up links in the resistance chain leading from animal farm to human table.

In 2014 pharmaceutical companies sold nearly 21 million pounds of medically important antibiotics for use in food animals, more than three times the amount sold for use in people.
Stripped of the power of protective drugs, today’s pedestrian health nuisances, ear infections, cuts, bronchitis, will become tomorrow’s potential death sentences.
( Melinda Wenner Moyer, 01.12.2016 ) .. scientificamerican.com

Red Meat Is Strongly Linked To Bowel Cancer.

Oxford University’s heart unit analysed the health consequences of a range of diets, concluding that eating meat no more than three times a week would prevent 31,000 deaths from heart disease, 9,000 deaths from cancer and 5,000 deaths from strokes each year.
In health terms, red meat is strongly linked with bowel cancer, while meat and dairy products high in saturated fat are causes of obesity and heart disease.
Environmentally, South American rainforests are being cleared, releasing climate change emissions, to grow animal feed and rear cattle for export to Europe.
( Martin Hickman, The Independent, 18.10.2010 )

Eating Red Meat Contributes To Premature Death.

A study by Harvard School of Public Health researchers, published in March 2012, found that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and cancer mortality.
The results also showed that substituting other healthy protein sources, such as fish, poultry, nuts, and legumes, was associated with a lower risk of mortality.

The study adds more evidence to the health risks of eating high amounts of red meat, which has been associated with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers in other studies.
The study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, contributes substantially to premature death.

Choosing more healthful sources of protein in place of red meat can confer significant health benefits by reducing chronic disease morbidity and mortality.
Support for the study was provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute.
( Wilfred Soon )

Processed Meat And Red Meat May Cause Cancer.

Bacon, burgers and sausages are deemed to be as big a cancer threat as cigarettes, according to global health chiefs.
The warning saw processed meat added to the list of items classified as carcinogenic to humans by the World Health Organisation.
It means dietary favourites, including salami, chorizo and smoked ham, rank alongside arsenic and asbestos, when it comes to the potential cancer risk.

Officials said just 50g of processed meat a day, less than one sausage, increases the risk of bowel cancer by almost a fifth.
The report also classified red meat as ‘probably carcinogenic’, one rank below, but added that it had some nutritional benefits.
Experts are now urging the public to avoid processed meat where possible and to have a bean salad for lunch rather than a bacon sandwich.

Processed meat has been preserved, for example by smoking, and includes ham and pate, as well as burgers and mince if they have been preserved using salt or chemical additives.
Experts think the substances added during processing cause cancer.
These include preservatives such as nitrates and nitrites – as well as substantial amounts of salt.

Processed meat was classified as carcinogenic, based on sufficient evidence in humans that consumption causes specifically colorectal or bowel cancer, they concluded.
The classification of red meat as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’ was observed mainly in relation to colorectal cancer, but links were also seen for pancreatic and prostate cancer.
( MailOnline, 28.10.2015 )

Meat Consumption And Cancer Risk.

The World Health Organisation has determined that dietary factors account for at least 30% of all cancers in Western countries and up to 20% in developing countries.
When cancer researchers started to search for links between diet and cancer, one of the most noticeable findings was that people who avoided meat were much less likely to develop the disease.

Large studies in England and Germany showed that vegetarians were about 40% less likely to develop cancer compared to meat eaters.
Two themes consistently emerge from studies of cancer from many sites: vegetables and fruits help to reduce risk, while meat, animal products, and other fatty foods are frequently found to increase risk.

Consumption of dietary fat drives production of hormones, which, in turn, promotes growth of cancer cells in hormone-sensitive organs such as the breast and prostate.
Meat is devoid of the protective effects of fibre, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and other helpful nutrients, and it contains high concentrations of saturated fat and potentially carcinogenic compounds, which may increase one’s risk of developing many different kinds of cancer.
( Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine )

We Are Losing The Battle Against Childhood Cancer.

A terrifying 40% rise in children’s cancer is being blamed on modern life.
Experts warned of a cancer epidemic and identified fast food, computer tablets, mobile phones, car emissions and cleaning agents as contributing factors.
The huge rise, revealed in Child Cancer Awareness Month, means that 1,300 more children are affected each year than in 1998. The stark news comes from the charity Children with Cancer UK, which demands the Government acts to ensure parents and parents-to-be are aware of wide-ranging lifestyle dangers.
Alasdair Philips, the charity’s trustee and science advisor says, “We are losing the battle against childhood cancer. It is so many lives lost, so many futures unfulfilled, so many devastated families.”
( Emily Retter, 04.09.2016 )

A Daily Aspirin Is Worth The Risk.

The benefits of an aspirin a day outweigh the risks , according to new research.
Although the drug raises the chance of stomach bleeding, the bleeds are less serious than those that can occur in people not taking the drug, said the study.
Aspirin is already known to cut heart disease and cancer.
Professor Peter Elwood, of Cardiff University, said he hoped the research will lead to wider use of aspirin among the elderly.
( Daily Mirror, 02.12.2016 )

Could Liquid Aspirin Fight Brain Tumours?

Aspirin is a very simple substance.
It’s chemical structure is so tiny that, compared to molecular monsters like proteins and carbohydrates, it can cross the ‘blood-brain barrier’ – an obstacle that has so far stopped cancer drugs reaching and attacking brain tumours.
Scientists say the results of early tests show a drink of liquid aspirin is ten times more effective than any existing chemotherapy drug at killing brain cancer cells and could save the lives of thousands of brain cancer patients.
The hope is liquid aspirin could be bolted on to cancer drugs to form powerful combinations to attack brain tumours.
This Portsmouth University research has been hailed as a ‘game-changer’ by experts.
( Dr Miriam Stoppard, 02.12.2016 )