Eating Meat Linked To Disease, Report SaysA new report released Monday claims the science is clear: Eating too much meat is bad for your health. The

[DalTheJigsaw123]

A new report released Monday claims the science is clear: Eating too much meat is bad for your health.

 

The so-called Meat Eater's Guide, compiled by the Environmental Working Group, is generating buzz for its "cradle-to-grave" look at the environmental impact of 20 popular types of meat, dairy and vegetable proteins. But it also emphasizes the potential health impact of eating too much meat, recommending that people to cut back to decrease their risk of heart disease and certain cancers.

 

"The goal is to really make this information accessible to consumers," said Kari Hamerschlag, an agriculture analyst with the research and advocacy group. "On the health side, we really pulled together all of the information and tried to make it as clear as possible that there's not just one reason to limit meat consumption; there are a whole host of reasons."

 

The report, which weaves together statistics from various earlier studies, allows that meat can be an important source of protein and vitamins when eaten in moderation. But in the U.S., moderation may be a problem. The report cites data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization suggesting that Americans consume almost 60 percent more meat than their European counterparts, and four times more than in many developing countries. And much of that meat is either red or processed.

 

The health effects of this, the EWG report claims, are myriad: A 2009 report from the National Cancer Institute found that people who ate the most red meat -- which can have high levels of cholesterol-rising saturated fat -- were 27 percent more likely to die of heart disease. That same report also found serious meat eaters were 20 percent more likely to die of cancer than those who consumed the least amount of meat.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/cut-back-on-meat-new-repo_n_901554.html

Edited July 18, 2011 by LeonBasin

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Not to mention that too much protein robs the body of calcium which is much harder to find than protein. Osteoporosis reports of vegetarians compared to the fast-food beef consumers would be interesting...

Edited July 18, 2011 by Harmonious Emptiness

[Taomeow]

Did you find out who paid for the study? That's what I always do before I give any "studies" even a fleeting consideration. Most anti-meat "studies" are funded by the soy lobby, e.g.. The ones demonizing "red" meat, by the poultry industry. And so on. ("Red" meat is way healthier, by the way, although the factory-farmed variety is not, be it chicken, beef, or -- gasp -- fish or -- oh horror -- pesticide-laced GM vegetables and fruit.)

 

That Americans don't eat meat in moderation is the continuation of the consume-it-all mindset propagated by the same corporations that tweak with our "what to consume" ideas based on their own competition agendas and nothing else. This or that bogeyman item of consumption usually fails closer scrutiny. Innuits consumed a diet of 85% meat and animal fat before the advent of white civilization, and were one of the healthiest populations on earth living in the harshest conditions on earth. On the opposite climatic extreme, the same ratios were consumed by, e.g., the Masai tribe in Africa, considered by some anthropologists not only one of the healthiest but the most beautiful people on earth.

 

Don't look to "studies" for what to eat, they don't produce any honest ones anymore. The "scientist" will lose the grant if the results of the study predetermined by whoever pays for it should clash with the paying party's profits considerations. Look to the history of our species, find out what we ate before food went corporate, take it from there.

[liminal_luke]

[Desert Eagle]

Don't look to "studies" for what to eat, they don't produce any honest ones anymore. The "scientist" will lose the grant if the results of the study predetermined by whoever pays for it should clash with the paying party's profits considerations. Look to the history of our species, find out what we ate before food went corporate, take it from there.

 

Great post! quoted for emphasis and reference.

 

I listen to my body and try to make my food as natural as possible.

Edited July 18, 2011 by Desert Eagle

[thelerner]