Paying a Price for Loving Red Meat

[mzteris]

(The following is a public service announcement!)

There was a time when red meat was a luxury for ordinary Americans, or was at least something special: cooking a roast for Sunday dinner, ordering a steak at a restaurant. Not anymore. Meat consumption has more than doubled in the United States in the last 50 years.

Now a new study of more than 500,000 Americans has provided the best evidence yet that our affinity for red meat has exacted a hefty price on our health and limited our longevity.

The study found that, other things being equal, the men and women who consumed the most red and processed meat were likely to die sooner, especially from one of our two leading killers, heart disease and cancer, than people who consumed much smaller amounts of these foods.

Results of the decade-long study were published in the March 23 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine. The study, directed by Rashmi Sinha, a nutritional epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute, involved 322,263 men and 223,390 women ages 50 to 71 who participated in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Each participant completed detailed questionnaires about diet and other habits and characteristics, including smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption, education, use of supplements, weight and family history of cancer.

-MORE-

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/health/28brod.html

[Taverner]

1. "red and processed meat" - um, that's changing the terms mid study

We all know processed meat is bad for you

And too much red meat is bad for you

But to lump them into the same study pretty much makes the results useless.

[leftstreet]

2. Red meat, smoking, alcohol, weight, education - all in one article!

:popcorn:

[Javaman]

13. yup, out ot piss off as many as possible in one shot. Hey pass some of that!

:popcorn:

if they say popcorn is bad, then I will be really pissed!!

Mmmmm :popcorn:

[Marrah_G]

3. I bet you are a vegetarian!

Am I right? Am I right?

I also predict this thread turns into a flamefest.

I'm all psychic like that.

I'm going to have some popcorn and in the spirit of Skinners last big post...

I will keep my thoughts beyond this to myself :)

[louis-t]

4. Linda McCartney died in her 50's from cancer.

She was a vegetarian. The average lifespan in this country has increased, not decreased, in the last 50 years. Smoking has probably decreased. I think the main reason heart disease and cancer kill more people now is more chemicals in food, and obesity. Eating meat may be part of the problem, but it is not the only problem.

[Ignis]

10. A single sample doesn't refute this study.

That's like invoking your sainted Granny who smoked every day of her life and lived to be 100.

There may be an exception to every rule, but it's just that: An exception.

[cwcwmack]

11. that's impossible

everyone knows that vegetarians don't get cancer.

:sarcasm:

How about everyone just eats what they want in moderate quantities?

[Javaman]

14. Quite you! what did I tell you about making sensible statements?!nt

[HopeHoops]

5. Did you know there is a long-standing government standard for "Potted Meat Food Product"?

We're talking right down to the number of peas and carrots. The name alone should make you run screaming!

[Big Blue Marble]

6. A growing body of scientific evidence

supports the theory that eating less meat would good for us and for our environment.
But if DU is representative of the general population, the resistance to the science is fierce.

I hold that this will change over time. More people are recognizing the benefits to their health
of eating less meat. This does not mean one must become a vegetarian. It means eat meat a few times
a week. You will even appreciate it even more.

I started to reduce my meat consumption over 35 years ago. It was a gradual process. No one loved
steak, roasts, or burgers more than I did! It was nearly 20 years ago, that I finally gave up eating any
beef as when I occasionally did, I no longer, had the enzymes to digest it. I, only, miss it very occasionally.

I no longer eat any land animals. I do eat fish once or twice a week. I am very happy with the many choices
that remain in my diet. I am content knowing that my diet contributes to my health and the health of our
planet.

[Marrah_G]

8. I eat alot less meat and alot more vegetables now

I also cook most things from scratch now, we avoid processed food and I try to buy organic meats when possible.

You post is the sort of post people will stop and read.

[NeedleCast]

15. I see no resistance to the science

I'm an omnivore and I understand that eating meat has an impact on the envorionment. On the other hand, I understand that environmentalism is not based simply on consumption of meat. I feel very good that I have a mostly positive impact on the environmnet. Some people on the vegetarian side seem to see this is an all or nothing issue when it isn't. I'm sure you can understand why being told I'm damaging the environment when I consume meat by someone who puts 15,000 miles a year on their vehicle while I avarage about 1,500 makes me want to choke the shit out of them.

[rd_kent]

17. I performed "cap and trade" on my red meat

Yes, eating less red meat is better for you and the environment, so I moved 3 blocks from my work and stopped driving my car everyday. Is that a fair "cap and trade"?

[Occam Bandage]

7. That's fairly convincing, though I would wonder

why they lumped "red and processed meat" together.

[demokatgurrl]

12. KInd of blurs the whole thing, doesn't it?

Personally I've gone the opposite way. AFter having been a vegetarian (not vegan, however) for the better part of 15 years, I had the opportunity to eat meat that had been well -prepared, and found that not only did I enjoy it, but felt much better and stronger once I started including it in my diet.

I can see environmental benefits of cutting back, am more skeptical about the health aspect.

[graywarrior]

9. I stopped having meat 35 years ago and so far I am the only one

in my family without serious health issues including cancer....and we have a history of cancerous deaths going way back to great grandparents.

[rd_kent]

16. If you dont like red meat

can I have yours?

[cpompilo]

18. I think what has exacted a hefty price on our health is

a lifetime of eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) with it's emphasis on chemically laden fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat, as well as too much sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup. That's enough to shorten anyone's lifespan.