Fw: [MysticalMusings] Beefing Up

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Tuesday, January 18, 2005 10:49 AM

[MysticalMusings] Beefing Up

Beefing Up Health Sciences Institute e-Alert **************************************************** January 18, 2005 Dear Reader, Here's a perfect example of why you just can't trust your television. Last week, at the end of a local broadcast here in Baltimore, a chirpy anchor woman finished up the news with this health item that lasted all of five or six seconds: "A new study reports that eating red meat causes colorectal cancer. I guess it's going to be turkey chili from now on." With that, she signed off, and... Wait a second. Did I hear that right? Red meat what? CAUSES cancer? Yep, that's what passes for "information" if you get your news from television. Of course, there's a lot more to the red meat study than this news-reader "reported." Starting with the fact that if you enjoy a bowl of BEEF chili tonight, it will NOT give you cancer. --------------------------- All you can eat ------------------------a nutshell, here are the highlights from the red meat study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association: American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers collected ten years of dietary and medical data from nearly 150,000 subjects over the age of 50. The data was analyzed to assess a relationship between meat intake and colorectal cancer. A possible link between the two has been indicated in some studies but inconclusive in others. The ACS team reported the following results: * Those who consumed the largest amount of meat over ten years had a 30 percent higher risk of colon cancer compared to subjects who reported eating the least amount of meat * Those who consumed the largest amount of PROCESSED meat had a 50 percent higher risk of colon cancer * Colorectal cancer risk from eating red or processed meat on a regular basis (three ounces per day) is lower than the risk associated with obesity and physical activity * Long-term consumption of poultry and fish was associated with a slightly lower risk of colorectal cancer In spite of "the other white meat" advertisements from the National Pork Board, the ACS researchers included pork, along with beef and lamb, as red meat. Processed meat included bacon, cold cuts, hot dogs, sausage and ham. --------------------------- Hold the hormones --------------------------- Now... let's go back to my local anchor woman's coverage of the study: "Eating red meat causes colorectal cancer. I guess it's going to be turkey chili from now on." What's wrong with this picture? What's NOT wrong with it! First of all – and most obvious – eating red meat does not "cause" colorectal cancer. Not even close. According to one of the researchers, a person who eats red meat a couple of times each week would qualify for the lowest consumption group for this study, putting them at very low risk. So if the anchor woman had just added the words "everyday for ten years" between the words "red meat" and "causes," she would have been what I naively still want news people to be: somewhat ACCURATE! Secondly: turkey chili? Please. Do you know what goes into ground turkey meat? Unless a package of ground turkey stipulates exactly what parts of the bird have been used, you can assume that the "meat" consists of just about every part of the turkey except the beak. I think we can safely say that this would qualify as "processed" meat. And finally, what is it about meat that might cause colorectal cancer? Researchers speculate that fat may be to blame, or the iron content, or the nitrates used as preservatives, or the way meat is cooked. Or it might be the hormones. According to the Organic Consumers Association, about two thirds of the cattle produced in the U.S. are treated with several growth hormones allowed by the USDA and the FDA. One of these hormones – 17 beta-estradiol (a synthetic version of the female hormone progesterone) – has been proven to be carcinogenic. In fact, the European Union has banned the importation of any cattle treated with 17 beta- estradiol. Suddenly organic beef sounds pretty appealing. So the next time you hear a newsperson on TV utter an absurdly simplistic phrase like, "Eating red meat causes colorectal cancer," you'll know that's probably just the hormones talking. To Your Good Health, Jenny Thompson Health Sciences Institute **************************************************** MysticalMusings home: MysticalMusingsTo send an email to:MysticalMusings To Subcribe:MysticalMusings Glimpse's On Seeker's Webhttp://seekers.100megs6.com/glimpses.htmSeeker's Web http://seekers.100megs6.com/