Meat your maker: 5 reasons eating meat might kill you
Increases risk of cancer
A vast array of studies from top universities and independent researchers has found that eating meat promotes cancer in many forms, the most common being breast, prostate, and colon. A number of hypotheses are used to explain the connection between meat consumption and cancer risk. First, meat is devoid of fiber and other nutrients that have a protective effect against cancer. Meat also contains animal protein, saturated fat, and, in some cases, carcinogenic compounds such as heterocyclic amines (HCA) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are formed during the processing or cooking. Meat also contains hormones, which increase your cancer risk.
Increases risk of heart disease and diabetes
Meat, dairy products, and eggs all contain cholesterol and saturated fat and contribute to the world’s top killers: heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and various types of cancer. Decades of scientific study have linked dietary cholesterol to cardiovascular disease – the number 1 cause of death in most countries. Saturated fat is present in all meat and fish, even chicken and turkey cooked without the skin.
Additionally, according to a study published by the American Diabetes Association, people who eat high amounts of animal protein are 22% more likely to develop diabetes. Saturated fat has even been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and cognitive decline.
Carries the highest risk of foodborne illness
Eating meat puts you at a greater risk for food poisoning because animal products are often tainted with fecal contamination during slaughter or processing. Fecal contamination in chicken, especially, is a major problem. According to a Consumer Reports study, 97% of raw chicken in U.S. supermarkets is contaminated with bacteria that could make customers sick.
Most meat contain hormones
To make cows grow at an unnaturally fast rate, the cattle industry feeds them pellets full of hormones. While low levels of naturally-occurring hormones are found in various foods, many scientists are concerned that the artificial hormones injected into cows especially cause health problems in people who eat them. And while organic or hormone-free meat might be a better option, you’re also not eliminating your chances of ingesting the naturally-occurring sex hormones present in the animals when they were killed. The sex hormones progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen are all naturally occurring in animals, whether they’ve been given artificial hormones or not — so when you eat those animals, you’re also eating hormones.
May make you resistant to antibiotics
On farms across the world, the antibiotics that we depend on to treat human illnesses are now used to promote growth in animals and to keep them alive in horrific living conditions that would otherwise kill them. Countless new strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria have developed as a result.
Roughly 70% of the antibiotics used in the United States each year are given to animals that are used for food, meaning if you eat meat, you run a greater risk of making yourself antibiotic-resistant. Vancomycin, a drug that is known as a “last defense” in fighting the deadly blood infections and pneumonia caused by staphylococcus bacteria, is becoming obsolete because resistant strains have developed in farmed animals which are given the medicine as a growth stimulant.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
Category: Features, Health alert
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