Study suggests processed meat a real health risk

[Celebration]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64G5TN20100517?type=domesticNews

Eating bacon, sausage, hot dogs and other processed meats can raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a study that identifies the real bad boys of the meat counter.

Eating unprocessed beef, pork or lamb appeared not to raise risks of heart attacks and diabetes, they said, suggesting that salt and chemical preservatives may be the real cause of these two health problems associated with eating meat.

The study, an analysis of other research called a meta-analysis, did not look at high blood pressure or cancer, which are also linked with high meat consumption.

"To lower risk of heart attacks and diabetes, people should consider which types of meats they are eating," said Renata Micha of the Harvard School of Public Health, whose study appears in the journal Circulation.

"Processed meats such as bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs and processed deli meats may be the most important to avoid," Micha said in a statement.

Anyone else here waiting for a "science blog" to attack this study? :shrug:

[zipplewrath]

1. It's a Meta study

Those aren't real popular in alot of scientific circles.

[HuckleB]

7. With good reason.

http://www.improvingmedicalstatistics.com/Meta%20Beware%20gifts.htm

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Besides it being a meta-study, and therefore largely worthless except as...

a hint where to do more study, there's no idea where the causation lies.

Anyway, this is news?

Bacon, salami, sausages... all are at least 50% fat and it's a no-brainer that they cause problems-- dieticians have been wailing about them for years. Years ago someone noticed that Austrians shared the highest consumption of sausages and the highest rates of heart disease in Europe. Even a well-marbled steak has less fat than a salami, and a pork chop has much less than an Italian sausage.

But fat causing diabetes? Maybe, but it's highly probable that anyone who eats a lot of it is going to eat some other bad stuff. Even without the other bad stuff, a diet that high in fat is going to cause some people to keel over.

And I thought it was well-known that the nitrites used as a preservative are carcinogens when cooked to form nitrosamines. But, then, this didn't look at cancer rates.

[Celebration]

4. Really?

http://www.yourmedicaldetective.com/public/891.cfm

It seems that the nitrites and nitrates share the same biochemical pathway as streptozotocin, a substance actually given to rats and mice to cause them to have diabetes, (for the purpose of studies).

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Curiously, 97% of streptozotocin found in one study...

were from vegetables-- mainly lettuce and potatoes. There does seem to be a good possibility for a link, though.

But, that's in New Zealand, and more work has to be done in other populations.

[Warpy]

6. Not only that, but the jury has been in on nitrate preservatives for years

and it's been long known that they're at least carcinogenic, at least when processed foods are subjected to high temperatures.

If they also raise rates for heart disease, it's not wholly unexpected, although that rise is more likely due to the overall sodium load from both added salt plus sodium nitrate preservatives. Processed meats are generally very high in both.

Still, nitrates are a natural part of our diets and are present in a lot of the foods we eat, including fruits and vegetables.

In any case, sodium nitrate is a hell of a lot less damaging than the clostridium botulinum it kills.

The key is eating a widely varied diet instead of that bacon for breakfast, bologna for lunch, and salami pizza for supper.

[get the red out]

3. I don't eat that stuff

But I worry about my husband who does eat bacon and sausage. Nasty meats. No matter how anyone views this study, it is a pretty sure bet that processed meat isn't very healthy and better choices can be made.

[supernova]

8. I occasionally eat bacon and

but only the organic kind, without nitrates and nitrites. You just have to be certain you've cooked them through properly.

I haven't eaten them since the late 70s/early 80s.

[laconicsax]

9. That's why I only eat fresh kills.

My neighbors don't like the noise or smell, and the carpets are ruined beyond hope, but there's nothing better for you than eating meat fresh off the freshly hacked bone.

I prefer to use Acheulean-style hand axes to kill and butcher my dinner. My dog and cat like the fresh meat (it lets them get into their primal predator mind which is good for pack-bonding), and laconicspouse makes a really nice wine with the blood.

[Duer 157099]

11. Noise? Carpets?

Are you slaughtering animals in your living room? :rofl:

[laconicsax]

13. We're not savages!

We kill them in the dining room.

True story: laconicmother-in-law's cat always brings his fresh kills into the dining room to eat, much to her dismay.

[Duer 157099]

14. Well that's a smart cat, knows which room the fine dining happens in

Now if he brought it into the kitchen and put it in a pan on the stove...

[tiptoe]

10. waiting for the same study on a sample of vitamin d sufficient subjects .

32 - 50 ng/ml
> 50 ng/ml

Eventually, all tests of product usage for risk of disease will have to be repeated
with samplings for subjects:

Higher vitamin d status shows significantly decreased risk of disease incidence: Type I diabetes, 17 cancers, etc (possibly regardless what one eats!)

[Duer 157099]

12. Agreed n/t

[HuckleB]

15. "Study."

:rofl:

[mzmolly]

16. We buy organic/nitrate free

bacon etc. Nitrates have also been linked to childhood cancer, which gives me even greater pause. Supposedly adding vitamin c to the meat in the form of ascorbic acid negates the harmful effects, but I'm not convinced.

[HuckleB]

17. Same here.

I've no doubt that many eat too much of, well, just about any type of food, but having organic/nitrate free bacon as a treat now and then (especially when camping or backpacking!) just doesn't seem like the most horrific thing in the world, to me.

I don't know enough about various curing processes to know, but I wonder if the ingredients that lead to said dangers are in artisan products like those made at Seattle's Salumi 9 http://www.salumicuredmeats.com/ ) and/or Portland's Olympic Provisions ( http://www.olympicprovisions.com/news-events/ ). I have to say, even if they are, a few slices of the wonders made by those two outfits, every now and then, is just too good to resist.

[mzmolly]

18. Trader Joes has excellent

uncured applewood smoked bacon. And, Hormel makes a great nitrate free salami. I guess for now, I'm pretending that sodium nitrate is the problem. ;) However, if we do indulge in the regular stuff we swing some OJ or have fruit with it in hopes that vitamin C is actually protective.