Processed Meats Declared Too Dangerous for Human Consumption

[Speck Tater]

"The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has just completed a detailed review of more than 7,000 clinical studies covering links between diet and cancer. Its conclusion is rocking the health world with startling bluntness: Processed meats are too dangerous for human consumption. Consumers should stop buying and eating all processed meat products for the rest of their lives."

More at link: http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com/2007/12/processed-meats-declared-too-dangerous-for-human-consumption/

[ensho]

1. kick

nt

[Champion Jack]

2. K & R

[hlthe2b]

3. My generation is doomed.... (shrug)

But, I do buy products without Sodium Nitrate-- becoming a little easier since Hormel introduced a "natural" line of lunch meats without it and you can find bacon, hotdogs, and meats without it at health food stores (including "Whole Paycheck")

[ThomasQED]

14. Then those are not health food stores. (nt)

[hlthe2b]

17. No, .. The Hormel line is available at grocery stores...

Health food stores (including Whole Foods) sell the other products I mentioned, including hormone, nitrate and other filler-free hot dogs, lunch meats, and bacon.

I was trying to be helpful to indicate what might be available at grocery stores that are at least "better" since Whole Foods is ungodly expensive. I hope that helps clarify for you.

[AmandaMae]

4. yikes. I'm a vegan, but I worry about my family.

They live off of processed frankenfoods and nothing I tell them makes them rethink their food choices.

[hlthe2b]

10. Even as a vegan there are some hidden sources of MSG...

and potentially nitrates... Unless you eat totally unprocessed and fresh from the organic farm for everything, you might want to read labels for a while to be sure.

tell your family the new Hormel "natural" line of lunch meats contain no nitrates, MSG or other "filler" and are minimally processed. Not great but better than alternative. Whole foods has all kinds of alternatives, though more costly, for sure.

[Dorian Gray]

13. Isn't soy

one of the most commonly processed foods?

[ThomasQED]

15. Isn't soy

one of the main things they feed to animals?

[supernova]

5. We've known for years

that sodium nitrite was carcenogenic. I stopped buying deli meats sometime in the late 70s. I sometimes buy them now, but only organic and w/o the preservatives. I didn't know they were in frozen foods, either. Is this true? I don't buy frozen entrees either, but I was wondering.

[stray cat]

6. a 2005 study?

[TreasonousBastard]

7. The dangers of nitrosamines have been known for years, but you get more from...

spinach than from properly cooked bacon:

<...>
It has been reported that people normally consume more nitrates from their vegetable intake than from the cured meat products they eat. Spinach, beets, radishes, celery, and cabbages are among the vegetables that generally contain very high concentrations of nitrates (J. Food Sci., 52:1632). The nitrate content of vegetables is affected by maturity, soil conditions, fertilizer, variety, etc. It has been estimated that 10 percent of the human exposure to nitrite in the digestive tract comes from cured meats and 90 percent comes from vegetables and other sources. Nitrates can be reduced to nitrites by certain microorganisms present in foods and in the gastrointestinal tract. This has resulted in nitrite toxicity in infants fed vegetables with a high nitrate level. No evidence currently exists implicating nitrite itself as a carcinogen.
<...>

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ0974.html

Now, while nitrosamines are known to form from nitrites in the stomach, the real problem has usually been seen as frying things like bacon and sausages with too high a temperature. Too bad if you like it crispy-- that's what does you in.

Anyway, just what we need is more fearmongering over food. Accept the fact that at least half of anything you eat is going to kill you and enjoy it.

(I will admit that learning that most of the nitrosamines from cooking bacon go into the drippings has caused me to pause using that bowl of drippings that makes some soups so good.)

[intaglio]

8. Perhaps a link to the original report would be helpful

and not just to what seems to be a scaremongering, non-expert article.

As there appears not to have been a report from this organisation since the 2nd Expert Report (sometimes just called The Expert Report) of 2007 I have to assume that this is the item referenced. The recommendations of that report can be found here. The recommendations regarding red and processed meat are summerised as "... limiting consumption of red meat (such as beef, pork and lamb) and avoiding processed meats."

To put it another way, do not believe everything you read on the internet

http://www.wcrf-uk.org/preventing_cancer/recommendations.php

[customerserviceguy]

12. It is an incendiary headline

"Declared" by who? Some nanny group that has veganism as its ulterior motive?

Health nuts who are "concerned" about what I eat are about as annoying as christian fundies who are "concerned" about how my sexual activities are damaging to my "soul". It's just all about telling other people how to live to validate your own lifestyle choices.

[Speck Tater]

9. I understand that this is a controversial subject, but only one thing really matters to me...

And that is my own personal experience. After going vegan my blood pressure, which was high in spite of taking three different BP meds, became normal in a little over a month and my doctor actually took me off two of my BP meds and is tapering me off the third, and my BP is the best it has EVER been. And after my latest blood work my doctor also took me off the statin I was on. All told, in just over a month of being on a vegan diet, and under my doctor's close supervision, not only are my BP and cholesterol excellent, but I'm saving just over $80 a month in prescription drug costs.

So regardless of who quotes what studies to me to support their particular favorite belief, there's no way I'm going back to my old diet

[hlthe2b]

11. I've changed my diet dramatically too... mainly for general health

but it has done wonders for the acid reflux problem/indigestion I had suffered the past few years. Lots of leafy green and other non-starchy veggies, tomatoes as major fruit, salmon multiple times a week, and nonfat cheeses, plain yogurt with oat bran and fat-free milk. I can't make myself give up dairy, but I have no problem giving up the fat. Seems between the fiber and extra low fat protein, I'm not so hungry any more and I drink nothing but unsweetened teas (green mostly). I love beans and brown rice, but will be slow to bring those back until I've lost mot of the weight, as I am extremely carb sensitive.

But, I could be a "lacto-ovo-pescatarian" or, basically a "sort of" vegetarian. ;)

[ThomasQED]

16. That's great.

Glad you were able to get off those medicines. And it sounds like you have a knowledgeable doctor.

[wuvuj]

18. If nitrites aren't enough...

...try some of this?

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/04/watch-out-there-are-more-problems-with-genetically-modified-foods-than-youre-allowed-to-know.aspx


This Supermarket "Health Food" Killed These Baby Rats in Three Weeks

Science and Debate is Silenced

The attacks on scientists have taken its toll. According to Dr. Chapela, there is a de facto ban on scientists “asking certain questions and finding certain results.” He says, “It’s very hard for us to publish in this field. People are scared.” He told Nature that young people “are not going into this field precisely because they are discouraged by what they see.”

New Zealand Parliament member Sue Kedgley told a Royal Commission in 2001: “Personally I have been contacted by telephone and e-mail by a number of scientists who have serious concerns about aspects of the research that is taking place ... and the increasingly close ties that are developing between science and commerce, but who are convinced that if they express these fears publicly ... or even if they asked the awkward and difficult questions, they will be eased out of their institution.”

University of Minnesota biologist Phil Regal testified before the same Commission, “I think the people who boost genetic engineering are going to have to do a mea culpa and ask for forgiveness, like the Pope did on the inquisition.” Sue Kedgley has a different idea. She recommends we “set up human clinical trials using volunteers of genetically engineered scientists and their families, because I think they are so convinced of the safety of the products that they are creating and I’m sure they would very readily volunteer to become part of a human clinical trial.”

[Speck Tater]

19. More evidence that the corporations own the government and call all the shots. nt