DailyDirt: Eat Less Red Meat. Cows Rejoice!

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Mar 21st 2014 5:00pm — Joyce Hung

Recently, it seems like there are an increasing number of studies supporting the idea that eating too much red meat is bad for our health. Consumption of red meat has been linked to cancer, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cognitive decline, and the list goes on. Here are just a few more studies that will have cows dancing in the pasture.

Two recent studies in mice and in humans suggest that a high-protein, high-fat diet may shorten our lifespan. Instead, we should probably be eating a high-carbohydrate, low-protein diet (and settle with having more body fat as a result) -- which is the complete opposite of popular diet fads, like the Atkins Diet. [url]
Phew! Saturated fat and cholesterol may play only a small role in the increased incidence of heart disease in red-meat eaters. However, the bad news is that it turns out that our gut bacteria metabolize the chemical carnitine (which is present in large amounts in red meat and is also added to energy drinks), leading to the production of another chemical called TMAO that enters our blood stream and increases our risk of heart disease. Apparently, TMAO helps cholesterol enter artery walls and prevents the body from getting rid of excess cholesterol. [url]
A Harvard study found that eating just a single serving of red meat each day could increase a person's risk of death by 13%. While that may not change the minds of die-hard red meat fans who would rather die than give up red meat, it might be worth considering eating alternative (healthier?) protein sources. [url]

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Filed Under: beef, cows, death, diet, food, health, heart disease, lifespan, meat, protein, red meat, vegetarian

25 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 5:13pm

sounds like an ad for Chik-Fil-A
I'm guessing there will be genetically engineered beef that is "low in carnitine" any minute now...
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AjStechd (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 5:26pm

Screw that. You go eat leaves.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 5:56pm

It's ok that just means more red meat for me.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 6:13pm

Risk of death?
"A Harvard study found that eating just a single serving of red meat each day could increase a person's risk of death by 13%."

So, now our risk of death is at 113%. Wow, that's horrible!
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Vel the Enigmatic, 21 Mar 2014 @ 6:38pm

I have a hard time believing this...
This seems completely out of nowhere and just seems to be pushing the agenda of vegetarian groups
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ECA (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 6:44pm

hMMM!??
I wonder what mice eat, and WHY eating meat isnt the best thing for them..

2 things about BEEF FAT..If you knew 1/2 of what they do to cattle, you would run out to the nearest RANCH, and have it butchered and wrapped THERE, and not at the store..

Harvard? Coulda/woulda/???? lets check out WHERe they got the beef.
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ECA (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 6:47pm

Re: hMMM!??
HARVARD...
do you read your OWN DATA, before trying to SCARE PEOPLE??
" and they climb even higher for people who eat processed meats like hot dogs and bacon."
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2014 @ 7:48pm

Someday scientists will figure out what I've known for years: that the peanut butter sandwich is the perfect food. Sounds like they're getting closer, at least.
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ECA (profile), 21 Mar 2014 @ 10:02pm

Re:
pEANUT BUTTER NOT GOOD FOR YOU ANYMORE, SINCE THEY REMOVED THE PEANUT OIL, FINDING IT worth MORE THEN FEEDING IT TO YOU..
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Rekrul, 21 Mar 2014 @ 11:49pm

It's getting to the point where they don't think anything is safe to eat.
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btrussell (profile), 22 Mar 2014 @ 3:24am

Re: Risk of death?
You read that wrong. The persons they are talking about are the farmers and slaughter house workers. Lots of people killed by cows every year. Eat less meat, reduce workers to raise and butcher cows, lower a persons risk of death.
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silverscarcat (profile), 22 Mar 2014 @ 5:10am

You know who else ate red meat?
Genghis Khan!

And look at what he did in life!

Eat meat and become like Genghis Khan, kids!
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alternatives(), 22 Mar 2014 @ 5:31am

Re: Re:
Now why don't you explain why VS making the statement?

Here is a "why":

One of the oils is cottonseed oil. Cotton is not a food crop so all kinds of 'interesting' chemicals are put on the crop to kill things. 'Interesting' translates into stuff that is not food rated as they were found not to be 'safe' for human consumption.
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frank87 (profile), 22 Mar 2014 @ 7:03am

Cows won't like that
That's true.
If we stop eating meat, all cows will be killed.
See: http://xkcd.com/1338/
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2014 @ 10:14am

Weaagan agit
Plus editor fail equals
Bad Joyce no biscuit
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2014 @ 11:59am

Why should anyone assume one size fits all when discussing diet? Genetic susceptibility and evolution for a population's environment surely play a part.

Anyway, my grandmother lived to 98 eating fullfat cheese, butter, bacon, roast meat & potatoes and drinking full fat milk. She was never overweight and was healthy up until the time that she was just worn out. Maybe food sources are not so good for us as they were a few decades ago and maybe that explains a heck of a lot. Anyway anecdote is data, I say so.
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Mar 2014 @ 12:03pm

Re: Re:
..peanut oil..

Costco has peanut butter with peanut oil and salt (the only ingredients). At least they say it's peanut oil - in the interest of science and research I've tasted a great deal, because someone has to. They also sell humungous containers of peanut oil for cooking. Oh yum.
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Anonymous, 22 Mar 2014 @ 12:43pm

Re: Re: Re:
When I was growing up, I never heard of anyone being allergic to peanuts. Now you hear allergic to peanuts, allergic to peanuts, allergic to peanuts all the time. Come to find out peanut oil is being put in childrens' vaccines. Could that have something to do with it, I wonder?
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JEDIDIAH, 22 Mar 2014 @ 5:36pm

You would think,but apparently not.
No. Peanut Butter is dangerous because everyone has deadly peanut allergies now. If you send a PB&J sandwich to school, the allergen gestapo will likely come in with guns blazing.
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JEDIDIAH, 22 Mar 2014 @ 5:42pm

Politically Motivated Nonsense.
That one about protein was a hoot of course. If you are eating less protein then you're eating more of something else. That something else could be rather harmful. So these radical vegans are basically pushing the idea that you should be eating lower quality meat (higher fat) or lots of junk foods (extra carbs, especially sugar).

That's just the way the numbers work. Pretty obvious really when you aren't afraid of the math.
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Ole Juul (profile), 23 Mar 2014 @ 12:24am

Cows taste good.
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John Fenderson (profile), 23 Mar 2014 @ 9:38am

That Harvard study
Despite the hyperbolic reporting, the study does not say that a single serving of red meat is harmful. It says that a long term meat-heavy diet is harmful. It recommends eating only moderate amounts of red meat.
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Jamie (profile), 23 Mar 2014 @ 7:29pm

Let's see, a high carb low protein diet is better for health
Tell that to the obese majority in the US and Australia who are a massive burden on our health systems. I don't see those on a cutting diet end up in hospital with heart disease.

Fat people justifying their fat ways.
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John Fenderson (profile), 24 Mar 2014 @ 6:47am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Extremely unlikely. Especially considering that peanut oil is not, in fact, used in vaccines. Research into such use was done in the '60s, but it has never been used vaccines used by the public.
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Uncle Bob, 24 Mar 2014 @ 8:49am

Heinlein was Right (or someone else)
Heinlein (or maybe Theodore Sturgeon or Asimov or someone) said that 90% of science fiction is crap, then again 90% of everything is crap. It turns out that it's true of medical research, and probably everything else. 90% of it is wrong. Just think, once you realize this, you'll only have to do a tenth of the reading you do. This information should be at the head of every article about everything. Someone should make a t-shirt that says "Welcome to the 90%." If i'm debating someone, I can now proudly claim that not only are they wrong, it's likely that I am, too.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/11/lies-damned-lies-and-medical-science/308269/ 2/
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