DailyDirt: Eat Less Red Meat. Cows Rejoice!

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

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]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

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

DailyDirt: Making Murderless Meat

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The food industry has a growing number of problems, ranging from food labeling to determining what ingredients are actually considered safe to eat. One of the oldest issues people have brought up about food is whether or not to eat meat. It's a serious question, but the answers aren't so easy for the multi-billion dollar meat industry. Someday, meat producers may need to change their ways, and here are just a few dramatic suggestions.

• PETA president Ingrid Newkirk asserts that there's no such thing as a free lunch humane meat. This is obviously an extreme position (or an exercise in semantics), but there should be other ways of raising "humane meat" without resorting to eating only roadkill, right? [url]
• Animal 57 is an urban legend that commercial fast food meat is grown in tanks of water. However, the concept of lab-grown meat might not be so far-fetched. [url]
• The "Blind Chicken Solution" proposes that farmers raise congenitally-blind chickens as a more humane food source (assuming that blind chickens are actually less traumatized than sighted chickens when raised in crowded conditions). The "Headless Chicken Solution" goes the extra step of creating a Matrix-style farm of brainless birds that feel no pain whatsoever. As long as these chickens never realize that "there is no spoon" -- then we'll presumably be okay with this. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.

Filed Under: food, ingrid newkirk, meat, vegan, vegetarian
Companies: peta