Meats - Which, and Where from?
Meat - General and Specific
One of my interests is diet and its effect on health. The practical effect on my eating patterns of much net research is stated in brief:
1. Moderate protien in as close to natural state as possible.
2. Eat moderate to smaller amounts of food.
3. Eat lots of vegetables and plant matter.
4. Go easy on any dense carb foods, including sugars.
5. Avoid the bad forms of fats - all the highly processed vegetable oils and trans fats. Allow moderate fats from range feeding animals but avoid the meat and dairy of grain-fed fatted animals. Use olive oil and butter for oil needs. Use olive oil copiously. Nuts are good.
There are more things I follow, in particular supplemental vitamins.
Anyway, yet another report from the US talking of a supposed link between red meat and breast cancer. I am not questioning the research, but it is important with research of meats and fats to NOT generalise. There are too many major specific differences within these categories of food to accept outcomes of research and make general statements about these foods in everyone's diet, particularly when comparing with the unique American diet. Here's why.
1. Much beef in US markets is grain fed. This produces a very irregular imbalance of significant sub categories of fats, the Omega 3/6 ratio. In range fed beef that ratio is around 4/1, in grain fed it is 20/1 and greater. The fats are distinctly different in overall bodily effect. The high ratio one has deleterious effects on health.
2. Processed meat and fresh beef are distinct in effects on health. A failure to distinguish relative amounts of these in any research into meat wiil lead to a generalising error.
3. In some societies processed meat is eaten much more. The US is one of them.
So, the many other inconclusive research attempts to find a relationship between meat and cancer are not necessarily invalidated at all. But the research may well be saying something about specific types of meat and their place in an Americanised diet.
One of my interests is diet and its effect on health. The practical effect on my eating patterns of much net research is stated in brief:
1. Moderate protien in as close to natural state as possible.
2. Eat moderate to smaller amounts of food.
3. Eat lots of vegetables and plant matter.
4. Go easy on any dense carb foods, including sugars.
5. Avoid the bad forms of fats - all the highly processed vegetable oils and trans fats. Allow moderate fats from range feeding animals but avoid the meat and dairy of grain-fed fatted animals. Use olive oil and butter for oil needs. Use olive oil copiously. Nuts are good.
There are more things I follow, in particular supplemental vitamins.
Anyway, yet another report from the US talking of a supposed link between red meat and breast cancer. I am not questioning the research, but it is important with research of meats and fats to NOT generalise. There are too many major specific differences within these categories of food to accept outcomes of research and make general statements about these foods in everyone's diet, particularly when comparing with the unique American diet. Here's why.
1. Much beef in US markets is grain fed. This produces a very irregular imbalance of significant sub categories of fats, the Omega 3/6 ratio. In range fed beef that ratio is around 4/1, in grain fed it is 20/1 and greater. The fats are distinctly different in overall bodily effect. The high ratio one has deleterious effects on health.
2. Processed meat and fresh beef are distinct in effects on health. A failure to distinguish relative amounts of these in any research into meat wiil lead to a generalising error.
3. In some societies processed meat is eaten much more. The US is one of them.
So, the many other inconclusive research attempts to find a relationship between meat and cancer are not necessarily invalidated at all. But the research may well be saying something about specific types of meat and their place in an Americanised diet.
posted by R.M.L. | 2:59 PM
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