Facts on Red Meat and Cancer
Strong scientific evidences are suggesting cancer risk from eating processed meat.
14th December 2015
Red meat is classified on the basis of amount of *Myoglobin contents in the flesh. Red meat contains more Myoglobin
than white meats, chicken or fish.
Processed meat refers to meat that has been preserved by smoking, curing, salting or adding preservatives. This includes sausages, bacon,
ham, hot dogs, and salami.
The World Health Organization classifies processed meats as a class 1 carcinogen
(carcinogen -- Cancer causing agent), and classifies red meat, such as beef, lamb and pork as a
‘probable’ cause of cancer. On the advice of its International Agency for Research on Cancer,
WHO is suggesting the public to either avoid eating processed meat or eating less.
More details at www.thelancet.com/journals; The Lancet Oncology.
When meat is cooked, grilled, or barbecued at high temperature two cancer promoting chemicals in the meat - 1) heterocyclic amines (HCAs), and 2) polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAHs) - are produced.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17052997 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov - PMC1774505/
Another reason to consider limiting your red meat consumption
Red meat contains the highly absorbable form of iron ‘heme’ iron - which is well studied and well
known a Double-Edged Sword. A moderate amount of Iron in the body is essential for healthy blood cells, for many
central metabolic pathways of the body, and for optimal health. But increased accumulation of this metal - more than the upper tolerable
limit - which comes from taking iron containing vitamin/mineral supplements, and also from excess eating of red meat, especially processed
meat, promotes cancer, evidence suggests.
According to recent research studies, too much of iron can dispose older people to age-related neuro-degenerative
brain diseases, such as Alzheimer, Parkinson's, and other forms of dementia.
Conclusion: The point to note is that the evidence from the
Research findings clearly pointing to eating regularly processed meat, and/or excess eating of both processed and red meat can cause
cancer.
The major Harvard University meta-study of 2010, which involved over one million people who ate meat, found that only processed meat
had an adverse risk in relation to coronary heart disease.
Therefore the actual message from the above stated information is that Intelligent Eating of individually suitable Balanced Diet
that contains whole cereals, legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and remaining focused on overall health - that includes mental/physical
activities and a scientific Meditation - is the best strategy to stay away from disease and to live a real quality of healthy life.
Read more at: naturalhealthevidencebased.org
Click here for
Intelligent Eating
and
Balanced Diet
Meat eaters are suggested to eat not more than 70g of meat per day, while keeping in mind that due to the use of anti-biotic and
hormones in the animal farming industry, the meat of today is not the same meat the hunter gatherer stone age men ate.
* Myoglobin: Everything
on the earth and space is made up of different types of atoms. These atoms assemble together in different ways to form molecules.
Interestingly, the exact way that the atoms are arranged in the different molecules causes them to appear to have different
colors (as well as different smells, tastes, etc.).
There is a certain molecule in meat which gives its red color; that molecule is called myoglobin. It is the number of myoglobin
molecules that differ in different kind of animal’s meat, giving them their color. Thus color variation in the meat is due to
the Myoglobin molecules contained in various meats; therefore the larger the amounts of Myoglobin in a meat, the redder the
color of the meat. Pork has 0.1-0.3% myoglobin; Beef has 1.5-2.0% Myoglobin; and the white meat of chicken has under 0.05%
Myoglobin.
