April 16, 2020
Eat More Red Meat
Doctor's Orders: Eat MORE Red Meat! (....minimally processed, grassfed only !!!!!! Praise God !!!!!! )
(The true scientists are finally getting the truth out , instead of the establishment grain feeding, highly processed meat industry that controls the FDA, USDA, and public misinformation !!!) (NOTE: All parentheses are notes added to this article by Bob Hasse, DELYAKS.)
It's been drilled into your head for decades:
RED MEAT IS BAD FOR YOU
Major health organizations (These are the bad guys !!!) warn about the dangers of steak, pointing to studies showing that eating more red meat increases your risk of heart disease, cancer, and even death. I've never bought into the baloney of red meat being a dietary villain. And the latest science proves that I've been right all along.
That's right, folk, research has finally vindicated red meat.
But not all meat is the same, so be sure to read this before slapping a steak on the barbie later tonight.
Good News For Red Meat Lovers
The largest, most comprehensive study to date shows that red meat isn't the health- destroyer the mainstream makes it out to be.
For this study, 14 researchers from 7 countries conducted three separate reviews to find out the truth about red meat and its impact on heart disease and cancer.
They looked at 61 articles that included 4 million participants to evaluate red meat's connection to death from any cause.
They reevaluated the handful of studies that specifically linked red meat to cancer and heart disease. They also studied 73 articles that examined the links between red meat and the risk of developing or dying from cancer.
In other words, they evaluated a LOT of data.
All of it led the researchers to conclude that the evidence is simply TOO WEAK to tell people not to eat beef or pork.
Red Meat Warnings Go Too Far
So how did red meat get such a bad rap to begin with?
My finger of blame points squarely at a Walter Willet, MD, a professor at Harvard University who's been studying diet and nutrition for over 40 years.
Walter Willet was referred to in an article in the Boston Globe as the most influential nutritionist in the world. He and colleges put out a recent report citing red meat as "unhealthy food."
This extreme stance has sympathetic, misled experts calling for warning labels on meat (much like the ones on cigarette packets), extra taxation on meat (to encourage reduced consumption)--and goes as far as to call for new laws to forbid restaurants from serving red meat on their menus!
What's next, tossing all red meat eaters in jail?
Saturated Fat--So What?
Of course, one of the main concerns about eating red meat is that it is high in saturated fat.
And to that I say... so what?
Studies have proven again and again that there is NO LINK between eating saturated fat and coronary heart disease, dying from coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, or all-cause mortality.
Saturated fat is supposed to be bad because it increases your cholesterol levels.
Once again... so what?
Data continues to show that the higher the cholesterol, the lower the mortality--both from all causes and heart disease specifically.
Fact: You Can't Live Without Red Meat
Humans require vitamin B12 in their diet--and you can ONLY get that from animal foods.
And vegans have to supplement with vitamin B12 pills to avoid deficiency.
Besides the B12, red meat's abundance of protein, vitamins A, E, B3, and B6, iron, zinc, selenium, creatine, carnosine, omega-3s, the fatty acid CLE, and so much more make red meat one of the healthiest foods on the planet, hands down.
The Meat of the Issue
If red meat is safe--and even necessary--for your health, why do some studies continue to show that it's bad for you?
I blame two factors:
Bad studies. Bad meat. (Let me add: establishment, big corporate and government cooperative, misinformation campaign !) Problem #1
The negative health effects blamed red meat (such as increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and all-cause mortality) mainly come from observational epidemiologic studies--and these studies come with a few key problems.
These studies find a correlation, but they CANNOT prove direct cause and effect.
The other issue with observational studies is that many factors can make the results invalid. One of the confounding factors that contribute to this is that red meat eaters also tend to exercise less, smoke, drink more alcohol, eat a low nutrient diet, and are more likely to be overweight.
The other issue with observational studies is that the level of harm caused by red meat in the diet is typically at a low level. Relative risk ratios or hazard ratios for meat-eaters versus non-meat eaters is typically in the range of 1.2 or lower.
For perspective, the hazard ratio would be 1 if there was no effect. And if there were a large effect (say, eating red meat doubled the risk of a disease), the risk ratio would be 2.
So, a 1.2 relative risk is certainly not a strong enough indicator to say that we should stop eating red meat.
Bottom line: Observational studies are to be used to generate hypotheses, which should then be tested in controlled trials, which provide much better evidence.
And interventional studies of red meat from grass-fed sources do NOT show the negative health outcomes seen in the observational studies.
Problem #2
Most of the meat in today's supermarkets is NOT the same quality of meat our ancestors ate.
Meat from a factory farm where the animals are confined, fed an unnatural diet consisting of high intake of grains, and given hormones and antibiotics does not have the same nutrient content as your typical free-roaming, grass-fed cow.
Making matters worse, the meat itself can be heavily processed, often injected with preservatives, nitrates, and other chemicals.
These factors may contribute to the findings of possible harm in some of the studies.
Case in point: One meta-analysis of 20 studies that included more than 1.2 million people found that processed meat was associated with an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, and death... but there was NO ASSOCIATION between these health issues and non-processed red meat.
The same is true when it comes to red meat and cancer when you separate out processed vs. unprocessed meat.
That's why I only eat meat that comes from animals that are raised roaming free on pasture, eating grass and insects all day long.
The way nature intended. To a brighter day,
Dr. Richard Gerhauser, M.D.
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