Is Eating ‘Meat’ Killing Us?

All fresh meat is eaten in a state of decay.
The process may not have proceeded so far that the dull human nose can discover it, but a carrion bird or a carrion fly can smell it from afar.
( John Harvey Kellogg )

Is Meat Killing Us?
In a paper entitled ‘Is Meat Killing Us?’, doctors from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona said a vegan diet had been shown to “reverse” cardiovascular disease, reduce blood pressure and the risk of getting diabetes.
The review, published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, covered studies that looked at the health of a total of 1.5 million people.
A vegan diet has been shown to improve several parameters of health, including reversal of CVD, decreased body-mass index, decreased risk of diabetes, and decreased blood pressure in smaller studies.
A 2003 study found a “decreased risk of 25% to nearly 50% of all-cause mortality for very low meat intake compared with higher meat intake.
Lynne Elliot, chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, said the tide of public opinion was moving in their direction.
She pointed to the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey which found three in 10 people in Britain said they had reduced the amount of meat they eat in the past 12 months with 58% citing “health reasons”.
“For people who want to improve their health, plant-based eating has a lot to offer,” she said in a statement.
“This global review comparing meat and vegetarian diets appears to confirm the findings of similar British studies. Vegetarians have lower rates of significant health problems such as cancer (10% lower) and heart disease (32% lower). But UK studies also indicate that in addition vegetarians have lower rates of other common illnesses such as diabetes, kidney stones and high-blood pressure.”
( Ian Johnston, Science Correspondent, The Independent, May 2016 )

The only foods that contain immune-strengthening and cancer-fighting nutrients are plant foods.
( Mike Anderson )

Stripped Of Protective Drugs Will Be Tomorrow’s Potential Death Sentences.
Antibiotics help farm animals grow faster on less food, so their use has long been a staple of industrial farming.
But there is a terrifying downside to this practice.
Antibiotics seem to be transforming innocent farm animals into disease factories.
The animals become sources of deadly microorganisms, such as the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterium, which is resistant to several major classes of antibiotics and has become a real problem in hospitals.
The drugs may work on farms at first, but a few microbes with the genes to resist them can survive and pass this ability to fight off the drugs to a larger group.
Recent research shows that segments of DNA conferring drug resistance can jump between different species and strains of bacteria with disturbing ease.
By simply driving behind chicken transport trucks, scientists collected drug-resistant microbes from the air within their cars.
Early this year scientists discovered that a gene coding for resistance to a last-resort antibiotic has been circulating in the U.S. and was in bacteria infecting a woman in Pennsylvania.
Many researchers worry—and the new findings add fresh urgency to their concerns—that the abundant use of antibiotics on farms is unraveling our ability to cure bacterial infections.
Scientists now say that resistance to drugs can spread more widely than previously thought and firms up links in the resistance chain leading from animal farm to human table.
In 2014 pharmaceutical companies sold nearly 21 million pounds of medically important antibiotics for use in food animals, more than three times the amount sold for use in people.
Stripped of the power of protective drugs, today’s pedestrian health nuisances—ear infections, cuts, bronchitis—will become tomorrow’s potential death sentences.
( Melinda Wenner Moyer, 01.12.2016 ) .. scientificamerican.com

Humans Are Not Natural Carnivores.
Although we think we are, and we act as if we are, human beings are not natural carnivores.
When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us, because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores.
( Dr William C. Roberts )

It’s The Way Things Are.
We send one species to the butcher and give our love and kindness to another apparently for no reason other than because “it’s the way things are”.
When our attitudes and behaviours towards animals are so inconsistent, and this inconsistency is so unexamined, we can safely say we have been fed absurdities.
It is absurd that we eat pigs and love dogs and don’t even know why.
Many of us spend long minutes in the aisle of the drugstore mulling over what toothpaste to buy, yet most of us don’t spend any time at all thinking about what species of animal we eat and why.
Our choices as consumers drive an industry that kills ten billion animals per year in the United States alone.
If we choose to support this industry and the best reason we can come up with is because it’s the way things are, clearly something is amiss.
( Melanie Joy )

Red Meat Is Strongly Linked To Bowel Cancer.
Oxford University’s heart unit analysed the health consequences of a range of diets, concluding that eating meat no more than three times a week would prevent 31,000 deaths from heart disease, 9,000 deaths from cancer and 5,000 deaths from strokes each year.
In health terms, red meat is strongly linked with bowel cancer, while meat and dairy products high in saturated fat are causes of obesity and heart disease.
Environmentally, South American rainforests are being cleared, releasing climate change emissions, to grow animal feed and rear cattle for export to Europe.
( Martin Hickman, The Independent, 18.10.2010 )

Humans Are Not Designed To Eat Meat.
Humans aren’t physiologically designed to eat meat.
I think the evidence is pretty clear.
If you look at various characteristics of carnivores versus herbivores, it doesn’t take a genius to see where humans line up.
A herbivore’s intestines are 12 times its body length, and humans are closer to herbivores.
Both get vitamin C from their diets (carnivores make it internally).
Both sip water, not lap it up with their tongues.
Both cool their bodies by perspiring (carnivores pant).
( William C. Roberts, Cardiologist )

Our Evolution And Physiology Are Herbivorous.
Like the intestines of other herbivores, human intestines are very long.
Carnivores have short intestines so they can quickly get rid of all that rotting flesh they eat.
Human hands are perfect for grabbing and picking fruits and vegetables.
Most humans are “behavioural omnivores” — that is, we eat meat, so that defines us as omnivorous.
But our evolution and physiology are herbivorous, and ample science proves that when we choose to eat meat, that causes problems, from decreased energy and a need for more sleep up to increased risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Scientists have been warning of the health risks of eating red and processed meat for some years with evidence pointing to them containing chemicals that can cause cancer.
( Ruki Sayid, 24.10.2015 )

Meat is pieces of rotting bodies.
Meat is pieces of the unburied dead.
Think seriously before you put decaying flesh in your mouth.

Eating Red Meat Contributes To Premature Death.
A study by Harvard School of Public Health researchers, published in March 2012, found that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and cancer mortality.
The results also showed that substituting other healthy protein sources, such as fish, poultry, nuts, and legumes, was associated with a lower risk of mortality.
The study adds more evidence to the health risks of eating high amounts of red meat, which has been associated with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers in other studies.
The study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, contributes substantially to premature death.
Choosing more healthful sources of protein in place of red meat can confer significant health benefits by reducing chronic disease morbidity and mortality.
Support for the study was provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute.

Processed Meat And Red Meat May Cause Cancer.
Bacon, burgers and sausages are deemed to be as big a cancer threat as cigarettes, according to global health chiefs.
The warning saw processed meat added to the list of items classified as carcinogenic to humans by the World Health Organisation.
It means dietary favourites, including salami, chorizo and smoked ham, rank alongside arsenic and asbestos, when it comes to the potential cancer risk.
Officials said just 50g of processed meat a day – less than one sausage – increases the risk of bowel cancer by almost a fifth.
The report also classified red meat as ‘probably carcinogenic’ – one rank below – but added that it had some nutritional benefits.
Experts are now urging the public to avoid processed meat where possible and to have a bean salad for lunch rather than a bacon sandwich.
Processed meat has been preserved, for example by smoking, and includes ham and pate, as well as burgers and mince if they have been preserved using salt or chemical additives.
Experts think the substances added during processing cause cancer.
These include preservatives such as nitrates and nitrites – as well as substantial amounts of salt.
Processed meat was classified as carcinogenic, based on sufficient evidence in humans that consumption causes specifically colorectal or bowel cancer, they concluded.
The classification of red meat as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans’ was observed mainly in relation to colorectal cancer, but links were also seen for pancreatic and prostate cancer.
( MailOnline, 28.10.2015 )

A Serious Public Health And Environmental Justice Issue.
Animal agriculture is an extremely cruel, inefficient, and resource-intensive way to produce food for the growing human population.
It pollutes our environment while consuming huge quantities of water, grain, petroleum, and pesticides.
It also subjects animals to extreme confinement, mutilations without painkillers, and ruthless slaughter.
But industrial animal farms aren’t just awful for animals and the planet; they’re also a serious public health and environmental justice issue for nearby communities.
People living near factory farms have complained that farmers spray faeces and urine into the air to “dispose of” the waste.
The Natural Resources Defence Council states: People who live near or work at factory farms breathe in hundreds of gases, which are formed as manure decomposes.
For instance, one gas released by the lagoons, hydrogen sulfide, is dangerous even at low levels.
Its effects, which are irreversible, range from sore throat to seizures, comas and even death.
More often than not, these facilities are built near low-income communities and communities of colour.
While the grave consequences of factory farming are vast, we all have the power to create a better world every time we sit down to eat.
By choosing delicious vegan foods, we can stand up for vulnerable communities who suffer discrimination, spare countless animals a lifetime of misery, and stop wasting resources.
( Sarah Von Alt, 27.02.2017 )

Drug-Stuffed, Disease-Ridden, Shit-Contaminated Chicken.
Scientific studies and government records suggest that virtually all (upwards of 95% of) chickens become infected with E. coli (an indicator of fecal contamination) and between 39 and 75% of chickens in retail stores are still infected.
Around 8% of birds become infected with salmonella (down from several years ago, when at least one in four birds was infected, which still occurs on some farms).
Seventy to 90% are infected with another potentially deadly pathogen, campylobacter.
Chlorine baths are commonly used to remove slime, odour, and bacteria.
Of course, consumers might notice that their chickens don’t taste quite right – how good could a drug-stuffed, disease-ridden, shit-contaminated animal possibly taste?
But the birds will be injected (or otherwise pumped up) with “broths” and salty solutions to give them what we have come to think of as the chicken look, smell, and taste.
A recent study by Consumer Reports found that chicken and turkey products, many labeled as natural, “ballooned with 10 to 30% of their weight as broth, flavouring, or water.”
( Jonathan Safran Foer )

Meat Consumption And Cancer Risk.
The World Health Organisation has determined that dietary factors account for at least 30% of all cancers in Western countries and up to 20% in developing countries.
When cancer researchers started to search for links between diet and cancer, one of the most noticeable findings was that people who avoided meat were much less likely to develop the disease.
Large studies in England and Germany showed that vegetarians were about 40% less likely to develop cancer compared to meat eaters.
Two themes consistently emerge from studies of cancer from many sites: vegetables and fruits help to reduce risk, while meat, animal products, and other fatty foods are frequently found to increase risk.
Consumption of dietary fat drives production of hormones, which, in turn, promotes growth of cancer cells in hormone-sensitive organs such as the breast and prostate.
Meat is devoid of the protective effects of fibre, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and other helpful nutrients, and it contains high concentrations of saturated fat and potentially carcinogenic compounds, which may increase one’s risk of developing many different kinds of cancer.
( Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine )

Hamburger steak is carrion, and quite unfit for food except by a turkey buzzard, a hyena, or some other scavenger.
( John Harvey Kellogg )