Food Freedom Friday Edition 315

There is a lot of misinformation in nutrition with some of the worst examples being the constant propaganda against meat consumption.

The many pervasive myths about meat consumption and health are often repeatedly stated as fact when there is little to no scientific evidence that these are remotely true..

Meat Is High in Saturated Fat & Cholesterol

One of the main arguments against meat, is that it tends to be high in both saturated fat and cholesterol. This really is not a cause for concern, because new science has shown both of them to be harmless.

Despite being seen as something to be feared, cholesterol is actually a vital molecule in the body. It is found in every cell membrane and used to make hormones. The liver produces large amounts of it to make sure sufficient amounts are always available.

When you eat cholesterol, the liver simply produces less of it, not changing the total amount much. In the majority of people, cholesterol in the diet has negligible effects on cholesterol in the blood.

In a few people, referred to as hyper-responders, there is a mild elevation in LDL cholesterol, but HDL (which is protective) increases simultaneously. The same is true with saturated fat which also raises HDL cholesterol.

Even when saturated fat and/or cholesterol cause mild increases in LDL, this is not a problem because they change the LDL particles from small, dense LDL (very bad) to large LDL, which is protective. Studies show that people who have mostly large LDL particles have a significantly lower risk of heart disease.

Furthermore, in large population studies, saturated fat and cholesterol are not associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Some research even shows that saturated fat is linked to a reduced risk of stroke, another common cause of death and disability.

When put to the test in human experiments, replacing saturated fat with “heart healthy” vegetable oils (which happen to lower cholesterol), it actually increases the risk of death.

Meat Causes Heart Disease & Type 2 Diabetes

Meat consumption is often blamed for chronic illnesses including like heart disease and type 2 Diabetes both of which are relatively recent issues in human health

Although the illnesses may be new, meat eating is not. Humans and pre-humans have been eating meat for millions of years. Blaming an old food for new health problems makes absolutely no sense.

Fortunately, there are studies to back this up.

In a study published in the year 2010, researchers pooled data from 20 studies that included a total of 1,218,380 individuals. They found no link between consumption of unprocessed red meat and heart disease or diabetes.

Another large study from Europe also found no link between unprocessed red meat and these diseases.

Both of these studies did, however, find a strong increase in risk for those who ate processed meat. It becomes very important to make a distinction between the different types of meat. Many studies apparently showing that “red meat” is harmful didn’t adequately make the distinction between processed and unprocessed meat.

Processed foods in general are terrible for you health - this isn’t just true of meat.

Red Meat Causes Cancer

One common belief is that meat, especially red meat, causes cancer.

Whilst it is true that processed meat is associated with a small increased risk of cancer, especially colon cancer, things are not as clear when it comes to unprocessed red meat.

Although several studies suggest that even unprocessed red meat can raise the risk of cancer, review studies that pool the data from many studies show a different picture. These finding show that the effect for unprocessed red meat was very weak for men and nonexistent for women.

Tt does appear that the way meat is cooked can have an impact on health. Several studies show that when meat is overcooked, it can form compounds like Heterocyclic Amines and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, which have been shown to cause cancer in test animals. To prevent this from happening, choose gentler cooking methods and remove burned or charred pieces. The solution is not to avoid red meat, but to make sure not to burn it.

Keep in mind that overheating can cause harmful compounds to form in many other foods. This is NOT exclusive to meat.

Meat Rots In The Colon

Some people claim that meat doesn’t get digested properly and “rots” in your colon.

This is absolutely untrue and probably invented by dishonest vegans in order to scare people away from eating meat.

When you eat meat, it gets broken down by stomach acid and digestive enzymes. In the small intestine, the proteins are broken down into amino acids and the fats are broken down into fatty acids.

After that, they get absorbed over the digestive wall and into the bloodstream. There’s nothing left to “rot” in your colon. If you want to know what really “rots” in your colon, it’s indigestible plant matter (fiber) from vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes.

The human digestive system does not have the enzymes necessary to break down fiber, which is why it travels to the colon. There, it gets fermented (rots) by the friendly bacteria in the intestine, which turn it into nutrients and beneficial compounds like the short-chain fatty acid butyrate.

This is what keeps these bacteria alive and studies are showing that feeding these bacteria properly is incredibly important for optimal health. Meat doesn’t rot in the colon. Plants do. And this might be a good thing.

Humans Are Herbivores

Some vegans claim that humans are not “designed” to eat meat. They say that humans are naturally herbivores like our primate ancestors.

This is utterly untrue. Humans have been eating meat for a very long time and the body is very well adapted to meat consumption. The human digestive system bears little resemblance to that of a herbivore.

Humans have short colons, long small intestines and lots of hydrochloric acid in the stomach to help break down animal protein. The length of different parts of the digestive system is somewhere in between the lengths typical for both carnivores and herbivores, indicating that humans are “designed” to be omnivores.

It is also believed that the consumption of animal foods helped drive the evolution of the large human brain, which has made man what he is today.

 Humans are well equipped to make full use of the nutrients found in meat with the digestive system reflecting a genetic adaptation to an omnivorous diet, with animal foods as a major source of calories.

Meat Is Bad For Your Bones

Many people seem to believe that protein is bad for the bones and can lead to osteoporosis.

In theory, eating protein increases the acid load of the body moving calcium from the bones and into the bloodstream to neutralize the acid.

There are in fact some short-term studies to support this. Increasing protein does lead to increased calcium loss from the body. However, this short-term effect does not appear to persist because the long-term studies show that protein actually has beneficial effects on bone health.

There is overwhelming evidence that a high protein diet is linked to improved bone density and a lower risk of osteoporosis and fractures in old age. This is a great example of where blindly following the conventional wisdom in nutrition will lead to the exact opposite result.

Meat Makes You Fat

Meat is often believed to be fattening. This seems to make sense on the surface because most meat can be high in fat and calories.

However, meat also happens to be one of the best sources of highly bioavailable protein. Protein is the most weight loss friendly macronutrient, by far. Studies show that a high protein diet can boost metabolic rate by up to 80 to 100 calories per day. Protein is also requires the most energy to digest due to the thermic effect of food..

Further studies reveal that increasing protein intake, you automatically start eating less of other foods instead. Increasing the amount of protein in the diet, automatically results in people cutting calorie significantly, with no effort, hunger or cravings, putting weight loss on “autopilot”.

Eating more protein also tends to favour increased muscle mass. Muscle is metabolically active and requires mire energy on a daily basis. Furthermore,  low-carb and Paleo-type diets, which tend to be high in animal protein, lead to significantly more weight loss than diets that are lower in meat.

If anything, the more high-quality meat you eat (and less of other foods instead), the easier it should be for you to lose weight.

Meat Is Unnecessary

It is often claimed that meat is unnecessary for health. This is technically true as most of the nutrients in meat can be found in other animal foods.

Simply because you are able survive without it, does not imply that you should. Well-raised meat is rich in many nutrients that are supportive of long-term health. This includes quality protein, vitamin B12, creatine, carnosine and various important fat-soluble vitamins, which vegans and vegetarians are often lacking in.

Whole foods like meat contain way more than simply the vitamins and minerals that you might be familiar with. Meat contains thousands of trace nutrients, some of which science has yet to identify. The fact is, humans evolved eating meat and evolution designed the human body with these nutrients in mind. They are an essential part of the immensely complex biological puzzle.

Can you live without meat? Possibly, but you risk for not reaching optimal health is very high due to the lack of all the beneficial nutrients that nature has provided. Although you can survive without meat, the same could be said of most other food groups including vegetables, fruits, legumes, fish, eggs and the like. Surviving is not thriving!

Quality meat is pretty close to being the perfect food for humans. It contains most of the nutrients we need. Eating nothing but meat and organs for a year was studied and the subjects remained in excellent health.

Of course, not all meat is the same. The best meat comes from animals raised on pasture, fed the types of foods they would eat in nature. Unprocessed meat from properly raised, properly fed animals (like grass-fed beef) has a much better nutrient profile and is better for the health of the animal and the planet.

It is not true that the question of whether you should eat meat or not is simply a matter of pleasure vs health. Animal products contain nutrients that are unobtainable from any other source and these nutrients are important for a healthy body and mind. Although meat has been part of the human diet for about 2.5 million years, only in the last 100 years it has allegedly led to the disastrous health consequences seen today.  Weak associations are used as definitive proof for the harmful effects of meat consumption and yet, high-quality science usually fails to replicate those findings.