Meat - Provides protein and necessary sulfur
Sulfur is derived mainly from dietary proteins. E.g. fish, beef, poultry, eggs
Do we need to eat meat?
Meat is a complete protein
20 amino acids (AAs) are required to make protein, and our bodies are comprised of many protein components ( muscles, enzymes, antibodies and some hormones and neurotransmitters to name a few). The body can make all but 9 of these amino acids, which have to be eaten . All 20 AAs are present in protein foods (i.e. meat, eggs, fish, and dairy products), but if abstaining from animal / fish products, these 9 must be obtained from non-proteinous foods, such as vegetables, nuts, legumes and grains, which requires some due diligence to ensure you are choosing the right foods containing the 9 AAs in sufficient quantities.
Amino acids – Building blocks of protein
Types of meat
Red meat. as well as protein, it contains iron, zinc and B12
- Muscle meat from mammals – e.g. beef, pork, lamb, goat
- Processed meat. Has undergone processes such as salting, curing, fermentation or smoking to enhance flavor or for preservation. E,g, bacon, ham salami, some sausages (e.g. frankfurters, chorizo).
Bird meat.
- Includes chicken, turkey, pigeon
- Processed bird meats. Smoked to enhance flavor
Meat contains sulfur – a major mineral with a vital role in the structure and biological activity of the body’s proteins(including enzymes).
A sulfur deficiency affects:
- Bones, joints, connective tissues, metabolic processes
- The body’s electron transport system in cellular energy production. As part of iron / sulfur proteins in mitochondria (cellular energy factories)
- Conversion of Vitamin B1 (thiamine) and B7 (biotin). Essential for metabolizing carbohydrates into energy
- insulin function – the two amino acid chains in an insulin molecule are connected via sulfur bridges, without which insulin cannot function properly;
- Synthesizing important metabolic intermediates. E.g. glutathione (body’s “in-house” antioxidant protecting cells from ROS damage produced during energy production)
- Detoxification
Excluding animal protein from your diet puts you at risk for heart disease
Researchers of a small study in France concluded that LOW intake of sulfur amino acids by vegetarians and vegans raises homocysteine levels (a known cause of atherosclerosis leading to heart attack and stroke) and increases their risk of ischemic cardiovascular diseases. Ingenbleek Y et al (2012)
How to choose good meat
Choose meat from humanely-raised livestock, preferably that have roamed free feeding on their natural food source and raised without use of growth-promoting antibiotics or other growth-promoting drugs.
Avoid meat from animals treated with hormones / routine antibiotics or fed inorganic or GM foods
- Avoid meat from animals / birds fed genetically modified (GM) food. Today most animals/birds are fed on GM foods. (90+% of the corn and ~85% of the soy produced in the U.S. is genetically modified. GM foods present an ominous health problem in much of our food supply, since research is revealing that GM food consumption is wreaking havoc with our reproductive and immune systems.
- Avoid meat from cows given carcinogenic GM growth hormones;
- Avoid meat from animals / birds given antibiotics. Given TO PROMOTE GROWTH. as much as to prevent infection;
- Avoid meat from animals / birds raised in CAFO’s. They typically feed their livestock with GMO foods, lacking omega-3 fat, in addition to administering antibiotics and carcinogenic GM growth hormones.
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO’s)
Prefer meat from livestock primarily raised on organic GRASS
NOTE: Meat from organically fed animals/birds does not necessarily mean that they were raised on grass – which is a common misunderstanding; however, at least these animals were not exposed to antibiotics, growth hormones, and pesticide-tainted grains.
- Cows’ stomachs are designed to eat grass – and not the typical grain-based diet of most U.S. commercial operations today. This diet is RICH in inflammatory omega-6 fat at and POOR in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fat content, contributing to the seriously detrimental health consequences of this imbalance both in the livestock themselves and those who eat their meat!
- Where to find meat from animals fed organic grass ? – it may be possible to find locally, and it can also be obtained on the internet. The cost for this quality beef is about double that of CAFO sources, which are feeding animals government-subsidized corn (i.e. you’re really paying more for the meat in indirect ways -not only through your taxes, but via other hidden costs. E.g. Ecological damage from using fossil-fuel based fertilizers, and also their damaging run-off from grain fields pollutes rivers and seas E.g. Down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico, where it is destroying algae – a main source of food for smaller fish, which are themselves the food source for bigger fish).
To help you find organic grass-fed meat in your local area: wwww. LocalHarvest.org
- Maybe share the beef from a grass fed cow with others -To get an idea of what you’re dealing with – One quarter of a cow weighs ~ 150 pounds and fills about two freezer shelves.
- Grass-fed beef has a different flavor and is usually a little tougher than corn-fed beef – ideally, it needs to be tenderized prior to cooking. It also has less marbling fat.
- Lamb is usually from sheep that have eaten grass and is an excellent choice for dinner – don’t forget the mint sauce! 🙂
Choose “clean” animals
Which animals / birds are good to eat?
“These are the animals which you may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth… whatever divides the hoof having cloven hooves and chewing the cud.”
– Leviticus 11:1-3
Eat meat from animals that:
- Have split hoofs
- AND Ate grass (i.e. they chewed the cud with their 4-chambered stomachs).
For proof that God knew what he was doing when he told the Israelites to limit their meat to the above two sources:
(See Evidence of Toxicity in “Unclean” Creatures)
| Animals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Beef | Sheep (Lamb, Mutton) | Deer (Venison) |
| Ox | Bison (Buffalo) | Goat |
| Moose | Antelope | Gazelle |
| Caribou | Giraffe | Elk |
| Ibex | Llama | Reindeer (sorry Rudolf!) |
| NOT Pig (pork)or rabbit | ||
Choose non-carrion-eating birds, or animals that chewed the cud and have cloven hooves
| Birds | ||
|---|---|---|
| (None of these birds are scavengers) | ||
| Chicken | Turkey | Goose |
| Duck | Pigeon | Quail |
| Swan | Guinea fowl | Ptarmigan (I’ve never heard of it either!) |
| Dove | Grouse | Partridge |
| Pheasant | Peahen | Sage hen |
| Teal | Most song birds | |
The “Big 3”- Chicken, Pork and Beef
Chicken
- Buy birds which ran outside on pasture and ate organic feed. Meat from such chickens is firmer and leaner compared to that from commercialized, cooped up, non-organic grain-fed chickens. Chickens obtain worms and bugs from the ground, which enhance the omega-3 content of their meat (and eggs).
- A so called “Free-range chicken” didn’t necessarily range outside. It had access to the outside, but did not necessarily go outside, especially when its feed is inside.
- Pastured / Organic grain-fed chickens contain significant Omega-3 Fat. Having an Omega-6 : Omega-3 ratio of 2 or 3 : 1, compared to 20 to 1 in commercial grain-fed chicken.
- Fat content of chicken is higher than you may think. A chicken thigh or leg with skin has 56% of its calories from fat, and has 47% even without the skin -so skin doesn’t actually make that much difference! Compare this to a T-bone steak having 42% of its calories from fat.
- Only chicken breasts with skin removed are low in fat
- Chicken contains just as much cholesterol as beef or pork
Pork, Bacon, Ham. If you choose to eat pork, bacon or ham:
- Ensure the pig’s diet was not infected with worms. Remember the days when many people kept a pig – they first boiled the scraps to make pig-swill.
- Cook pig meat thoroughly. Crisp the bacon, cook chops/pork roast/ribs until browned and the juices are no longer running.This is not a meat to eat rare, even in the U.S.
Beef. Choose beef from cattle fed organic grass. The 4-chambered stomach of a cow was designed to eat grass. Beef from grass-fed cattle is:
- Naturally leaner than grain-fed Cattle. Due to the lack of dietary hormones and carbohydrates.
- A Significant Source of Omega-3. Has a beneficial Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio of ~4:1.
- A good source of conjugated Linoleic acid (CLA), A fat that reduces the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes and a number of immune disorders.
Avoid meat that has been “Glued” together
“Meat glue” is used to join small chunks of meat, mainly to pass it off as prime cuts
- No I’m not kidding! Think Chicken Mc Nuggets, bacon-wrapped tenderloins, and those hunks of ham, turkey, beef etc. at the deli counter;
- Meat glue is an enzyme called transglutaminase designed for use in “restructuring” meat and poultry. Meat glues are produced by one of two methods:
- Via bacterial cultivation. The Japanese company Ajinomoto uses a strain of soil bacteria, called Streptoverticillium mobaraense;
- From the blood plasma of pigs and cows (specifically the coagulant that makes blood clot).
- The “Glueing” process. Meat glue is sprinkled on protein pieces, such as beef chunks to form cross-linked, insoluble protein polymers that bind the pieces together. The glue-covered meat is rolled up in plastic film and then refrigerated for a few hours. Some manufacturers are so proficient at this that even an expert butcher can’t tell the difference between a piece of prime beef and the glued-together scraps;
- Which meat products may be “glued”? Pork / ham, Lamb, Fish products (E.g. fish fingers), chicken, Imitation crab meat, and of course – processed meats.
Minimize processed meats
What are processed meats? Raw, uncooked or cooked meats that have undergone a process to preserve taste, texture and convey the familiar pink color, while making them safe to eat for an extended time by preventing growth of certain bacteria that would cause the meat to spoil (e.g. Clostridium botulinum, which causes botulism), either via a direct inhibitory effect or because drying out the meat removes moisture required by bacteria to thrive. In developing countries without refrigeration, meats are necessarily processed to prevent deterioration, aid in long-distance transportation, provide food for safe consumption in times of scarcity.
Processed meats include:
- Bacon, ham, sausages
- Pastrami, salami, pepperoni, prosciutto
- Hot dogs
- Deli / luncheon meats
- Hamburgers (if they have been preserved with salt or chemical additives)
- Meats used in canned foods, on pizzas and in packaged products.
Meats are preserved by:
- Smoking. A method used probably since soon after man’s discovery of fire to either preserve meat or to impart the much desired flavor of the smoke from certain woods (e.g. hickory, mesquite, maple, apple, cherry, plum) or charcoal; if meat is salt-cured, the additional smoking process is otherwise unnecessary.
- Curing salt. Adding salt to draw out moisture to prevent microbial growth with the addition of sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite or potasssium nitrate. Often dyed to make it pink.
- Salting. Traditional method uses only salt. E.g. authentic Spanish chorizo, Italian salami, prosciutto.
- The addition of chemical preservatives or sugar
Health concerns of processed meats and why you should limit their consumption. Processed meats typically contain meat-glue, undesireable chemical preservatives (e.g. nitrates and nitrites), and often have a high sugar-content.
- Cancer connection to processed meats is well documented
- Bowel cancer – World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) concluded (after review of >7000 clinical studies), that processed meats are associated with cancer of the bowel (aka. colectoral or colon cancer) and that there is no amount of processed meat that can be confidently shown not to increase risk. WCRF/AICR Expert Report — Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective
- Strong evidence has linked processed meats to increased risk of other cancers and health problems)
- Breast cancer
- Bladder cancer by 59%
- Stomach cancer
- Pancreatic cancer by 67%. This large 2005 study also found that a diet rich in pork and red meat increased risk by 50% and that eating poultry, fish, dairy or eggs or intake of total fat, saturated fat or cholesterol showed no link to panceatic cancer.
- Diabetes
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Nitrates and nitrites can convert to potentially carcinogenic nitrosamines. Today meat is usually cured with sodium nitrite (or sometimes potassium nitrate). Nitrates convert to nitrites in a long-term cure, but there is no substantial evidence that the nitrites or nitrates themselves in cured meat are harmful when eaten in moderate amounts. Nitrites can, however, convert to potentially carcinogenic nitrosamines (which have produced cancer in lab animals and when eaten in excess have been linked to some human cancers and COPD).
Nitrosamines are formed when:
- Nitrites combine with by-products of protein (amines in the stomach) – however, a 154# person would have to eat >18 pounds of cured meat to hit toxicity level. It is estimated that 10% of human exposure to nitrites in the GI tract comes from cured meats and 90% comes from vegetables and other sources (E.g. from fertilizers) and indeed nitrite toxicity has been present in infants fed vegetables with a high nitrate level.
- Nitrates in cured bacon are heated to temps in the 600°F (315°C) range. E.g. when bacon is crisped (most other meats are cooked at lower temps). Today’s typical short-term cures (a few hours), do not need to use nitrates. The USDA now requires bacon processors to add antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, which help promote the formation of harmless nitric oxide instead of potentially harmful nitrosamines. Bacon manufacturers are under a USDA surveillance program whereby bacon is sampled, cooked, and tested for nitrosamines. Levels above a certain maximum amount are not permitted.
- To be safe when consuming cured meats. You can take a 500mg vitamin C dose to curtail formation of nitrosamines
Nitrite in Meat – Univ. of Minnesota rev. 1992
Smoked food contains carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) – mostly produced from the incomplete combustion of the fuel being burnt. Stomach cancer in Slovenian population in Hungary, consuming home-smoked meats containing 5-6 times the amount of the PAH benzo(a)pyrene than of the rest of Hungary’s home-smoked meats, have double the rate of stomach cancer. Hungary permits PAH levels <1ug / kg Fritz and Soos (1980). . Smoked foods (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish) and commercial liquid smoke flavorings were screened for carcinogenic PAHs finding concentrations in meats up to 16 ug / kg and smoke flavorings up to ~10 ug / kg. Gomaa et al (1993), published 2009.
Lower toxin risk when eating meat
Cut off the covering fat of meat and don’t eat blood. Covering fat and blood store and carry toxins. This takes “Blood (Black) pudding” off the menu! Covering fat is composed of more harmful types of saturated fats than marbling fat, which is good for you in moderate quantities.
Charred / blackened / burned meat should not be eaten since it contains high levels of carcinogenic heterocyclic amines (HCAs).
Cooking food at high temps increases its levels of potentially tumor causing heterocyclic amines (HA’s). Frying and grilling meat is particularly dangerous, because the intense heat turns sugars and amino acids into HAs. Marinades lower cancer-causing compounds in meat prior to cooking.
- Marinating steak in beer or wine before cooking dramatically reduces levels of HAs. Marinating steak in red wine or beer for 6 hours before frying can cut levels of two types of HA by up to 90%. Beer reduces a third type of HA significantly in just 4 hours.
Red wine marinade has a similar effect on HA levels in fried chicken. - A marinade sauce made of olive oil, lemon juice and garlic can also lower HA levels in grilled chicken up to 90%.
Eat meat in moderation
“Be not … among those who gorge themselves with meat”
– Proverbs 23:20
The world cancer research fund international recommends to eat no more than 3 – 12-18oz cooked portions of red meat / week to prevent colerectoral cancer and minimum to no processed meat.
Too much protein overburdens the digestive system and produces excessive amounts of acid. This can increase oxidative stress and deplete alkalizing minerals in the body needed for various functions, including bone strength.
Excessive meat consumption without sufficient B6, B12, folate, or betaine can increase body’s homocysteine levels, which can induce oxidative stress and a low-level chronic inflammatory response in the absence of antioxidants. The amino acid homocysteine is formed from the metabolism of the essential amino acid, methionine, found in meats and dairy products. The homocysteine produced can undergo:
- Remethylation. Utilizes active folate (MTHR), B12 and the enzyme MTHFR to convert homocysteine back to methionine.(Also this conversion occurs in kidney and liver via betaine homocysteine methyltransferase (BHMT) which transfers a methyl group to homocysteine via the demethylation of trimethylglycine (TMG /aka betaine, which serves as a methyl donor) to dimethylglycine (DMG)OR
- Transsulfuration. Utilizes the active form of vitamin B6 (pyridoxal-5′-phosphate) and the enzyme cystathionine-synthase (CBS). Once formed from cystathionine, cysteine can then be used by the body to make protein and glutathione (GSH), a powerful antioxidant.
If either of these pathways are impaired (E.g. due to a deficiency of B6, B12, folate, betaine), then plasma fasting homocysteine concentrations are increased, significantly so in the remethylation pathway.
To understand the significance of ongoing oxidative stress causing a low-level chronic inflammatory response:
Chronic low-level Inflammation (CLII) -“A common factor in most health problems”
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)
Most U.S. Beef cattle and pigs are raised in Feed Lots called CAFOs
CAFO cows are fed GRAIN, a food they are not naturally equipped to process
80% of U.S. beef cows are raised in feed lots, where they have no choice but to eat a grain-based diet(typically wheat, corn /maize, rice, barley, and also soybean and cane sugar). Since their 4-chambered stomachs were designed to process grass not grain, the cows are frequently sick and bloated, and usually develop liver disease, which would eventually kill them if they were not fattened in accelerated time.
Antibiotics are given to CAFO cattle, pigs and poultry, which cause us problems
CAFO cows are given antibiotics to promote growth in livestock
- Dietary antibiotics can add 4-5% to bodyweight. They are not just given for the obvious reason of preventing disease from their being in a manure-laden environment.
- In 2013, 14,788,555 kg (over 32,603,000 lbs) FDA-approved antimicrobial drugs were sold for use in food-producing animals in the U.S. and 62% of them were medically-important-to-us OTC drugs. FDA 2013 SUMMARY REPORT. After FDA guidelines designed to limit AB use in livestock (effective 1/1/2017), numbers had reduced quite a bit: . 10,933,367 kg (~24,104,000 lbs) antimicrobial drugs sold for use in food-producing animals in the U.S. and ~50% of them medically important. So we’re headed in the right direction. FDA 2017 Summary. Report On Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals
- Kudos to Purdue. By 2014, Purdue was marketing their “Harvestland” Simply Smart and Perfect Portions chicken as “antibiotic-free”, having phased out the use of human antibiotics and ionophores (a type of antiobiotic not used by humans) from its feed. By 2015, about half of their chicken was antibiotic-free. WIkipedia
- In 1998, The E.U. banned the use of antibiotics important in human medicine from use as growth promoters in livestock production.
Consuming antibiotic-laden beef having detrimental effects on health:
- Antibiotic resistant bacteria develop in cattle which can easily be transmitted to humans via consumption of meat or human contact with living animals. A Harvard University study showed that antibiotic-resistant genes found in bacteria infecting humans were identical to some of the same bacteria infecting animals O’Brien et.al (1982). Some strains of salmonella are now resistant to commonly used antibiotics.
- increased susceptibility to intestinal infections. Consequential to reduced levels of favorable intestinal bacteria.
How do antiobiotics increase the rate and efficiency of weight gain in healthy livestock ? The presence of antibiotics likely changes the composition of the gut flora to favour growth. Debate continues as to how that gut flora are changed; change may simply be a reduction in numbers and/or a change in species composition. For example, a low, continuous dose of antibiotic may:
- Eliminate bacteria that “steal” essential nutrients required by the animal for growth
- Reduce competition allowing beneficial bacteria that produce essential nutrients required by the animal for growth to multiply
- Control growth of bacteria that cause low-grade infections or produce toxins-both of which result in thick intestines that do not absorb nutrients well.
- Some antibiotics may also enhance feed consumption and growth by stimulating metabolic processes within the animal
HGP’S are injected / implanted into CAFO cows or added to their feed to speed up their weight gain
Hormone Growth Promotants (HGPs) are carcinogenic
Although the U.S. have approved the use of HGPs, many other countries have banned them. The E.U. has banned importation of American and Canadian beef raised with growth hormones because studies indicate that they are carcinogenic. Hormones used in beef cattle include the male hormone Testosterone (and its synthetic equivalent trenbolone acetate), and the female hormone progesterone (and 3 of its synthetic derivatives).
- Progesterone–Imitator Presence linked to Cancer. Synthetic progesterone imitates other hormones in the body and is linked to diseases such as cancer. An Ohio State University study found that when breast cancer cells were exposed to Zeranol, another progesterone-imitator, it increased cancer growth. Ye W et al (2010)
HGPs affect ecology. Hormones are not only present in the beef, but also end up in farm run-off and can flow into nearby rivers and streams –ending up in underground aquifers and so in our drinking water.An EPA fresh-water study in Deluth, MN found that fish exposed to trenbolone in water produced a general pattern where female fish were slightly masculinized and male fish slightly feminized.This raises concerns that these hormones might be a factor in the rising incidence of premature development in girls. Lemonick, MD (2003)
CAFO Produced Beef is High in Omega-6 and Low in Omega-3 FAT
The cows’ grain diet yields a high proportion of Omega-6 fat, as opposed to providing us a natural source of Omega-3 from a grass diet. Thus, eating grain fed beef contributes to an imbalance of the important Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio.
References
FDA 2013 SUMMARY REPORT On Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals.
Ingenbleek Y, McCully KS. Vegetarianism produces subclinical malnutrition, hyperhomocysteinemia and atherogenesis. Nutrition. 2012 Feb;28(2):148-53. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2011.04.009. Epub 2011 Aug 27. PMID: 21872435.
Fritz and Soos (1980). “Smoked food and cancer.” Bibl Nutr Dieta. (29):57-64.
Gomaa et al (1993). “Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in smoked food products and commercial liquid smoke flavourings.” Food Addit Contam. 10(5): 503-21. Study
Lemonick, MD,(Dec 11, 2003) “Teens before Their Time”,TIME Magazine, Oct.30, 2000 and lower sperm counts in men Cone M, “Changes in Fish Tied to Feedlots.”, LA Times, .
Ye W, Xu P, Zhong S, Threlfall WR, Frasure C, Feng E, Li H, Lin SH, Liu JY, Lin YC. ( Nov;1 2010) Serum harvested from heifers one month post-zeranol implantation stimulates MCF-7 breast cancer cell growth. Exp Ther Med. (6):963-968. doi: 10.3892/etm.2010.155. Epub 2010 Sep 29. PMID: 22993626; PMCID: PMC3446733.
