People have been eating red meat (veal, port, lamb, etc.) for literally thousands of years. It was an important part of our diet from the time animals were domesticated between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago.
Dr. Weston A Price was a dentist interested in nutrition when it comes to dental health. He traveled the world to study “primitive” and “underdeveloped” cultures to see how healthy they were and what they ate. Beginning in the 1930s, he visited African tribes, Alaskan Eskimos, native people from the Polynesian islands, and people living in the Swiss Alps.
He was surprised to find healthy teeth, healthy bodies, and very little disease. These “uncivilized” people did not know about cancer or heart disease. And they all had similar eating patterns.
Dr. Price found that all traditional cultures consumed animal protein and fats from land animals, fish and shellfish, water and land birds, eggs, milk, and dairy products. They did not use low-fat products or skim milk. However, they were much healthier than “civilized” Europeans and Americans who ate a lot of processed foods.
Even in the US Before the 1940s, a typical diet was high in saturated fat from meat, butter, and lard, but heart disease and cancer were virtually unheard of. All that has changed with the introduction of lipid hypothesis of heart disease in 1951 in the American Journal of Medicine. Hypothesis means a theory or an assumption, not a proven fact.
According to this hypothesis, fat and cholesterol in food cause heart disease. This idea has never been tested, but it became politically correct to blame fat, cholesterol, and red meat for the epidemic of heart disease, cancer, and other health problems.
The fact is that red meat is an excellent source of many nutrients, such as protein, iron, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, and B vitamins, especially B1, B3, B6, and B12. It also contains large amounts of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which is important for energy production. There is some CoQ10 in all cells of the body, but especially in those parts that need a lot of energy, such as the muscles and the heart.
We need iron to make hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells. It is also used to make myoglobin, the protein in muscles. Zinc is necessary for immune function, protein production, muscle development, digestion and metabolism, growth, and wound healing. Selenium is important for antioxidant enzymes that prevent cell damage and even reduce the risk of cancer.
Beef is also a good source of CLA or conjugated linoleic acid, which has anti-cancer properties. According to medical studies, natural CLA reduces the risk of most cancers.
But why do “experts” recommend avoiding red meat? Why do they say it increases the risk of heart disease and cancer? Due to ignorance, political correctness and highly questionable studies.
Red meat is supposed to be bad for you because it contains cholesterol and saturated fat. But both are absolutely necessary for the normal functioning of every cell in the body. Your body will make cholesterol and saturated fat even if you never eat them.
Ever wonder why beef is loaded with cholesterol and fat? After all, cows are vegetarians, so they don’t eat cholesterol. The answer is that they do, just like you and I produce cholesterol and fat to maintain the normal functioning of all the organs and tissues of our body.
Both fat and cholesterol are used for many biological functions. They are needed to make cell membranes, the skin of cells that regulate what enters and leaves cells, how cells respond to various hormones, and how they react to other messenger molecules.
Cholesterol is also a precursor to many hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and many others) and vitamin D. Bile is made of cholesterol and myelin, the protective covering of every nerve. For more information on this topic, check out my other article called Cholesterol Doesn’t Cause Heart Attacks – Low Levels Linked to Strokes, Cancer, and Infections.
All the studies linking red meat to heart disease and other illnesses are flawed. They are based on dietary analysis which is questionable at best. People in studies must describe what they ate in the past 12 months. The questionnaire used in such studies can be found on the FDA site or by searching for “NHANES food frequency questionnaire.”
A typical question is “During the past 12 months, how often did you eat chicken?” Options range from once a month to 6 times a day or more. I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember what I ate a month ago. I’m pretty sure most people won’t remember exactly what they ate during the last 12 months. Therefore, study participants are highly unlikely to provide accurate and reliable dietary information.
As if that wasn’t enough, all of the studies group red meat together with processed meat, such as cold cuts, bacon, etc.
If you read all the studies carefully, you will see that a diet rich in red meat Y processed meat it is associated with a modest increase in heart disease and cancer. It is almost certainly the fault of the processed meat, not the meat itself. Processed meat is loaded with unnatural chemicals, like sodium nitrite, which has been linked to cancer.
The fact is that heart disease and cancer were virtually unknown in 1900. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics, in 1900 heart disease was responsible for 6.2% of deaths and cancer 3.7%.
In 1997, heart disease was the leading cause of death, accounting for 31.4% of deaths, and cancer followed closely with 23.3%.
Both diseases became epidemics in the last 50-60 years, just as people began to reduce their meat consumption and increased their intake of refined carbohydrates (white bread, pasta, white rice, sugar, pastries, etc.) and oils or plant products. made with them (margarine and butter-like spreads).
Raw beef (steak, hamburger, etc.) is an excellent source of important nutrients, many of which cannot be easily obtained from other food sources. Meat is not a poison. It is an excellent and nutritious food that can and should be used as part of a balanced diet.
For more common sense nutrition information, visit the site below.
