From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
The results are in, according to the LATimes:
Eating red meat — any amount and any type — appears to significantly increase the risk of premature death, according to a long-range study that examined the eating habits and health of more than 110,000 adults for more than 20 years.
For instance, adding just one 3-ounce serving of unprocessed red meat — picture a piece of steak no bigger than a deck of cards — to one's daily diet was associated with a 13% greater chance of dying during the course of the study.
Even worse, adding an extra daily serving of processed red meat, such as a hot dog or two slices of bacon, was linked to a 20% higher risk of death during the study.
You want me to give up bacon? Not happening. Not happening now, not happening ever. And what's the suggested replacement? Brace yourself:
Eating a serving of nuts instead of beef or pork was associated with a 19% lower risk of dying during the study. The team said choosing poultry or whole grains as a substitute was linked with a 14% reduction in mortality risk; low-fat dairy or legumes, 10%; and fish, 7%.
This just seems wrong to me. It's sugar and carbs that are killing us, right? So what's this all about? Here's a clue:
UC San Francisco researcher and vegetarian diet advocate Dr. Dean Ornish said he gleaned a hopeful message from the study.
"Something as simple as a meatless Monday can help," he said. "Even small changes can make a difference."
Additionally, Ornish said, "What's good for you is also good for the planet."
Ah. Good for "the planet." What on earth does the planet have to do with it? And am I alone in thinking that it's safe to dismiss this entire study, on the basis of that final comment?
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Comments:
May '10
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Studies seem to indicate that eating every other day, or severely restricting your calorie intake can extend your life. But then who would want to:
Mar '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
It's the late 70's all over again. Ecology. Environment. All-Natural. Mother Earth News. Pant frackin suits on previously beautiful women. ToeFoo for dinner. Hair shirts for Mother Earth.
I think I'll have a 2" thick, well-marbled Porterhouse. Oh-yeah- we can't get well-marbled steaks or pork at the grocery anymore because of the low-fat fad. ARRRGGHHH!
Apr '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Exactly Rob, "good for the planet" is "settled science" in the language I can't stand and makes me zone out department.
Wouldn't red meat be a renewable food source and totally acceptable if I cook it in a solar oven/grill, while driving in my Chevy Volt out to my local Wind Farm for a "Stop The XL/Pipeline protest confab?
Can I get an Amen!
And as far as bacon is concerned they will have to pry it from my cold dead hand!
Apr '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
I think Jimmy Buffett said it best:
"I’d rather die while I’m living than live while I’m dead"
Aug '10
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
I think Dennis Leary said it best when he said this sorta stuff takes years off the END of your life.
Edited on March 13, 2012 at 9:59pmMar '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Tennessee Patriot: It's the late 70's all over again. Ecology. Environment. All-Natural. Mother Earth News. Pant frackin suits on previously beautiful women. ToeFoo for dinner. Hair shirts for Mother Earth.
I think I'll have a 2" thick, well-marbled Porterhouse. Oh-yeah- we can't get well-marbled steaks or pork at the grocery anymore because of the low-fat fad. ARRRGGHHH! · 1 minute ago
Thank goodness for one thing -- Disco is still dead.
Jul '10
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
To quote the King of Queens: I'd eat my own foot if it were wrapped in bacon.
Aug '10
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Who in the heck eats red meat every day?
Show me a study about eating red meat 2-3 times a week then I'll care. They always take the extreme in these studies.
Jan '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
I'm not really a tree-hugger type, but the feed conversion ratio for cattle is pretty high. The concept of in vitro meat is interesting. However, nobody's going to be able to reproduce the fine fine marbling of a juicy steak anytime soon. I'm a second order vegetarian, I eat things that eat plants.
May '10
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Wait, I thought it was good for the planet for there to be fewer humans. If we live shorter lives, won't that help?
I like the Dennis Leary line. Alan King had a good one, too: It doesn't make you live longer, it just feels longer.
Mar '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Percival
Tennessee Patriot: It's the late 70's all over again. Ecology. Environment. All-Natural. Mother Earth News. Pant frackin suits on previously beautiful women. ToeFoo for dinner. Hair shirts for Mother Earth.
I think I'll have a 2" thick, well-marbled Porterhouse. Oh-yeah- we can't get well-marbled steaks or pork at the grocery anymore because of the low-fat fad. ARRRGGHHH! · 1 minute ago
Thank goodness for one thing -- Disco is still dead. · 18 minutes ago
But the popular music now is no better. A wash I would say.
Aug '10
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Percival
Tennessee Patriot: It's the late 70's all over again. Ecology. Environment. All-Natural. Mother Earth News. Pant frackin suits on previously beautiful women. ToeFoo for dinner. Hair shirts for Mother Earth.
I think I'll have a 2" thick, well-marbled Porterhouse. Oh-yeah- we can't get well-marbled steaks or pork at the grocery anymore because of the low-fat fad. ARRRGGHHH! · 1 minute ago
Thank goodness for one thing -- Disco is still dead. · 22 minutes ago
Hey, at least 70s disco required musicians who knew how to play actual instruments and singers who who carry a tune without the assistance of a Macbook.
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Puritanism is still with us. Somewhere, these people worry, someone is having a good time.
Jan '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Rob, those remarks entitle us to be suspicious of the authors' and commenter's motives. But their motives may be the worst conceivable, and what they say true. To conclude on the basis of bad motives alone that the study's results are false would be an instance of the genetic fallacy. However, there seems to be more evidence each day to support the dietary thesis of Drs Eades, Taubes and Davis, et al., the "low carb" thesis that it's carbs, especially those with very high glycemic index, like sucrose, fructose and whole wheat (!), that are killing us, not meat and fat. And bacon? Only a communist could hate bacon! Related: See "`Bioethics' Meets Climate Science" by Mark Wilson below in the Main Feed.
Edited on March 13, 2012 at 10:52pmDec '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Actually, I read somewhere that grass-fed beef is as healthy as fish. Grain-fed beef is the bad one. I can attest to the marvelous flavor of grass-fed beef as we buy half a cow from friends once a year and stock the freezer. Do the same with pig products - it's much cheaper too.
Aug '10
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Good Gaia, I'm sick of phrases like "good for the planet" and "save the planet". They grossly overestimate the long-term impact of man's activities upon the Earth. Of course, we should try to keep the environment as clean as possible, for us--we don't want to **** in our own nest. But there is literally no way that humans could permanently destroy life on Earth. We are to the planet as a fly is to a horse's behind. In the long term, tectonic plates will be subducted and recycled into new continental land masses, man's monuments will be eroded into sediments, and life will continue inexorably on, evolving into greater diversity with or without mankind.
And I don't know anyone who eats three ounces of red meat on a daily basis. Chicken has become, by far, our most-consumed meat.
UPDATE: I hadn't seen this post from Rob, which deals with the likely persistence of humankind into the distant future. I can certainly foresee a future, 100 or 1,000 years from now, where man has temporarily fouled the Earth, but I can just as easily see a planet made cleaner by technology.
Edited on March 13, 2012 at 10:59pmDec '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Life has a 100% chance of resulting in death.
May '10
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Yet more proof that the editors don't read the Member Feed.
http://ricochet.com/member-feed/They-will-take-my-red-meat-after-they-get-Charlton-Heston-s-gun
Mar '11
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
Misthiocracy
Percival
Tennessee Patriot: It's the late 70's all over again. Ecology. Environment. All-Natural. Mother Earth News. Pant frackin suits on previously beautiful women. ToeFoo for dinner. Hair shirts for Mother Earth.
I think I'll have a 2" thick, well-marbled Porterhouse. Oh-yeah- we can't get well-marbled steaks or pork at the grocery anymore because of the low-fat fad. ARRRGGHHH! · 1 minute ago
Thank goodness for one thing -- Disco is still dead. · 22 minutes ago
Hey, at least 70s disco required musicians who knew how to play actual instruments and singers who who carry a tune without the assistance of a Macbook. · 38 minutes ago
Yeah, but dude...The Village People?
At least there was a happy ending.
Dec '10
Re: From the "Don't Care" File: Red Meat Will Kill You
The fault, dear Robert,
Is not in our steaks,
But in ourselves,
That we are carnivores.