Health for life

Showing posts with label meats. Show all posts

Processed Meats Boost Pancreatic Cancer Risk by Nearly One Quarter

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Researchers publishingin the British Journal of Cancer have determined that processed meat consumption increases the risk of developing one of the most deadly forms of pancreatic cancer by nineteen percent in men and women. In addition, the same study found that a diet high in red meat can lead to increased risk of the disease in men. Eating the equivalent of one sausage or two strips of bacon each day was found to jump the risk of developing pancreatic cancer in this prospective meta-analysis study, compared to those who consumed no meat.

A diet of just over four ounces of red meat eaten daily increased the risk of pancreatic cancerin men by close to thirty percent. Health-minded individuals wishing to limit their risk for developing pancreatic cancer will want to eliminate processed meats and severely limit red meat consumption.

Research Shows That Processed Meats and Smoking Dramatically Increase Pancreatic Cancer Risk

The lifetime risk of developing pancreatic cancer in western cultures is 1 in 79 for women and 1 in 77 for men, compared to smoking which increases the risk by 74%. Any habit that increases the risk of developing this form of the disease that defies early diagnosis and carries a dismal five-year survival rate less than five percent is unacceptable.

British researchers conducted a meta-analysis of eleven significant studies involving more than 6,000 individuals with pancreatic cancer. The scientist’s compiled details on the consumption of processed and red meats for the study subjects across all studies considered, and then analyzed to determine the impact on disease genesis and prognosis. The study leader, Professor Susanna Larsson noted “Pancreatic cancer has poor survival rates. So as well as diagnosing it early, it’s important to understand what can increase the risk of this disease.”

Deadly Carcinogenic Amines Form When Meats are Cooked at High Temperatures

Researchers found that process meats contain a high level of nitrites and N-nitroso compounds used to preserve the meat and provide flavor. The positive association between processed meat consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer increases as the compounds pass from the bloodstream to the pancreas where they are known to be carcinogenic. In a similar fashion, humans are exposed to N-nitroso compounds via cigarette smoking, an established risk factor for pancreatic cancer. The study suggests that the risk of developing pancreatic cancer is greatly increased with a diet of processed meats and smoking.

Interestingly, the study did not find that eating red meat increased pancreatic cancer risk in women. The authors believe this is because women eat less red meat than men, and there is a tolerance level exceeded by men and not women. Similar studies have shown that heterocyclic amines form when red meat is cooked using high-temperature methods such as pan frying or grilling directly over an open flame, dramatically increasing pancreatic cancer risk.

Health-minded individuals are well advised to avoid all processed meats (sausage, bacon and luncheon meats). The study researchers concluded“The jury is still out as to whether meat is a definite risk factor for pancreatic cancer and more large studies are needed to confirm this. But this new analysis suggests processed meat may be playing a role.”

Prostate Cancer Risk Linked to a Diet High in Red and Processed Meats

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer and second most common cause of cancer related death in men in the United States. Nearly one in five men will develop the disease during their lifetime. While known risk factors for prostate cancer include age, family history and ethnicity, new research demonstrates that increased consumption of ground beef or processed meat is positively associated with aggressive prostate cancer, according to a study publishedin the journal PLoS ONE.

Researchers found a strong correlation between well cooked, grilled or barbequed red meat and processed meats and the development of prostate cancer. Health-minded individuals will want to severely limit and review cooking methods for red and processed meat consumption to limit this prostate cancer risk factor.

Well Cooked Red and Processed Meats Dramatically Increase Prostate Cancer Incidence

The result of a study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), offers solid evidence of a link between aggressive prostate cancer and meat consumption. Scientists found prostate cancergrowth is driven largely by consumption of grilled or barbecued red meat, especially when it is well-done. Senior study author, Dr. John Witte set out to explain the result of prior studies and establish a scientific basis for increased prostate cancer risk with red and processed meat consumption.

Researchers used a cohort of 470 men with aggressive prostate cancer and contrasted against 512 matched controls that did not have prostate cancer. All the men completed questionnaires that enabled the researchers to assess not only their meat intake for the previous 12 months, but also the type of meat and how it had been prepared. Researchers placed special emphasis on the "doneness level", ranging from rare to well-done.

Cooking Method Increases Heterocyclic Amines in Cooked Meats

The study authors used pre-established levels of carcinogens from the National Cancer Institutes CHARRED database which contains the mutagen content for each type of meat by cooking method and doneness. Compiling the data obtained from the participants allowed the researchers to determine the consumption levels of chemicals that have the potential to transform into cancer-causing compounds including heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The study established the following conclusions:

“Higher consumption of any ground beef or processed meats was positively linked with aggressive prostate cancer, with ground beef showing the strongest association.”

“The main driver of this link was intake of grilled or barbecued meat, with more well-done meat tied to a higher risk of aggressive prostate cancer.”

“Men who ate high levels of well or very well cooked ground beef had twice the odds of developing aggressive prostate cancer compared to men who ate none.”

Dr. Witte and his team were able to make a conclusive link between well cooked and processed meats and incidence of prostate cancer. Of particular importance was the degree of cooking and use of high heat cooking methods that add carcinogens to the surface of the meat. Most health-conscious people avoid regular meat consumption. This study provides further evidence that limiting or eliminating meat from the diet and utilizing proper cooking practices for all types of food can help prevent prostate cancer and many chronic illnesses.

AHS 2012 Part 3 Nutritionism Denise Minger on Organ Meats and Terry Wahls MS

Saturday, January 11, 2014

And were back for part 3 of the AHS talk. Again, thats the Ancestral Health Symposium, not the American Hemerocallis Society, the American Helicopter Society, nor the American Headache Society, all of which come up ahead of Ancestral Health Symposium in a Google search. That needs to change. On to the discussion...

Two Ways of Looking at a Food: Nutritionism vs. A Whole Foods Perspective
This wasnt a topic that was covered specifically at the symposium, but some of the presentations touched on it, and that made it a frequent topic of discussion with my friends and I (Amanda at Inspired. and Matthew at whatever-he-will-call-his-new-blog.com). First there was Mat Lalondes talk about his new system for measuring nutrient density, in which he made bacon look pretty darn nutritious. Cool with me. I liked it far more than the ANDI score system used at Whole Foods, or the NuVal system used at conventional grocery stores, but it was very apparent by the end of his talk that there is no perfect system to quantify the nutrient density of food. Then there was Peter Ballerstedts talk about grass-fed meat, his main point being that the nutritional differences between grass-fed and grain-fed meat are negligible.

So these two talks generated some discussion about this reductionist perspective of nutrition. Or "nutritionism", if you will. You can measure the nutrients in a food and try to rank its healthiness, but what ultimately matters is the effect this food has on your body as a whole.

A couple of examples... Firstly, I appreciated Dr. Ballerstedts point, that the nutritional difference between grass-fed and grain-fed meat is insignificant. He mainly focused on the difference in omega-3 fatty acids. And he may be right, there isnt that much more omega-3 in grass-fed meat. But does it matter? A 2011 study, for example, found that eating grass-fed beef significantly increases the composition of omega-3 fatty acids in plasma and platelet, while eating grain-fed beef actually reduced their omega-3 content (1).

Then theres the whole grain thing, which I blogged about recently. Despite being high in antioxidant nutrients (vitamin B6, folate, selenium, zinc, magnesium, and cysteine), whole grains have zero effect on your bodys total antioxidant capacity (2).

So, you can talk all day about a food being more nutritious or less nutritious than another, but at the end of the day youre guessing. Okay, thats not quite fair. Its an educated guess. But nutrient composition isnt everything. We dont really know how food acts in our bodies until we study it. Nutrient density can be a great guide, but its not the end-all-be-all.

Denise Minger is Hilarious/Adorable/Really Super Smart
Denise Minger was great as always. No blogger makes me laugh like Denise does, and I think I nearly died of laughter during her AHS presentation. She brought up the cholesterol-fed rabbit model, which many of you are probably familiar with. A study from the early 1900s fed rabbits cholesterol and observed a rise in their cholesterol levels. But rabbits dont eat cholesterol; theyre herbivores.

Do rabbits eat carrots? Or babies?

Point made. Anyway, Denises presentation was about the negative aspects of meat consumption. Many in the paleo world tend to assume we can eat as much meat as we want, but hopefully Denises presentation will bring us back to earth a bit. She brought up a few ways meat can be harmful, including overcooking, but the most interesting part to me was on organ meats. Ive been thinking about this a lot lately, so this presentation came at a perfect time.

If you really think about it, its just common sense that we should incorporate organ meats into our diet. In hunter-gatherer times, we would have eaten plenty of organ meats, and in fact, traditional societies always place a high value on foods like liver. We eat far too much muscle meat, and too little organ. Denise explained that muscle meat is very high in the amino acid, methionine, which can be problematic. Foods like liver, heart, and bone broths are higher in glycine, and apparently we should avoid an imbalanced intake of these amino acids. This is something Ill be researching more in the near future, for sure. And in the mean time, Ill be eating more organ meats! Heres a little stew I made recently with beef heart and marrow bones:

Mmm, coronary arteries...

Terry Wahls and Multiple Sclerosis
Terry Wahls is just an inspiration. Long story short, just a couple years ago she had debilitating MS, to the point where she could barely walk, and only with the assistance of two canes. Since adopting a strict paleo diet, not just any paleo diet, but one with a very high intake of leafy greens and specific micronutrients, she has improved her symptoms so much that she recently biked 17 miles. Absurd. And whats more, she is currently conducting research on others with MS, putting them on the same diet she eats, and the preliminary results are astounding. I was not able to get any pictures of the data, since she asked us not to, but when this information is published it will definitely be groundbreaking. You can check out her TED talk here and learn all about her story.

Phew, thats it! The end of my review of the 2012 Ancestral Health Symposium. I may write another in the coming days talking about what it meant to me to be able to attend this amazing event. And maybe Ill talk about the paleo movement as a whole and how excited I am for the future. But until next time, ciao!