The Beef Over Red Meat

 Just one more week (for most of us)

In case you haven’t consumed any health news recently, there is a big beef over research showing red meat is not bad for you. A huge study has contradicted decades of anti-red-meat advice, and the experts who gave that advice are red-faced and livid.

The new research was a systematic review of existing research, conducted by a team of interdisciplinary researchers with no conflict of interest. After eliminating many poorly done studies, and studies done on animals (which have unknown application to humans), the team concluded, “The panel suggests that adults continue current unprocessed red meat consumption (weak recommendation, low-certainty evidence). Similarly, the panel suggests adults continue current processed meat consumption (weak recommendation, low-certainty evidence).”

The problem is that this contradicts decades of research saying that meat, especially red and processed meat, is bad for health, allegedly causing heart disease and cancer. Virtually every medical organization has been telling people to stop eating meat for health reasons.

What are all these experts going to do now that the research studies they were relying on for their recommendations were flawed and biased? Experts hate to be told they are wrong. After all, they are the experts, so who can trump them?

This study did. And the response has been anger from the medical community, a very unscientific response.

In a story on the findings, and the reaction from the embarrassed and defensive medical community, the New York Times wrote, “Already [the study authors] have been met with fierce criticism by public health researchers. The American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and other groups have savaged the findings and the journal that published them.”

The Times explains, “While the new findings are likely to please proponents of popular high-protein diets, they seem certain to add to public consternation over dietary advice that seems to change every few years. The conclusions represent another in a series of jarring dietary reversals involving salt, fats, carbohydrates and more.”

Clearly, the Emperor never likes to be told he has no clothes. This is a major rebuke, not only of medicine, but of nutrition research and public policy. As the Times article continued, “Some [medical experts] called for the journal’s editors to delay publication altogether. In a statement, scientists at Harvard warned that the conclusions ‘harm the credibility of nutrition science and erode public trust in scientific research.’”

Harvard doesn’t want the public to realize that its public health recommendations are based on bad science. The public may lose trust. We can’t allow the public to realize that medical advice is sketchy, at best.

Some medical groups don’t like the implications of the study, since they philosophically oppose meat consumption. According to the Times, “Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group advocating a plant-based diet, on Wednesday filed a petition against the journal with the Federal Trade Commission.”

Realize that these groups are calling for censorship of scientific information that goes against policy.

Read the rest here.

Eat Less Red Meat, Scientists Said. Now Some Believe That Was Bad Advice.

The evidence is too weak to justify telling individuals to eat less beef and pork, according to new research. The findings “erode public trust,” critics said.

Details.

My take... a hundred years from now we are all going to be fertilizing a well manicured lawn somewhere. Obsessing about this sort of thing is pointless. All things in moderation and enjoy life.

I knew it!

The real breakfast of champions

Cold pizza, microwaved pizza, store-bought frozen pizza... It doesn't matter what kind of pie is on your plate this morning - it's probably a healthier breakfast than a bowl of cereal.

If you're considering eating pizza for breakfast, there's a good chance you're wildly hungover. Or maybe you're just feeling plain old lazy. You might feel like a piece of trash for eating America's favorite greasy food before 10 a.m., but you really shouldn't.

It's got protein. It's got carbs. It might even have vegetables. That hot slice of cheesy goodness is a balanced breakfast if we've ever seen one.

And heck, if Beyonce can eat cupcakes after SoulCycle, you can eat pizza before 10 a.m.

Plus, you're making a better choice than most moms are when they feed their kids cereal for breakfast. Why? America's cereal options are nutritionally bleak - there's rarely protein, healthy fats, or anything but spoonfuls of sugar in cereal these days. And with cheese gaining momentum as the next hit superfood, you can bet pizza is winning this nutritional war.

To make sure we aren't steering you towards your greasy, heart-clogged demise, we double-checked with a dietitian.

Read the rest here.

Yet another great court ruling

Here's to another great decision from the courts for personal freedom, and a black eye for the nanny state.

The Bloomberg big-soda ban is officially dead.

The state’s highest court on Thursday refused to reinstate New York City’s controversial limits on sales of jumbo sugary drinks, exhausting the city’s final appeal and handing a major victory to the American soft-drink industry, which bitterly opposed the plan.

In a 20-page opinion, Judge Eugene F. Pigott Jr. of the New York State Court of Appeals wrote that the city’s Board of Health “exceeded the scope of its regulatory authority” in enacting the proposal, which was championed by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Read the rest here.

OK. Let's be brutally honest here. Soda is one of the worst things sold for human consumption that doesn't come with a health warning label attached. But while the government is within its rights to warn the citizenry about the health risks of certain products, in the end what people choose to eat or drink is their own business. So for those craving a super sized cup of liquid diabetes, drink up and rejoice! It's still a semi free country, even in New York.

New York: Bad News For The Food Fascists

(Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial plan to keep large sugary drinks out of restaurants and other eateries was rejected by a state appeals court on Tuesday, which said he had overstepped his authority in trying to impose the ban.

The law, which would have prohibited those businesses from selling sodas and other sugary beverages larger than 16 ounces (473 ml), "violated the state principle of separation of powers," the First Department of the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division said.

The decision, upholding a lower court ruling in March that struck down the law, dealt a blow to Bloomberg's attempt to advance the pioneering regulation as a way to combat obesity. Beverage makers and business groups, however, challenged it in court, arguing that the mayoral-appointed health board had gone too far when it approved the law.

A unanimous four-judge panel at the appeals court agreed, finding that the board had stepped beyond its power to regulate public health and usurped the policy-making role of the legislature.

Read the rest here.

For the record, I don't encourage people to drink soda. It really is just horrible stuff and a major contributing factor to all kinds of health problems. But it's a semi-free country, even in New York for the moment. So if you've got a craving for a super sized container of liquid sugar, knock yourself out.

Good News For Lent

Well if your like me that early enthusiasm for the Great Fast has begone to wane and it's starting to get old. This however should cheer you up and add new vigor to your fast.

Red meat is a killer. Seriously. That cheeseburger you are craving will shorten your life. So says a new study which concluded that red meat IN ANY QUANTITY is dangerous to your health. It's getting so bad I'm starting to think that no matter what I do I might die one day.

Read about it here and please pass the rice and beans.

Pretty much everything you eat is associated with cancer, so relax and dig in

It is, perhaps, one of the most common health-care headlines: A new study linking a new food with a cancer risk. Search for “foods associated with cancer” and Google returns 196 million results, including new studies this month on salt, aspartame and high-carb diets.

Well, good news! You probably don’t have to pay much attention to any of those studies: The vast majority of studies purporting to link foods to cancer have incredibly weak associations, often insignificant, according to new research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Read the rest here.

LA Adds Another Meatless Day

So the liberal wienies in LA have now decreed that Monday's shall be meatless. This of course just further demonstrates the complete lack of sensitivity that liberals have. If they had given it even a few moments of thought they would have realized that a solid majority of their citizens are Hispanic, who are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. Observant Catholics already abstain from meat on Fridays. And of course those of us on the other side of the Bosporus don't eat meat on Wednesdays and Fridays. Minimal reflection might have suggested that Friday would be a good day if they must use the government to try and regulate our diet.

But really the uptake of all of this is that the citizens of Los Angeles pay each of the 15 members of their city council $178,789  per year to tell them they should not eat meat on Mondays.

Our country has gone barking mad.