Myth: Meat, Sat. Fat Have Increased w/ Heart Disease, Cancer
Statistics do not bear out such fancies. Butter consumption has plummeted from 18 lb (8.165 kg) per person a year in 1900, to less than 5 lb (2.27 kg) per person a year today. Additionally, Westerners, urged on by government health agencies, have reduced their intake of eggs, cream, lard, and pork. Chicken consumption has risen in the past few decades, but chicken is lower in saturated fat than either beef or pork.
Furthermore, a survey of cookbooks published in America in the last century shows that people of earlier times ate plenty of animal foods and saturated fats. For example, in the Baptist Ladies Cook Book (Monmouth, Illinois, 1895), virtually every recipe calls for butter, cream or lard. Recipes for creamed vegetables are numerous as well. A scan of the Searchlight Recipe Book (Capper Publications, 1931) also has similar recipes: creamed liver, creamed cucumbers, hearts braised in buttermilk, etc. British Jews, as shown by the Jewish Housewives Cookbook (London, 1846), also had diets rich in cream, butter, eggs, and lamb and beef tallows. One recipe for German waffles, for example, calls for a dozen egg yolks and an entire pound of butter. A recipe for Oyster Pie from the Baptist cookbook calls for a quart of cream and a dozen eggs, and so forth and so on.
It does not appear, then, that people ate leaner diets in the last century. It is true that beef consumption has risen in the last few decades, but what has also risen precipitously, however, is consumption of margarine and other food products containing trans-fatty acids, lifeless, packaged "foods", processed vegetable oils, carbohydrates and refined sugar. Since one does not see chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease in beef-eating native peoples like the Maasai and Samburu, it is not possible for beef to be the culprit behind these modern epidemics. This, of course, points the finger squarely at the other dietary factors as the most likely causes.
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Beef is one of the healthiest options in proper nutrition . With 29 cuts of lean beef per cow, beef provides a healthier option than chicken when chicken is covered with flavorful additives. Beef is not only a completely safe option for consumers, but also provides 10 essential vitamins and nutrients. Beef producers do not put harmful substances into beef. Why would us beef producers put harmful things into the beef that our families and others will consume!? Health and safety are the top priority of beef producers. There are millions of dollars and producers time and lives put into ensuring the safety and satisfaction of our consumers. Eat beef: the west wasn't won on salad.
For more info visit: http://www.beefboard.org/news/08_1010News_MBApressRelease.asp
Caveats: 1. I'm vegan primarily for ethical reasons - compassion and respect for animals, a desire to refrain from exploitating others as much possibile - not health reasons. That I can be healthy and vegan is a nice benefit. 2. I don't think you have to be vegan to be healthy. My dad is a meat-eating marathon runner (although he does limit his meat intake).
An extraordinary number of well-designed epidemiological and clinical studies, from around the world, from all demographics, published in mainstream peer-reviwed medical journals over the past several decades show linkages between meat consumption and cancer. It really doesn't make sense, from a health perspective, to ignore this.
The China Study ( http://www.amazon.com/China-Study-Comprehensive-Nutrition-Implications/dp/1932100660/ref =pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223482542&sr=8-1), to take one example, was an extremely thorough study on a homogeneous population. It showed clear correlations between animal protein intake and cancer rates.
When you compare populations, the overwhelming pattern is higher animal protein intake = higher cancer rates. For your own good, you don't want to dismiss these findings. Breast cancer rates among people who get all or nearly all of their protein from plant sources are a fraction of the breast cancer rates in the U.S. and England, where meat and dairy are prevalent. We're always talking about a cure for breast cancer - which is fine - but through diet and exercise you may be able to reduce your risk by three-quarters.
And yes, genetics have been ruled out. The BRCA genes seem to be much less of a determinant for breast cancer than lifestyle factors are.
This doesn't mean that if you eat one hot dog, you die. But certainly overconsumption of meat does seem to have many risks. We ignored the risks of cigarettes for years, because we didn't want to give up our habit. Let's not do the same with meat and dairy.
Some meats are particularly harmful. A recent peer-reviewed study showed that even one ounce of processed meat (e.g., bacon, sausage, ham) per day can significantly raise the risk of pancreatic cancer. One ounce is approximately on sausage or slice of ham. Try veggie bacon, sausage, and ham. They're not health foods by a long shot, but they're far less risky (and less cruel) than the animal-based alternatives, and they're not bad. I've fed them to many a meat-eater with no complaints.