Panreatic cancer risk increase 6,700% if you eat processed meat!

[Liberty Belle]

This one's for Andy:

MY BOLOGNA HAS A FIRST NAME, IT'S C-A-N-C-E-R

The University of Hawaii has released a new study that shows people who consume processed meats have a 6,700% increased risk of pancreatic cancer over those who consume little or no meat products. The study was done over a period of seven years on nearly 200,000 people. Researchers pin the blame on sodium nitrite, a chemical used in nearly all processed meats, including sausage, hot dogs, jerkies, bacon, lunch meat, and even meats in canned soup products. Although these same meats can be purchased without sodium nitrite, consumers must seek the few products that are labeled as such. The USDA attempted to ban sodium nitrite in the 1970s, but was blocked by the meat industry, which relies heavily on the chemical to add color to processed meats, making them look more appealing. Author and nutritionist Mike Adams said of this and other similar study results, "Sodium nitrite is a dangerous, cancer-causing ingredient that has no place in the human food supply."

http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/processedmeat050305.cfm

[amazona]

1. I remember this was a big issue in the 1970s

We were told that further study showed the nitrites were neutralized if you took vitamin C or drank orange juice while consuming the processed meat. What with Anita Whats-her-name and all, and not wanting to consume orange juice, I just said eff it and pretty much cut all processed meat out of the diet.

They should have cut the nitrites out of the food chain way before this, seems to me.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Bouncy Ball]

2. Meat-free as of April 2 of this year.

Myself, my daughter, and my husband.

I'm not going to go around telling people how to eat (so all hyper-defensive meat eaters can just call off the attack right now), but I know my husband and I have lost a few pounds, we have more energy and feel great.

And despite buying a few more organic items, our food bill has gone down.

All in all, I'd have to say I'm pretty happy with this not eating meat stuff.

[calico1]

3. I have considered that. How do you get

your protein? Is there anything other than tofu that you can eat?

[Bouncy Ball]

5. Heck yeah.

In fact, I've only had tofu once.

We aren't vegan, which means we still consume dairy products (but organic only, please!). Milk has protein, soymilk has protein, cheese has protein, beans have protein.

In fact, I've been surprised at how many food items HAVE protein. I thought it was pretty much just meat, too.

I read a study recently (wish I could remember where) that said that most Americans get twice the amount of protein they need each day. So going vegetarian just put us more at the normal level.

[Catherine Vincent]

7. fish, cheese, peanut butter, milk...

[livinginphotographs]

11. Fish is meat

So a true vegetarian does not eat fish.

But good protein sources are beans, dark green vegetables, nuts, even veggie burgers. And of course, protein is not the only vitamin to be concerned about, whether or not you eat meat. One of the problems with eating huge amounts of protein such as in dairy products is that you end up passing most of the other good vitamins and nutrients (Atkins diet-style).

Sorry, half was addressed to you, the other half to the other poster. :)

[Catherine Vincent]

15. Yeah, I forgot about beans and peanuts.

[Bouncy Ball]

40. Beans, mmmmmm.

Black beans are my favorite, but I also love pinto beans, kidney beans, really any kind.

Amy's makes a great vegetarian chili that has tons of different beans in it and is absolutely fanTASTIC.

[Straight Shooter]

50. Don't forget lentils.

One of my favorite foods, and lots of great recipes and wonderful ways to cook it. :)

A note of caution to those who eat cheese: Many cheeses in their ingredients will list "enzymes." This refers to an animal product, IIRC it's the lining of calf stomach, which is used to process the cheese. Always ask for cheese which contains rennet, a vegetable source.

Another note: Some garden burgers contain cheese, which contains ... enzymes.

[Maru Kitteh]

21. How do you get your protien is one of the easiest things in the world

to deal with. We were all conditioned by the meat industry which OWNS the usda that meat is the only good source of protien. It's a big, nasty, deliberate hat full of ass lie.

Please see this article from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

The Protein Myth
http://www.pcrm.org/health/Info_on_Veg_Diets/protein.html

Our family has been meat, dairy and egg free for almost a year now. I feel better, lost 35 pounds and my cholesterol dropped to 114! I wouldn't go back for anything. I'd rather eat dirt.

[Bouncy Ball]

39. I forgot about that, my cholesterol has dropped, too.

Mine used to be HIGH (genetic, no matter how fit I was, etc.). My doctor put me on Niaspan (timed-release niacin) and that helped a lot, but then I went vegetarian and just got my cholesterol checked again last week and it's *already* made a difference--the biggest difference is my good cholesterol went up! I couldn't budge that number up before for anything!

I told my doctor what I did and he said his healthiest patients by far are vegetarian or vegan.

I've bought a couple of books on kids and vegetarianism. My daughter takes a great multi-vitamin formulated for pre-teen girls who are veg.

[kittykitty]

Diet For a Small Planet -1972- Francis Moore Lappe

20th Anniversary Edition on Amazon. Recipes for combining certain foods to create a complete protein. i.e Mexican Diet combines bean and corn to equal a complete protein--without meat. Some of the recipes were good, some not so, but it was the 70's. A nice addition to a vegetarian diet. In fact I still have mine and am going to dig it out.

[jeffrey_X]

44. We've reduced our meat intake by more than 50% over the past year...

Get your protein from brocolli and an assortment of other veggies.

Protein is over rated.

[Mairead]

61. My body doesn't deal well with carbs, so my choices are limited

to soy products like tofu, and re-hydrated whey. If I didn't have several very good Asian cookbooks, I'd be in real trouble :)

If I could eat carbs, tho, I could also get protein by combining beans with either corn or rice (each provides an incomplete protein, but they complement one another). And I could enjoy more yoghurt (I love yoghurt!).

[Blue_In_AK]

22. Bouncy, my H and I are meat-free since 4/10

with similar results (although I guess we'll probably have to finish off the salmon and halibut in the freezer from last year's catch. I can almost justify them since they're wild.) I thought I might have trouble convincing the husband, but he's even more devoted to vegetarianism now than I.

[Bouncy Ball]

38. Wow, really?

I'm the one who is a bit more devoted in this house, but actually I'm shocked he went veg with me at all. He's half-German and believes the four food groups are cheese, sausage, bread and beer.

Or he used to. ;-)

He ate about a week's worth of vegetarian dinners when my daughter and I first did this and at the end of the week, he was convinced he wouldn't STARVE if he were vegetarian (that was his main fear, LOL!) and he decided to do it with us.

I wondered when it would happen, but it took about a month for the smell of meat to gross all three of us out.

[KurtNYC]

4. The best I can tell the study documented

only a 50% increase in the incidence of pancreatic cancer in those eating processed red meat over those who did not. The 6700% numbercomes from an uncertified layperson named Mike Adams.

Still reason enough to avoid bacon and hot dogs.

Edit: Here is what I found when looking for the researchers interpretation of the study's fidings.

Those who ate more than 1.5 ounces of processed meat a day were about two-thirds more likely to have pancreatic cancer than those who tended to stay away from hot dogs and sausages.

People who ate more than 2 ounces of red meat or pork a day increased their risk by about 50%, Nothlings says. These findings held true after taking into account known risk factors, such as smoking and a family history of pancreatic cancer.

But it appeared that people can eat poultry, dairy products and eggs with impunity, at least where pancreatic cancer is concerned. The study showed no link between those foods and the cancer.

http://webcenter.health.webmd.netscape.com/content/article/104/107554.htm?printing=true

So somehow Mike Adams turned 67% ("two-thirds") into 6700% but hey he has a book to sell.

[musiclawyer]

6. Yawn, old news

If you didn't already know that sodium nitrate was poison, you haven't lived long enough. Same goes for HFCS

[LaPera]

8. So one should only eat un-processed meat? OK got it.

[musiclawyer]

19. buy organic meat, now more readily available than in the past

.... chicken, lamb, rabbits, whatever...Try to limit beef however, even if organic, as it can't be completely digested by humans. Leads to all kinds of problem long term.

[Book Lover]

9. Are nitrates used

in overseas processed meats? If I tell my father that he has to give up his mortadella (yes, I think it's disgusting too) he'd collapse.

grammar on edit

[Liberty Belle]

47. I don't know, but you can buy some nitrate-free lunchmeats and bacon

in the U.S. Some health food stores/natural food stores sell these items, but be sure to read the package to be sure.

[Goldmund]

10. Now they need to do a similar study...

...on all the chemical crap that vegetarians eat in place of meat.

Seriously. Vegetarian ham? Vagetarian bologna? That shit smells like the Doctor's office.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

14. I'm not a vegetarian, but I eat a lot of that stuff.

The ingredients seem a LOT healthier. I just looked at the ingredients on my tofu dogs; everything is natural, and the worst thing in 'em seems to be salt.

[Goldmund]

17. Sure, but I do know one thing:

I was born and raised in Serbia.

80% of people there smoke, there's second-hand smoke everywhere.

Almost nobody is a vegetarian.

There is nowhere near the cult of fitness that there is here. Few people exercise at all.

GM food is verbotten.

Most food in supermarkets comes directly from farmers, who raise it the same way their ancestors did, without much fancy technology.

Only about 10% of people are overweight at all, and only 2-3% are genuinely obese.

The average lifespan is close to what it is here. I am 30 and all four of my grandparents are still alive and healthy.

All I'm saying is that "processed" is the keyword here, not "meat".

[Maru Kitteh]

28. But Americans do not eat Serbian meat

mostly because they are too cheap, wasteful and gluttonous.

In this country, due to the conditions animals are raised, slaughtered and processed, meat is an abomination. This trend (factory farming and industrial slaughter) is infecting the rest of the planet very quickly and so with it American rates of cancer and heart disease.

[Goldmund]

29. I absolutely agree.

Not because Americans are intrinsically "too cheap, wasteful and gluttonous" but because corporations have had more favorable conditions during the last few centuries to model this society according to their interests.

[Liberty Belle]

30. Exactly.

So avoid bologna and other packaged lunch meats, bacon, sausage, jerky, and other processed meats containing nitrites.

It's the nitrites that cause cancer, not the meat itself, apparently.

[Eloriel]

52. Interesting. Here's what I think is happening here

and IMO your post lends some weight and confirmation:

New Definition of the Metabolic Syndrome:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3635613#
(See esp. my posts:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3635613&mesg_id=3636926
and: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3635613&mesg_id=3637215&page=

[livinginphotographs]

62. I read the posts on childhood obesity

And that contained some great info.

My rule is simple - avoid things that come in a can or a box as much as possible (there are of course exceptions, but in general, these always contain shitloads of preservatives and way too much sodium).

I've never had a weight problem, but after trying the above rule for a while, I've noticed how eating one can of chili or something gives me a headache from hell and makes me feel like shit for days.

Organic is definitely more expensive, but I just can't tolerate knowing how much extra crap is in my food otherwise.

[Bouncy Ball]

41. I don't eat "fake meat," either.

Though most of what I find is mainly tofu.

But still, I don't have any need for fake meat. We just leave it out altogether.

[SOS]

71. Here's the "chemical crap" in Tofurky:

Ingredients: Water, wheat, organic tofu, non-GMO canola oil, shoyu soy sauce, non-GMO corn starch, white beans, garbanzo beans, cracked peppercorns, lemon juice, onions, beets.

It'll be a short study.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

12. Sorry, I can't trust the source.

They obviously have a bit of an, um, agenda.

[supernova]

13. Nitrates as carcinogens is nothing new

people have known this since the 70s. It's the nitrates, that are the likely culprits, not the meat itself.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

16. Yes, I knew that even as a child.

But the "6700%" number is untrustworthy; maybe if it didn't come from a source whose goal is to turn people against this stuff, it'd be more believable.

[Paranoid_Portlander]

18. You will usually find sodium nitrite on the label.

Processed pork products almost always have nitrite added, such as bacon, canned ham products, bologna, lunch meat, hot dogs containing pork. Beef products usually don't have nitrites added, but please read the labels. Also, we are talking about sodium nitrite here. Sodium nitrate is a different substance.

[Maru Kitteh]

20. Damn fine time to be a vegan

I didn't see anything in the article about the DIOXIN that is found in all meat products though. Dioxin (see also agent orange) has no place in the human food supply either but it is in every single ounce of meat on the shelf. Dioxin is one of the most carcinogenic and potent toxins known. Ask Viktor Yushchenko, while you still can.

[SmokingJacket]

23. How I love bacon.

I really don't eat much meat, but can't resist bacon.

I knew nitrites were bad, but have been avoiding looking too carefully.

Think I'll go check out some sources for organic bacon.

[foo_bar]

34. or use "uncured" bacon

The FDA labeling requirement for "uncured" doesn't preclude curing (with salt, applewood smoking, etc.), just nitrates/nitrites. This stuff is great if you can afford it:
http://www.nimanranch.com/p/838-9/c/Pork-SmokedAndCured

[SmokingJacket]

35. Thanks for the link!

It is expensive, but then again, meat should be. We usually only use it to flavor our beans and quiches, so a little goes a long way.

Think I'll order some.

[KamaAina]

24. 67 percent, not 6700 (two orders of magnitude)

There hasn't been as much local press coverage as there usually is when UH scores a research coup (maybe once or twice a year), but here you go:

http://starbulletin.com/2005/04/21/news/story1.html

The study of nearly 200,000 people in the two states found that those who eat the largest amounts of processed meats have a 67 percent higher risk for pancreatic cancer than participants eating the lowest amount of that food....

She said the findings suggest meat preparation methods might be responsible for the association with pancreatic cancer, rather than fat or cholesterol content. Chemical reactions that occur from preparing processed meat can cause carcinogens, she said.

That's your nitrosamines right there: they form when meat containing nitrite preservatives is grilled, broiled, etc.

67 percent higher risk is nothing to sneeze at, obviously, but I just knew that 6700 percent figure had to be off.

[Liberty Belle]

46. Thank you for correcting OTA's error. Very bad editing on their part.

[donco6]

25. 100% of people who eat meat die.

Just like everyone else.

[lonestarnot]

51. 100% of people who don't eat meat die toooooo... Gimme a steak!

[goodboy]

26. jerky? bacon? I'm fucking SCREWED! (nt)

[Swede]

27. Life expectancy is dropping like a stone.

Not.

[Must_B_Free]

31. That's a hell of a thing to post!

why did you call out a DUer like that?

[Liberty Belle]

43. Excuse me? Did you mean to reply to someone else?

I didn't call anyone out in my post.

The reason for my post, by the way, is to possibly save others from what's happened to Andy, who has pancreatic cancer. I'm sure he would approve of that.

Pancreatic Cancer killed my grandfather and my uncle, and I've never seen much of anything on possible causes before, so I thought people here might find this information helpful.

[livinginphotographs]

49. And pancreatic cancer is one of the most painful ways to die.

Don't let the DU Anti-Veg Brigade get you down. For some reason, huge mostly unregulated corporations that screw people right and left are bad on DU, except when they make meat. Don't even try to make sense of it.

[Lilith Velkor]

55. Yeah, makes AIDS look like a picnic, don't it?

[livinginphotographs]

60. Um, I'd rather not have either.

Thanks for asking, though.

[SOS]

72. True

Republican corporations like Exxon and Enron - BAD.
Republican corporations like Conagra and IBP - GOOD

:shrug:

[Lilith Velkor]

32. self delete

:grr:

[Lilith Velkor]

33. Every time I think the veggie zealots can't sink any lower,

one of them surprises me. Shame on you.

[seabeyond]

37. good for you, pesticides knock you on your ass

but then there is the organic. hey hard to find, so being poor causes you to die

die die everywhere is die

[livinginphotographs]

42. Careful swinging that broad brush around.

You might put someone's eye out. :eyes:

[Liberty Belle]

45. No, shame on you!

I'm not a vegetarian. But I have lost two dear family members to pancreatic cancer.

You are also misinformed on the meaning of "processed meat." You don't have to give up meat to lessen your risk of pancreatic cancer. Just avoid packaged meats with nitrites, such as bacon and bologna.

Why on earth would you criticize me for wanting to help those at risk of this terrible disease from learning about a way to reduce that risk?

Unless you're in the bologna business, that is.

[livinginphotographs]

48. Everytime I think the meat-eating zealots can't sink any lower...

they do.

Careful, this will turn into anti-PETA thread complete with BS accusations against the entire AR movement before you know it.

[Lilith Velkor]

57. Bullshit indeed.

I'm not the one posting an exaggerated scare "study" about the dangers of meat.

And who are "meat-eating zealots"? Do they harass you about your diet while the war goes on and on? Or are they those extreme types who just want to eat a fucking turkey sandwich in peace?

[livinginphotographs]

59. No, they're the ones who dismiss legitimate health concerns

of eating processed meat full of nitrates (remember, this wasn't supposed to be yet another animal rights thread) by getting all indignant.

[Lilith Velkor]

64. Dishonesty doesn't help with that

Exaggerating about the dangers to the degree of 2 digits does more harm than good. If you were around in the 80s you may remember all the ridiculous shite we schoolkids were told about marijuana. Once some kids had figured out what a load of bollocks that was, they figured coke must be OK, and you know how the rest goes...

TBH I do acknowledge I have food issues. I have approached the brink of death by starvation twice in my life (abuse then anorexia) before I became my current, fabulously chunky self. I also acknowledge that the meat industry is incredibly barbaric (and don't even get me started on agribusiness), but the real problem here is corporatism. As long as profit trumps health we're all screwed about 9 different ways.

And as long as we keep attacking each other, they win.

[livinginphotographs]

66. Then we agree.

I agree 100% with your sentiment about corporatism and the meat industry. That's why I get so frustrated with DUers who use every chance they get to defend these same corporations and their unethical practices.

[Lilith Velkor]

67. They don't see it that way

They see it as a personal choice like abortion: distasteful but there don't seem to be viable alternatives at the moment.

[livinginphotographs]

68. Well, I disagree with comparing abortion and meat-eating.

I can't compare something that should be a private medical decision between a woman and her doctor with an industry that brutalizes animals and fills our food supply with incredibly unhealthy substances, all while telling the public the opposite and keeping their hands so deep in the pockets of our so-called representatives that the lie is allowed to continue.

[Lilith Velkor]

69. So you support an industry that kills babies?

That's a rhetorical question meant to shame, and is often (and rightly) met with hostility or ridicule. If you can't see the comparison between that and heaping scorn upon omnivores for something that should be a private medical decision between a woman and her grocer, I suggest you need to gain some perspective.

[livinginphotographs]

70. That's not my position at all.

It's not the actual eating of a chicken's eggs I have a problem with, it is the treatment of the egg-making chickens I have a problem with.

I don't consider a fetus to be sentient. Also, a fetus is entirely dependant upon the host (its mother) and would die without it. Despite how some people would like to be sentimental about it, a fetus fits the definition of a parasite perfectly. It is nothing more than a mosquito. (Good god, I'm so going to be quoted on the freep sites for that one) Therefore, abortion is not a question of murder vs. not-murder to me. It's a question of whether a mother considers it worth it to continue to have her body's resources drained for the benefit of another organism. How's that for perspective?

Your private decision between you and your grocer involves another sentient creature being abused and eventually slaughtered. That's why I don't consider eating meat to be a personal choice, I consider it supporting an incredibly cruel industry and a practice that to me is morally reprehensible. From my point of view, it is no different than supporting a Nazi's personal choice to exterminate Jews, or supporting a slaveowner's personal choice to enslave another human being. Your conscience may be clear about eating meat, but mine was not, therefore I stopped. And while I don't "preach" to everyone I meet (rarely does it even come up in my own life, except on DU), this is a discussion board, so I will discuss it when appropriate.

edited to clarify some things

[Lilith Velkor]

74. That clarifies a lot, thanks.

Now I see precisely where the line is: I don't consider a turkey or a cow any more sentient than a fetus. Abusing them is wrong, but killing them in order to eat or wear them (or VERY limited medical research) isn't.

To tell the truth, I'd be more comfortable with killing my own meat. I know that makes me sound savage, but I'd do it right and make my apologies to the animal's spirit.

[livinginphotographs]

75. Killing your own meat is better than

Buying it in a wrapper at the grocery store and giving no thought to how it got there. I still wouldn't do it, but I'd more respect for that than someone who has the information readily available to them about the cruelty of the meat-industry, and yet still continue to eat meat simply because it tastes good. And if you don't think it's right to abuse them, that's what you're supporting by eating it, unless you can raise your own and guarantee that their death is humane (however humane it could possibly be).

There has been tons of research on cow psychology, and they are shown to be very emotional creatures. Birds have been shown to be even more emotional than humans. I would be willing to assume that a cow or turkey is sentient before I assumed a cluster of cells floating in a tub of baby juice is sentient.

[Name removed]

53. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Runcible Spoon]

73. jesus on a fucking trailer hitch,...

tedious. :eyes: go shit on another thread please.

[Lilith Velkor]

77. No, thank you.

The monumental insensitivity of the OP aside, the linked information was false. If you think lying to people in order to try and scare them out of eating meat serves the greater good, you are sadly mistaken.

I mean really, can't we concentrate on getting everybody fed before we start fucking with them about their diets? Can't we concentrate on the main source of all cancers (my cancer has a first name, it's R-A-D-I-A-T-I-O-N...) before we micromanage all the chemicals that help it along (nitrates, tobacco, all the luxuries of being underclass in the US)?

For fuck's sake, we need to nail the corporations that push this shit and REVOKE THEIR FUCKING CHARTERS. Every politician they own should be rounded up and IMPRISONED FOR LIFE. Anything less is bullshit, IMHO.

[seabeyond]

36. death increases if you get out of bed

or does it. my business partner died about 5 am in sleep. and then there was my grandmother that died while sleeping

[Tactical Progressive]

54. Wait, even cold-cuts are bad?

Sliced chicken and turkey sandwiches are one of the MOST healthy things I eat. And what about Jarrod and his healthy Subway sandwiches?

[kineneb]

56. Remember everyone- Life is 100% fatal!

One can hope to avoid serious diseases by doing what my grandma said: eat less and exercise more, and don't forget to eat your vegies and fruit. After that, the odds are a crap shoot, more related to genetics and environment than to diet. So have an ice cream cone once in a while, and enjoy.

I don't obsess on what I eat, but if there is something to eat at all. (Member of the "working poor").

[Lindacooks]

58. As Calvin said,

(of Calvin and Hobbes, the world's greatest comic strip):

IF IT WEREN'T FOR TWINKIES, WE'D ALL BE DEAD.

[DemBones DemBones]

63. Eat only organic foods, exercise faithfully, die anyway.

Nobody will get out of here alive.

[Eurobabe]

65. I've lost 20 lbs since last year simply by

GOING ORGANIC -- meat, dairy, etc.

Methinks its all the shit they load in the food chain, antibiotics that overload our immune system (reults = arthritis, high cholesterol, inflammation anyone??) pesticides, other diseases. You name it brought to your table daily by AGRIBUSINESS.

I can barely walk in a chain grocery store anymore without shuddering, think of all the additives and chemicals that lurk there in every foodstuff. Scary.

[Zorra]

76. Whoa, that really makes me glad that I'm a vegetarian. n/t