Eating A Red Meat-Rich Diet Have Potentially Lethal Health Risks

Eating a red meat-rich diet not only raises cholesterol and blood pressure levels but can also have potentially lethal health risks, according to new research.

Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, warn that high consumption of red meat, especially processed meats, can dramatically increase heart disease and cancer risks.

During the study, researchers looked at the data of 121,342 men and women over a 20-year period.

Their eating and diet habits were questioned and after two decades, 23,926 deaths were recorded, including 5,910 from heart disease and 9,364 from cancer.

Scientists claim they found a striking link between red meat consumption and premature death. When the deaths were divided into specific causes, researchers discovered that eating any kind of red meat increased the chances of dying from heart disease and cancer by 21%.

Researchers added that a daily serving of unprocessed red meat, for example beef, pork or lamb the size of a deck of cards, raised the risk of death by 13%.

In comparison, processed meats, like a hot dog or bacon, caused death risks soaring by 20%.

“This study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, contributes substantially to premature death,” says senior author professor Frank Hu in a statement.

“On the other hand, choosing more healthful source of protein in place of red meat can confer significant health benefits by reducing chronic disease morbidity and mortality.”

The study urges people to cut out red meat from their diet as it can lead to significant health benefits as well as slashing death rates by 7%. Scientists from the study believe that if red meat consumption is reduced, it could prevent 9.3% of deaths in men and 7.6% of deaths in women.

Nuts, for example, are said to reduce mortality rates by 20%, low-fat dairy products lowered it by 10% and whole grains by 14%.

Harvard Declares Dairy NOT Part of Healthy Diet

The Harvard School of Public Health sent a strong message to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and nutrition experts everywhere with the recent release of its “Healthy Eating Plate” food guide.  The university was responding to the USDA’s new MyPlate guide for healthy eating, which replaced the outdated and misguided food pyramid.

Harvard’s nutrition experts did not pull punches, declaring that the university’s food guide was based on sound nutrition research and more importantly, not influenced by food industry lobbyists.  The greatest evidence of its research focus is the absence of dairy products from the “Healthy Eating Plate” based on Harvard’s assessment that “…high intake can increase the risk of prostate cancer and possibly ovarian cancer.”  The Harvard experts also referred to the high levels of saturated fat in most dairy products and suggested that collards, bok choy, fortified soy milk, and baked beans are safer choices than dairy for obtaining calcium, as are high quality supplements.

Kudos to Harvard for promoting greater consumption of vegetables and fruits, as well as healthier protein options such as fish, beans or nuts.  And kudos to Harvard for ignoring the lobbyists and showing the USDA what healthy eating is all about.

Source : Care2

Venus Williams Switch to Raw Vegan Diets for Health in 2012

Celebrity athlete Venus Williams is putting the spotlight on the benefits of eating a raw food diet to help improve her health as part of a New Year's resolution. Her sister Serena Williams is joining her. Both tennis players are role models for women and say they plan to fully embrace vegetarian diets in 2012. Other famous faces and sexy star celebs like Natalie Portman, Alicia Silverstone, Olivia Wilde, Pamela Anderson, and Chelsea Clinton are also vegetarians, and the news the Williams sisters have joined the list of Hollywood women who don't eat meat is helping draw more attention to the growing health food movement.

According to The Daily Mail, the professional tennis player first revealed that reason for her drop out of the U.S. Open during the summer of 2011 was due to her discovery she suffers from an incurable disease of the immune system called Sjogren's Syndrome.

The painful and debilitating symptoms caused her to cancel her second U.S. Open match, after winning the first.

Ecorazzi reports, "She says, though, that the diagnosis was a relief after years of going to doctors without results. 'I would go to the doctor and start crying. I couldn't help it. I just want a chance to play on the same field as other people, I want to feel normal, but as frightening as the diagnosis was, it was also a relief.'"

Her sister has pledged to join her on the raw foods diet in 2012, and the two women have already started.

Making preserving and improving health and fitness levels a New Year's resolution is a noble goal for both men and women. However, if the William sisters use their collective star celebs power wisely as fit and trim celebrity athletes in the new year, they stand to help not only the African-American community who looks up to them as fashion icons and role models but also to help promote the heath of all women.

Cheers for going vegetarian, eating a raw foods diet, and promoting all celebrities who care about their heath think about going vegan, Venus Williams! Bravo for your sister Serena Williams taking on the New Year's resolution challenge to make the diet work for both you and her in the 2012 year as well, as her move to support a lifestyle change (as a family member) makes her a hero as well.

May both of you enjoy good health and continued success playing tennis again for many years. Are you a vegan or vegetarian who has seen your health improve after eliminating meat or animal products from your diet? If so, leave a comment below to tell other readers how your life and health have improved.

40,000 Deaths a Year Due to Junk Food, Says Health Watchdog Nice

More than 40,000 Britons are dying unnecessarily every year because of high levels of salt and fat in their diets, the Government’s public health watchdog Nice has warned.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) says that unhealthy foods have wreaked a “terrible toll of ill health” on the nation and placed a “substantial” strain on the economy.

For the first time, the organisation publishes landmark guidance on how to prevent the “huge number of unnecessary deaths” from conditions such as heart disease that are linked to the consumption of ready meals and processed food.

It calls for sweeping changes to food production and government policy to encourage lifestyle changes, and to reduce significantly the amount of salt and saturated fat the nation consumes.

It says “toxic” artificial fats known as trans fats, which have no nutritional value and are linked to heart disease, should be banned. The organisation says that ministers should consider introducing legislation if food manufacturers failed to make their products healthier.

Nice says it has brought together all the available evidence to illustrate the link between unhealthy food and public health, partly in response to increasing concern about obesity in Britain, particularly among children.

It says there are about five million people in the country suffering the effects of cardiovascular disease — a “largely avoidable” condition that includes heart attacks, heart disease and stroke — and that it causes 150,000 deaths annually. Nice says 40,000 of these deaths could be prevented, and hundreds of millions of pounds saved, if its measures were introduced.

The guidance, which was commissioned by the Department of Health, also recommends that:

• Low-salt and low-fat foods should be sold more cheaply than their unhealthy counterparts, through the use of subsidies if necessary;

• Advertising of unhealthy foods should be banned until after 9pm and planning laws should be used to restrict the number of fast food outlets, especially near schools;

• The Common Agricultural Policy should focus more on public health, ensuring farmers are paid to produce healthier foods;

• Action should also be taken to introduce a “traffic light” food labelling system, even though the European Parliament recently voted against this;

• Local authorities must act to encourage walking and cycling and public sector caterers must provide healthier meals;

• All lobbying of the Government and its agencies by the food and drink industry should be fully disclosed.

Prof Klim McPherson, the Chairman of the Nice Guidance Development Group and professor of epidemiology at Oxford University, said: “Where food is concerned, we want the healthy choice to be the easy choice. Going even further, we want the healthy choice to be the less expensive, more attractive choice.

“Put simply, this guidance can help the Government and the food industry to take action to prevent huge numbers of unnecessary deaths and illnesses caused by heart disease and stroke.” The average person in Britain consumes more than eight grams of salt a day. The body only requires one gram to function. Targets are already in place to reduce salt consumption to six grams by 2015 and this should be extended to three grams by 2050, the guidance says.

Nice says children should consume considerably less salt than adults and that, because the bulk of salt in their diets comes from prepared food such as bread, cereal, soups, meat and cheese products, manufacturers have a significant role to play in reducing it.

The organisation says that most consumers did not even notice a difference in taste if salt levels were reduced by

5-10 per cent a year because their taste buds adjusted.

Prof Mike Kelly, the public health director at Nice, added: “This isn’t about telling individuals to choose salad instead of chips — it’s about making sure that the chips we all enjoy occasionally are as healthy as possible.

“That means making further reductions in the salt, trans fats and saturated fats in the food we eat every day.”

Betty McBride, the director of policy and communications at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Creating an environment that makes healthy choices easy is vital. Government, the health service, industry and individuals must all play their part. We must see industry making major efforts now to reformulate products with less saturated fat.

“Cutting our 'sat fat’ intake would have a major impact on heart disease.”

Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, added: “The Nice guidance demonstrates conclusively why we need to change radically our approach to this vast and silent killer.

“Many of the diet-related recommendations made by Nice have the added benefit of costing the public purse little to nothing, while creating an opportunity to reduce the tens of billions of pounds of associated costs the UK loses every year to heart disease.”

While the guidance was welcomed by health experts, representatives of the food and drink industry said significant progress on salt and fat had already been taken.

The Food and Drink Federation accused Nice of being “out of touch with the reality”. Julian Hunt, its director of communications, said: “We are surprised that Nice has found the time and the money to develop guidance that seems to be out of touch with the reality of what has been happening for many years.

“The food industry is leading the world when it comes to voluntarily changing the recipes of popular food brands so that they are lower in salt, fat or sugar; introducing better-for-you choices at the same price as standard lines; and improving the quality of nutrition information available on packs.”

Source : The Telegraph

Study Links Pesticides to ADHD

A new study from researchers at University of Montreal and Harvard found a link experts call "persuasive" between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and exposure to common pesticides.

The study examined more than 1,100 children, 150 of which were previously diagnosed as ADHD. The findings, published in Pediatrics, revealed that around 94% of children examined had detectable levels of organophosphate pesticides in their urine. Children with higher levels of residue had increased chances of ADHD.

Said Maryse F. Bouchard of the University of Montreal Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center and lead author of the study: "Previous studies have shown that exposure to some organophosphate compounds cause hyperactivity and cognitive deficits in animals. Our study found that exposure to organophosphates in developing children might have effects on neural systems and could contribute to ADHD behaviors, such as inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity."

Previous studies have linked ADHD and attention deficit disorder to exposure to food additives, lead and phthalates. Which, or which combination, is the real culprit? Dr. Philip Landrigan, a 2010 Heart of Green Award winner, is trying to find the cause of autism, adhd, obesity and other chronic childhood illnesses through the ambitious Children's Health Study.

The most common route of organophosphate pesticide exposure for most children is through eating foods that have a high pesticide residue. Organic produce is grown without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers. A 2008 study found that when children switched to organic produce, detectable pesticide levels dropped to undetectable levels.

Important to note: Some produce has markedly higher levels of pesticide residue than others. The produce most likely contaminated with pesticides frozen blueberries, strawberries and celery topped the list.

Source : The Daily Green