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Works Cited
JOANNA, BLYTHMAN. "Meat Scare? It's A Bum Steer YOU CAN't GO WRONG WITH NATURAL,
UNPROCESSED FOODS." Australian Magazine, The (2012): 24. Newspaper Source. Web. 13
Sept. 2012.
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Meat scare? It's a bum steer YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH NATURAL, UNPROCESSED FOODS
Section: Magazine Edition: 1
A few weeks ago another food scare hit the headlines. Overnight, lamb, beef, venison meats that have sustained us down the ages - have become life-threatening. A study from
Harvard School of Public Health reported that regularly eating red meat, especially the
processed variety, increased the risk of death from heart disease and cancer, making it the
latest in a list of natural, unprocessed foods we are told to avoid, or eat only in moderation,
such as butter and whole milk.
But as an investigative food journalist for 25 years, I've seen many of these health scares
come and go. Consider the cautionary tale of eggs. Just like red meat, they were portrayed
as unhealthy; in the '90s they fell out of favour for having high cholesterol levels. But
cholesterol in eggs is no longer considered to raise blood cholesterol; moreover, research
suggests that people with high levels of blood cholesterol don't have worse health outcomes
than those with lower ones.
Very few of us are in a position to read the small print and evaluate the validity of scientific
research any more than most of us can really understand the plethora of nutrition labels that
now adorn our food. But the effect of these seemingly incontrovertible scientific revelations is
to scare us away from unprocessed foods and steer us towards technofoods of debatable
nutritional merit.
The latest red meat study relied on participants reporting what they ate - a rather unreliable
scientific method. It reiterates the idea that eating saturated fat is bad for you, for which there
is no good scientific evidence, and leads us to ignore the non-controversial health benefits of
red meat: a rich source of high quality protein that effectively satisfies hunger, useful
minerals such as iron, and essential vitamins (B12).
What we need is not generic warnings against eating red meat but useful guidance on what
type of red meat is healthiest. Namely, meat from grass-fed animals (that's all venison,
nearly all lamb, and a lot of beef) since it is higher in fatty acids that appear to reduce the
incidence of heart disease and cancer. But on the back of the latest shock headlines about
dangerous red meat, sales of crumbed, battered, additive-laden, factory-farmed poultry
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products will likely soar as people dutifully change their eating habits. I wouldn't be keen on
people eating a factory-farmed chicken rather than a lamb chop or a beef stew. Not only are
there welfare issues with the way chicken and pork are raised, but white meat doesn't have
the range of vitamins and minerals found in red meat. We're told white meat is healthier
because it's low in fat, but I would dispute that fat is a bad thing.
There is nothing intrinsically good about a product being low in fat. There is, on the other
hand, a growing body of research to suggest that natural saturated fats, such as those found
in milk and cream, have many benefits, such as enhancing the immune system and
strengthening bones by helping us to absorb calcium. Many people assume that skimmed
milk must be healthier than whole milk. But whole, full-fat milk is not a high-fat food. Cow's
milk usually contains 3.7-5 per cent fat. Semi-skimmed and skimmed cow's milk contains 11.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent fat respectively, so by switching to semi-skimmed or skimmed
the reduction in fat consumption is pretty negligible, unless you drink litres of the stuff. And
you miss out on the vitamins that have been skimmed off with the cream.
And while most people agree that butter tastes better than margarines and spreads, many
avoid it on health grounds. But the butter versus margarine debate is complicated researchers are addressing the theory that a surfeit of polyunsaturated fats of the type found
in margarines and spreads might be a risk factor for heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
We need to follow our common sense and stay faithful to the unprocessed traditional foods
that have been the cornerstones of our diet for centuries. Products such as artificial
sweeteners, soft drinks, fruits and vegetables with multiple pesticide residues, high-fructose
corn syrup, industrially refined cooking oils and technobread made to modern, fast-track
methods look distinctly bad for us. &quot;Base your diet on whole, unprocessed food&quot;
is the phrase that healthy eating advisers need to get their tongues around.
-----------------Joanna Blythman is the author of What to Eat (Fourth Estate)
© News Limited Australia. All rights reserved.
Source: Australian Magazine, The, Mar 31, 2012, p24, 1p
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