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Here’s a perfect example of why you just can’t trust your television.
Last week, at the end of a local broadcast here in Baltimore, a chirpy anchor woman finished up the news with this health item that lasted all of five or six seconds: “A new study reports than eating red meat causes colorectal cancer. I guess it’s going to be turkey chili from now on.”
With that, she signed off, and Wait a second. Did I hear that right? Red meat what? CAUSES cancer?
Yep, that’s what passes for “information” if you get your news from television.
Of course, there’s a lot more to the red meat study that this news-reader “reported.” Starting with the fact that if you enjoy a bowl of BEEF chili tonight, it will NOT give you cancer.
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All you can eat
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In a nutshell, here are the highlights from the red meat study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association:
American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers collected ten years of dietary and medical data from nearly 150,000 subjects over the age of 50. The data was analyzed to assess a relationship between meat intake and colorectal cancer. A possible link between the two has been indicated in some studies but inconclusive in others.
The ACS team reported the following results:
* Those who consumed the largest amount of meat over ten years had a 30 percent higher risk of colon cancer compared to subjects who reported eating the least amount of meat
* Those who consumed the largest amount of PROCESSED meat had a 50 percent higher risk of colon cancer
* Colorectal cancer risk from eating red or processed meat on a regular basis (three ounces per day) is lower than the risk associated with obesity and physical activity
* Long-term consumption of poultry and fish was associated with a slightly lower risk of colorectal cancer
In spite of “the other white meat” advertisements from the National Pork Board, the ACS researchers included pork, along with beef and lamb, as red meat. Processed meat included bacon, cold cuts, hot dogs, sausage and ham.
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Hold the hormones
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Now let’s go back to my local anchor woman’s coverage of the study: “Eating red meat causes colorectal cancer. I guess it’s going to be turkey chili from now on.”
What’s wrong with this picture? What’s NOT wrong with it!
First of all – and most obvious – eating red meat does not “cause” colorectal cancer. Not even close. According to one of the researchers, a person who eats red meat a couple of times each week would qualify for the lowest consumption group for this study, putting them at very low risk. So if the anchor woman had just added the words “everyday for ten years” between the words “red meat” and “causes,” she would have been what I naively still want news people to
Secondly: turkey chili? Please. Do you know what goes into ground turkey meat? Unless a package of ground turkey stipulates exactly what parts of the bird have been used, you can assume that the “meat” consists of just about every part of the turkey except the beak. I think we can safely say that this would qualify as “processed” meat.
And finally, what is it about meat that might cause colorectal cancer? Researchers speculate that fat may be to blame, or the iron content, or the nitrates used as preservatives, or the way meat is cooked.
Or it might be the hormones.
According to the Organic Consumers Association, about two thirds of the cattle produced in the U.S. are treated with several growth hormones allowed by the USDA and the FDA. One of these hormones – 17 beta-estradiol (a synthetic version of the female hormone progesterone) – has been proven to be carcinogenic. In fact, the European Union has banned the importation of any cattle treated with 17 beta-estradiol.
Suddenly organic beef sounds pretty appealing.
So the next time you hear a newsperson on TV utter an absurdly simplistic phrase like, “Eating red meat causes colorectal cancer,” you’ll know that’s probably just the hormones talking.
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and another thing
More malarkey from the TV set
While browsing through comments from our members on the HSI Forum, I came across a posting titled, “hoodwinked!!” This comes from a member named Karen, and appears in a Forum thread titled “Flu – what would you do?”
“The Center of Disease Control and Prevention states that 36,000 people have died from the flu previously BUT they do not tell you that only 200 and something died in the U.S. People get scared and run to have their flu shot. More people than that die from taking Tylenol and aspirin each year!”
Karen has been doing her research. Or maybe just reading the e-Alert.
In the e-Alert “Fear Factor” (9/8/04), I told you about an article written by Sherri J. Tenpenny, D.O., an internationally known leader in vaccine research. For many years, Dr. Tenpenny has cautioned consumers about the dangers of blindly accepting flu, smallpox and other vaccines, including the wide range of inoculations for children.
In an article that appeared on the web site for Red Flags Weekly, Dr. Tenpenny wrote: “Less than 175 people actually died from influenza in 2003.”
And yet even in this season of flu vaccine shortages, you’ll still hear talking heads on TV news broadcasts sticking to the Centers for Disease Control claim that 36,000 die every year due to complications from the flu.
Of course, there’s no reason to expect them to get it right. It’s not as if they do any actual reporting. They’re just reading the script.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
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Sources:
“Meat Consumption and Risk of Colorectal Cancer” Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 293, No. 2, 1/12/05, jama.ama-assn.org
“Eating Lots of Red Meat Linked to Colon Cancer” American Cancer Society, 1/11/05, cancer.org
