The Life Ledger

Fitness is a way of life.

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Medical News Today reported on a study on possible health benefits from natural trans fats. According to the study, rats fed a diet enriched with trans vaccenic acid experienced a drop in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

University of Alberta researcher Flora Wang found that a diet with enriched levels of trans vaccenic acid (VA) - a natural animal fat found in dairy and beef products - can reduce risk factors associated with heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Results indicated this benefit was due in part to the ability of VA to reduce the production of chylomicrons - particles of fat and cholesterol that form in the small intestine following a meal and are rapidly processed throughout the body. The role of chylomicrons is increasingly viewed as a critical missing link in the understanding of conditions arising from metabolic disorders.

Because VA is the major natural trans fat in dairy and beef products, comprising more than 70 per cent of the proportion of natural trans fat content in those products, the findings support a growing body of evidence that indicates natural animal-based trans fat is different than harmful hydrogenated trans fat created through industrial processing, Wang noted.

Read the entire article for more details.

Chylomicrons. Isn’t that the special gene thingy that creates Jedi?

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photo credit: wiennat

A story currently making rounds on the interwebs makes vague claims about how eating 1.8oz of processed meat per day, the equivalent of one sausage, increases your risk of bowel cancer by 20%. Blogs like That’s Fit are picking up the story, as originally reported in UK papers like the Daily Mail:

One sausage a day can significantly raise the risk of bowel cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease, experts have warned.

Eating 1.8oz (50g) of processed meat a day - the equivalent of one sausage or three rashers of bacon - raises the likelihood of the cancer by a fifth, research shows.

Never satisfied with vague, oblique references like “studies show,” I did some digging to find a study that actually backs up this claim. A search on Medical News Today results in this article:

For most Americans, meals tend to center around meat. To significantly decrease a person’s risks of developing colorectal cancer, experts at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center suggest a new approach to meal planning that focuses more on fruit and vegetable dishes.

According to recent findings issued by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), consuming more than 18 ounces, or a little over a pound, of red meat (pork, beef, lamb and goat) each week can significantly increase a person’s risks for developing colorectal cancer. In addition, every ounce and a half of red meat a person eats over 18 ounces increases their risks by 15 percent.

AICR also recommends eating very little processed meat (meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting or adding chemical preservatives), such as ham, bacon, hot dogs, sausages, pastrami and salami. Every ounce and a half of processed meat eaten a day is thought to increase a person’s risks of developing colorectal cancer by 21 percent.

Experts at University of Texas suggest? Recent findings issued by AICR? Still not satisfied, I do a little searching at AICR’s website, which doesn’t provide any further information or studies backing up the claims. I next head to the World Cancer Research Fund’s UK website, which is cited by several news stories, and find what appears to be the story’s origin:

Last year we published our Expert Report, which analysed 7,000 studies on the link between lifestyle and cancer risk and then made 10 recommendations on how to reduce cancer risk.

The report found convincing evidence that red meat and processed meat are a cause of bowel cancer. Because of this, we recommend people limit consumption of red meat to 500g per week (cooked weight) and to avoid eating processed meat…

Processed meat is any type of meat that is preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or by adding preservatives. Examples of this are ham, bacon, pastrami and salami. Hamburgers and minced meats only count as processed meat if they have been preserved with salt or chemical additives.

There you have it - the story is based on a report which analyzed “7,000 studies” and made a determination based on that analysis. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not suggesting processed meat isn’t bad for you, and avoid it like the plague myself. I simply dislike reading news articles making vague references to things that “studies suggest” without providing the evidence. News agencies don’t have a very good track record of accurately reporting health news, as inaccuracies arise when dense stories are condensed into soundbites and short timelines are met. Excluding information on studies or reports that originate the story make me question news articles that much more.

photo credit: ewanr

I have the great fortune to live near Hickory Nut Gap Farm, an ecologically-aware farm using rotational grazing that produces the best beef and chicken I have ever eaten. Not everyone has the fortune to live near a source for grass-fed livestock, so I’m glad Mark’s Daily Apple recently ran an article on selecting beef when your options are limited. The most interesting piece of information I gleaned, however, was that not all grass-fed beef is the same - some, in fact, may be just as unhealthy as corn-fed beef:

Meat that is labeled grass-fed isn’t necessarily “grass-finished.” Nearly all beef cattle eat grass at some point. Others, those usually labeled grass-fed, eat grass until the final few weeks before slaughter, when they’re switched to a grain diet. During this relatively brief window, the omega ratio reverses to pretty much that of mostly/entirely grain-fed cattle. Look for “grass-finished” or “100% grass-fed.”

Yet another disappointing fact about the agricultural industry. “Free ranging” chickens don’t necessarily range free, grass-fed cows don’t necessarily eat all grass - what’s next, “original” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not cloned? It’s no wonder the organic movement feels more like a fad and less like a description of what I’m eating.

As the article points out, many farms now sell and ship meats directly to customers. It appears Hickory Nut Gap does, and the article mentions a few additional links to similar sources. In my opinion, if you don’t have grass-fed beef available near you, it’s worth the extra cost and hassle to order it from a farm like Hickory Nut Gap. When you weigh it against the hidden health costs and money-saving shortcuts taken by slaughterhouses, especially in light of the recent massive beef recalls, it’s well worth the hit you take in the wallet.

photo credit: valessio_brito

I know it’s naive, but when I buy “organic” foods, I have the image I’m supporting family-owned businesses who farm using sustainable methods and give back to the local economy. Singing cows from California, sustainable farming raising my grass-fed beef - I buy into the image hoook, line and sinker. Seeing as how the USDA’s National Organic Program defines “organic” as “produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations”, I don’t think I’m being entirely unreasonable.

Imagine my surprise when I read an article at Diet Blog (which in turn cites FitSugar) about organic and natural food labels and the big companies that own them. Among the organic brands I recognize are Dagoba (owned by Hershey), Seeds of Change (owned by M&M Mars), my favorite Odwalla bars (owned by Coca-Cola), Cascadian Farms (owned by General Mills), Kashi (owned by Kellogg), and Silk (owned by Dean Foods). See the entire chart here.

Disease Proof and the New York Times followed up with further information, pointing to an article assembled by Dr. Phillip H. Howard which illustrates, among other things, numerous organic and natural brands that have been purchased or created by big companies. Among the brands I recognize that aren’t mentioned above is Green & Black’s (owned by Cadbury Schweppes), my only other brand of choice for organic chocolate besides Seeds of Change.

Why is all this a big deal? The New York Times says it best:

Obviously, there’s nothing inherently wrong with a big company buying an organic brand. But Dr. Howard notes that many consumers seek out organic foods, in part, because they don’t want to buy foods from multinational food companies.

“Often organic consumers are interested in supporting smaller scale farms and food processors,’’ Dr. Howard said. “In the marketing of a lot of these organic brands the firms try to evoke that image of a small pastoral farm.’’

I personally buy organic and natural foods for two reasons: health and supporting small businesses that practice environmental stewardship. The fact that Coke owns Odwalla doesn’t affect the bars’ nutrition, it does shatter the image I’m supporting small, “good” businesses. I don’t think I can give up my Odwalla bars, but I will definitely be looking for another brand of organic chocolate. Anyone have a suggestion?

I had no idea what kind of horrors awaited this month’s issue of Consumer Reports. An article discussing E.coli-related beef recalls discussed the difference in number between 2006 and 2007. In ‘06, there were less than 200,000 recalled. Can you guess how many in pounds in ‘07? I couldn’t either:

Over 25 MILLION pounds.

It gets better - according to the article:

If meat tests positive for the bacteria, companies are allowed to cook it for sale in other products such as pizza or tacos. While thorough cooking should kill E.coli, diverting tainted meat creates an opening for cross-contamination.

Think about all the places you obtain pre-cooked beef from: fast-food tacos and hamburgers, tubs of pre-cooked beef at the supermarket, restaurants probably use quite a bit in their salads and dishes. I hate to sound like a cynic, but I can’t say that I trust a slaughterhouse who maintains sub-standard working environments and a swinging-door work-force to properly cook tainted beef and protect other carcasses from becoming contaminated. Apparently, with over 25 million pounds of beef recalled, the system isn’t working.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t quickly find a chart that shows the yearly recall amount for the past few years - you would think this kind of information would be made available. In any event, 25 million pounds recalled for E.coli in one year is a phenomenal amount. Consumer Reports listed a few circumstances that may have contributed to the problem:

…Rising oil prices have encouraged greater production of ethanol, which creates a corn byproduct that increasingly is being used as cattle feed. This feed appears to make the animals’ digestive tracts even more hospitable breeding grounds for the toxic strain of E.coli bacteria, [according to USDA officials]. [Ed - By the way, as Michael Pollan points out in ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma’, since cows cannot digest corn naturally, their stomachs will explode unless treated with antibiotics - corn-based cattle feed is also a main contributor to the rise in antibiotics and hormones in beef.]

…Carcasses can move through slaughter-houses at a rate of up to 390 per hour, making inspection difficult.

This article reminded me of something I read recently about a slaughterhouse in California who supplies the local schools being caught on tape processing “downer,” or obviously ill, cows by chaining them to forklifts when they were not capable of walking. Most articles like this one concentrated on the animal cruelty angle, but there’s more to it - sick cows are more likely to harbor contamination, since their immune system is obviously impaired and they wallow in feces (which, by the way, is how E.coli spreads in slaugterhouses - feces from the cow’s stomach or skin).

I have bought local beef, chicken and pork for a couple of years now, and can definitely taste a difference. Now I have a new reason for buying local and carefully selecting what I eat at restaurants.

I know properly cooking and preparing beef destroys E.coli contamination, but I don’t control the preparation of my food when I consume pre-cooked or restaurant food - with so many people now eating in restaurants, this seems like a pretty serious problem. Or am I over-reacting? What do you think?