Book review

Below you will find Part 2 of the review of Why You Don’t Need Meat by Peter Cox. These are some snippets: “The 1981 report by Richard Doll and Richard Peto found that diet was responsible for 35% of all cancer deaths, but the food industry doesn’t necessarily want us to change.” “You see a good example in the dairy industry where reducing a mere 5% of animal fat in our diet – from 40% to 35% when the WHO advises no more than 10% – would halve the size of Britain’s dairy herd. They want us to drink more milk, not less. And the meat trade is just the same.” “The first weapon is to create a confusing smokescreen in the public’s mind. There are many different viewpoints and consumers don’t know who to believe. So they do nothing – which is exactly what the industry wants. Another tactic is to abuse and belittle their opponents.” “Let’s recognize the tactics of the meat industry for what they are and take a long, hard look at this product that they are so desperately trying to keep us eating.” “Seventh Day Adventists eat a completely different diet to the average American one. About half of them don’t consume meat or meat products. They do not smoke or drink and they tend to practise a healthy lifestyle that emphasizes fresh fruits, whole grains, vegetables and nuts. Their death rate from all cancers was almost half that of the general population.” “Said Congressman Ted Weiss, Chairman of the Inquiry: ‘The law requires and consumers deserve far more public health protection than the agency has provided. The Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly put what it perceives are interests of veterinarians and the livestock industry ahead of its legal obligation to protect consumers.’” “It is well-known, for example, that charcoal-grilled steak contains significantly large quantities of a powerful carcinogen, benzopyrene. In just one kilogram of steak there is as much benzopyrene as in the smoke from 600 cigarettes.”

WHY YOU DON’T NEED MEAT

PETER COX

THORSONS PUBLISHING GROUP 1986

PART II

Chapter 2: Meat-eaters or Wheat-eaters

Chapter 3. Meat, You and Cancer

In evolutionary terms our bodies are not used to the massive quantities of meat that we’ve been feeding them. Neither are they used to the large levels of fat, protein and other ingredients that are a necessary part of today’s meat-orientated diet. In this chapter, I’m going to present you with the most up-to-date evidence that suggests that meat is causatively-related to certain forms of human cancers.

Cancer in our diet?

The 1981 report by Richard Doll and Richard Peto found that diet was responsible for 35% of all cancer deaths, but the food industry doesn’t necessarily want us to change.

The food industry opposes the public interest

You see a good example in the dairy industry where reducing a mere 5% of animal fat in our diet – from 40% to 35% when the WHO advises no more than 10% – would halve the size of Britain’s dairy herd. They want us to drink more milk, not less. And the meat trade is just the same.

The meat industry fights dirty

The first weapon is to create a confusing smokescreen in the public’s mind. There are many different viewpoints and consumers don’t know who to believe. So they do nothing – which is exactly what the industry wants. Another tactic is to abuse and belittle their opponents.
Let’s recognize the tactics of the meat industry for what they are and take a long, hard look at this product that they are so desperately trying to keep us eating.

Meat – the first clue

There seems to be a clear relationship between the amount of animal protein/fat and the incidence of cancer. It is strongly suggestive, but it wasn’t necessarily conclusive. Most of us have known of the dangers of smoking but to prove it took 25 years.

Cancer from which part of our diet?

Seventh Day Adventists eat a completely different diet to the average American one. About half of them don’t consume meat or meat products. They do not smoke or drink and they tend to practise a healthy lifestyle that emphasizes fresh fruits, whole grains, vegetables and nuts. Their death rate from all cancers was almost half that of the general population.

Cancer doubles in Israel as meat-eating soars

The study followed the Jewish population as it grew from 1.17 million in 1949 to 3.5 million in 1975, over which period fat consumption shot up by 52%, meat consumption increased by 454%, and the death rate from malignant cancers doubled. Death from cancers rose in proportion to the amount of animal fat in the diet.

Change your diet – save your life

So what actually happens when you start to change your diet? A clue comes from an intriguing study, carried out in Greece, which set out to measure what happened when people increased their consumption of certain types of food – including meat and vegetables.
The results show that an increase in taking spinach, beets, cabbage or lettuce actually decreases your chance of contracting colo-rectal cancer. An increase in beef or lamb consumption increases your risk.
The study concludes as follows: “The results of most of these studies appear to fall into two broad categories: those indicating that animal protein (mainly beef meat) and/or animal fat are conducive to the development of colo-rectal cancer – and those indicating that vegetables (particularly cruciferous vegetables) or, more generally, fibre-containing foods, protect against the development of this disease.

The last word

For our last study, we are going to look at the results of one of the largest surveys ever undertaken. In 1965, researchers in Japan began to painstakingly question over 122,000 men aged 40 or more.
They were monitored until 1981, by which time 30,000 of them had died, 8,000 from cancers. All of them were divided into six groups, according to their propensity to smoke, drink alcohol, eat meat, and consume fresh vegetables.
These are the important points to emerge from this enormous study:

v The safest group are those who do not eat meat, smoke, or drink alcohol, but who do eat fresh vegetables – 324 deaths per 100,000

v The group most at risk are those who eat meat, smoke, and drink alcohol, but who do not consume fresh vegetables – 808 deaths per 100,000

v A group that shares the same lifestyle as the high risk group (meat, smoke, drink) and also includes fresh vegetables reduces to 542 deaths per 100,000

Research versus history

If humans have been eating meat in some form or other for thousands of years, you may wonder why it is only recently that the connection with various forms of cancer has been spotted.
Firstly, we know that humans have suffered from cancer for about the same length of time that they have been eating animal flesh – the difference is that these days, modern science now has the tools to prove this.
Secondly – never in the whole of human history – have humans eaten so much animal flesh as part of their diets as they do today.
Today the average Westernized household consumes nearly ten pounds of meat every week. Our bodies have never had to exist on such an intensive diet.
The type and quality of meat that is available today is very, very different to that which was eaten even just a century ago. The meat industry has seen to that.

Some clues to the problem

So how does meat actually cause cancer? There is much on-going research into this but, even so, it may be several decades before any firm conclusions are reached.
There are many extremely powerful vested interests who, frankly, have no desire for the consumer to know all the facts. Nevertheless, some basic connections have already been made.
It is well-known, for example, that charcoal-grilled steak contains significantly large quantities of a powerful carcinogen, benzopyrene. In just one kilogram of steak there is as much benzopyrene as in the smoke from 600 cigarettes.
It is also well-known that pork products contain nitrites, which are often added to prolong shelf-life and give a pink colour to the meat. But the problem with nitrites is that they combine with other substances in the human body to form nitrosamines which are the most powerful nervous system carcinogens yet discovered. These are just some of the better-known cancer-promoting agents found in meat.
In the United Kingdom, lack of manpower (and it seems, the willpower) together with unnecessary restrictions on freedom of information together conspire to keep us in a state of ignorance.
A Congressional report into the mighty Food and Drug Administration concluded that its inadequate food and monitoring procedures posed a ‘grave threat’ to the health of consumers, singling out beef and pork for particular condemnation.
They found farmers using literally thousands of animal drugs and feed supplements on their meat animal that had never been approved for use – and some of which had actually been proven to be cancer-causing.
Said Congressman Ted Weiss, Chairman of the Inquiry: “The law requires and consumers deserve far more public health protection than the agency has provided. The Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly put what it perceives are interests of veterinarians and the livestock industry ahead of its legal obligation to protect consumers.”

Cancer – the big unanswered question

We know that some meat producing animals (especially cows and chickens) suffer from tumours and cancers.
Second, we know that cancer can be transmitted by virus, from one animal to another.
Third, cancerous and tumerous meat is not all removed at the slaughter house, and may quite easily find its way to the butcher’s shop.
The chances are that, if you eat meat, sooner or later you will eat part of an animal that either has cancer or has been exposed to a virus that can cause cancer.
It is difficult to quantify the risk you would be running by eating tumourous meat (especially since cancers can take many years to surface), but it is a problem you should be aware of.

The verdict

In this chapter we have examined some of the relationships between meat consumption and the occurrence of certain forms of cancer.
Recent research into cancer of the ovaries has established a meat connection.
Another study concluded that men who heavily consume animal products run nearly four times the risk of contracting fatal cancer of the prostate, when compared with those who do not consume such large quantities.
Even more disturbing evidence is coming to light concerning the development of brain tumours in young children. A significant risk factor is the amount of contact that the mother may have had with nitrosamines – and this is directly related to maternal consumption of cured meats.
At the same time as the case against meat is looking increasingly grim, the case in favour of a higher fresh fruit and vegetable intake is looking better and better.
Cancer patients frequently experience sudden changes in their dietary preferences – away from fatty meats, towards fresher things. ‘Foods in the classes of red meats, white meat, fish or poultry, and high protein foods were rated significantly less pleasant by patients with cancer,’ said one study.
‘This aversion was apparently most marked for red meats. Roast beef had the largest percentage, 42%, of reported taste change.’
It’s easy to speculate, of course. But could it just be that their bodies are trying to tell them something?
How long will it take for our officials, our governments, and our food producers to take the lead, and actually encourage us to stop eating suspect food, and start eating healthily? Well, it may take for ever.
But for now, as they say, it’s over to you. Because if you don’t take the right decisions to look after your own health, then no-one else is going to.

Chapter 4: Breaking Free!

Chapter 5: Eating Your Heart Out

Chapter 6: There’s Junk in Your Joint

Chapter 7: How Not to Wreck a Marriage

Chapter 8. The Deadly Duo: Diabetes and Hypertension

Chapter 9: How to Get High on Fibre

Chapter 10: A View into Hell

Chapter 11: What Every Body Needs

Chapter 12: The Baby that Eats Five People

Chapter 13: Changes

Appendix I: Using the Nutrition-Checker

Appendix II: Resource Directory

Index.

You Don't Need Meat part 2