Absolute Truth Network

There was a time when red meat was a luxury for ordinary Americans, or was at least something special: cooking a roast for Sunday dinner, ordering a steak at a restaurant. Not anymore. Meat consumption has more than doubled in the United States in the last 50 years.

Now a new study of more than 500,000 Americans has provided the best evidence yet that our affinity for red meat has exacted a hefty price on our health and limited our longevity.

The study found that, other things being equal, the men and women who consumed the most red and processed meat were likely to die sooner, especially from one of our two leading killers, heart disease and cancer, than people who consumed much smaller amounts of these foods.

Results of the decade-long study were published in the March 23 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine. The study, directed by Rashmi Sinha, a nutritional epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute, involved 322,263 men and 223,390 women ages 50 to 71 who participated in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Each participant completed detailed questionnaires about diet and other habits and characteristics, including smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption, education, use of supplements, weight and family history of cancer.

Determining Risk

During the decade, 47,976 men and 23,276 women died, and the researchers kept track of the timing and reasons for each death. Red meat consumption ranged from a low of less than an ounce a day, on average, to a high of four ounces a day, and processed meat consumption ranged from at most once a week to an average of one and a half ounces a day.

The increase in mortality risk tied to the higher levels of meat consumption was described as “modest,” ranging from about 20 percent to nearly 40 percent. But the number of excess deaths that could be attributed to high meat consumption is quite large given the size of the American population.

Extrapolated to all Americans in the age group studied, the new findings suggest that over the course of a decade, the deaths of one million men and perhaps half a million women could be prevented just by eating less red and processed meats, according to estimates prepared by Dr. Barry Popkin, who wrote an editorial accompanying the report.

To prevent premature deaths related to red and processed meats, Dr. Popkin suggested in an interview that people should eat a hamburger only once or twice a week instead of every day, a small steak once a week instead of every other day, and a hot dog every month and a half instead of once a week.

In place of red meat, nonvegetarians might consider poultry and fish. In the study, the largest consumers of “white” meat from poultry and fish had a slight survival advantage. Likewise, those who ate the most fruits and vegetables also tended to live longer.

Anyone who worries about global well-being has yet another reason to consume less red meat. Dr. Popkin, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, said that a reduced dependence on livestock for food could help to save the planet from the ravaging effects of environmental pollution, global warming and the depletion of potable water.

“In the United States,” Dr. Popkin wrote, “livestock production accounts for 55 percent of the erosion process, 37 percent of pesticides applied, 50 percent of antibiotics consumed, and a third of total discharge of nitrogen and phosphorus to surface water.”

Finding a Culprit

A question that arises from observational studies like this one is whether meat is in fact a hazard or whether other factors associated with meat-eating are the real culprits in raising death rates. The subjects in the study who ate the most red meat had other less-than-healthful habits. They were more likely to smoke, weigh more for their height, and consume more calories and more total fat and saturated fat. They also ate less fruits, vegetables and fiber; took fewer vitamin supplements; and were less physically active.

But in analyzing mortality data in relation to meat consumption, the cancer institute researchers carefully controlled for all these and many other factors that could influence death rates. The study data have not yet been analyzed to determine what, if any, life-saving benefits might come from eating more protein from vegetable sources like beans or a completely vegetarian diet.

The results mirror those of several other studies in recent years that have linked a high-meat diet to life-threatening health problems. The earliest studies highlighted the connection between the saturated fats in red meats to higher blood levels of artery-damaging cholesterol and subsequent heart disease, which prompted many people to eat leaner meats and more skinless poultry and fish. Along with other dietary changes, like consuming less dairy fat, this resulted in a nationwide drop in average serum cholesterol levels and contributed to a reduction in coronary death rates.

Elevated blood pressure, another coronary risk factor, has also been shown to be associated with eating more red and processed meat, Dr. Sinha and colleagues reported.

Poultry and fish contain less saturated fat than red meat, and fish contains omega-3 fatty acids that have been linked in several large studies to heart benefits. For example, men who consume two servings of fatty fish a week were found to have a 50 percent lower risk of cardiac deaths, and in the Nurses’ Health Study of 84,688 women, those who ate fish and foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids at least once a week cut their coronary risk by more than 20 percent.

Ties to Cancer

Choosing protein from sources other than meat has also been linked to lower rates of cancer. When meat is cooked, especially grilled or broiled at high temperatures, carcinogens can form on the surface of the meat. And processed meats like sausages, salami and bologna usually contain nitrosamines, although there are products now available that are free of these carcinogens.

Data from one million participants in the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition trial found that those who ate the least fish had a 40 percent greater risk of developing colon cancer than those who ate more than 1.75 ounces of fish a day. Likewise, while a diet high in red meat was linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer in the large Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial, among the 35,534 men in the study, those who consumed at least three servings of fish a week had half the risk of advanced prostate cancer compared with men who rarely ate fish.

Another study, which randomly assigned more than 19,500 women to a low-fat diet, found after eight years a 40 percent reduced risk of ovarian cancer among them, when compared with 29,000 women who ate their regular diets.

By JANE E. BRODY
NYTIMES 28 Apr 09

Vedic Observer

Meat has always been inseperable from host of other social and economic problems like pollution, diseases, energy and wastage of resources. Unfortunately the modern “Big M” culture has made it more accessible and affordable masking the reality behind it.

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The Plot

The two most astonishing things for the British who invaded India were.the Indian gurukula system and the Indian agriculture system. The then Governor of British India Robert Clive made an extensive research on the agriculture system in India with idea of creating dependence on the industrial houses established by the British. The outcome of the research was as follows:

• Cows were the basis of Indian agriculture and agriculture in India cannot be executed without the help of cow.
• To break the Backbone of Indian agriculture cows had to be eliminated.
• He estimated that the number of cows in Bengal outnumbered the number of men. Similar was the situation in the rest of India.

The Effect

As a part of the Master plan to destabilize the India, cow slaughter was initiated. The first slaughterhouse in India was started in 1760, with a capacity to kill 30,000 (Thirty thousand only) per day, at least one crore cows were eliminated in an years time.Once the cows were slaughtered, then there was no manure and there is no insecticide like cow urine. Robert Clive started a number of slaughter houses before he left India.

A hypothesis to understand the position of Indian agriculture without slaughter houses. In 1740 in the Arcot District of Tamil Nadu, 54 Quintals of rice was harvested from one acre of land using simple manure and pesticides like cow urine and cow dung. As a result of the 350 slaughterhouses which worked day and night by 1910. India was practically bereft of cattle. India had to approach England’s doorstep for industrial manure. Thus industrial manure like urea and phosphate made way to India.
After India attained independence in the name of “Green Revolution” there was extensive use of industrial manure. Before British left India. The daily news paper Guardian interviewed India.

Sorry State

To one of the questions Gandhiji answered, that the day India attains Independence, all the slaughter houses in India would be closed. In 1929 Nehru in a public meeting stated that if he were to become the prime minister of India, the first thing he would do is to stop all the slaughterhouses.The tragedy of the situation is since 1947 the number has increased from 350 to 36,000(thirty six thousand) slaughter houses.Today, the highly mechanized slaughterhouses Al-kabir and Devanar of Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra has the capacity to slaughter 10,000(ten thousand) cows at a time. Is someone listening.

Vedic Observer

Cow_protection

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Introduction

By now it is common knowledge that for the production of sugar some animal bone is used for the filtration or discoloration of sugar. However the use of sugar is so widely prevalent that many have been given to understand that there is no additive in the form of animal product and also some how given the impression that the final product sugar does not directly come in contact with the animal matter and hence no cause for concern. We were asked to carry out tests to check if sugar contains any animal residue in it . When checking the testing procedures we were shocked to find that no such fool proof tests exists and the normal testing procedure which does test for calcium cannot distinguish between calcium in bone and calcium of cane. Hence a detailed study of the process was decided to be studied and we present the brief of our study.

Brief Report

During the study it has been seen that almost all the sugar mills are using Bone Meal, that is bone carbon of animals mostly Cow for the cane sugar process to make the sugar white. It is so widely prevalent that we were shocked to find out that huge quantities of Cow bone is being imported from Pakistan mostly and some quantity from Afghanistan and Bangladesh. It surprising that the though vegetable carbon can be used for this purpose, all mills almost uniformly use animal bones/cow bones for the purpose as this is cheaper. There may be a few sugar mills which may not be using bone carbon, but it is very rare and we are yet to trace such a mill. We are still continuing this study to find any kind of tests and further study the mills process and recommend better process. At the moment our concentration is on finding mills that do not use bone carbon for their process.

Preview

1.The question given to us was does sugar contain animal product and to test for the same in any standard laboratory.
2.We contacted M/s.Anatech of Bangalore which earlier conducted a very intensified study and testing in establishing the contamination of so called pure ghee in the market with several adulterants, varying from vegetable oil, hydrogenated fat , chicken and cow fat, in several leading and established brands. The results were shocking to say the least and we conducted further tests and study and the results repeated . We also studied several other products incidentally and concluded that in a country where adulteration is a fine science, and Government agencies look the other way and do not even implement adulteration act passed by the Supreme court over two years back almost anything is possible . For example it is not uncommon to mix over 30% red mud in chilly powder and a further 10 to 15% rice husk powder and banned dye to camouflage the same. In at least a couple mills this was being done so openly even when the government food inspector visited. Of course no action was taken.
3.With reference to sugar we just assumed that such a test existed and tried to test the sugar for the same. To our surprise no such tests existed. One way of testing was to spectrogram of a known sugar which does not use animal product in any way and compare the other sugar spectrogram with this . But we could not get any sugar in the market so far which can be conclusively said not to use animal bone.
4.In the absence of such procedures it was decided to study the mills process of sugar making to get some idea of the animal
bone being used.

The Study

We are enclosing herewith the detailed report by M/sAnatech which gives some results of sugar tests and the brief process of sugar making.
1.The problem we knew from the beginning is that of definition. This animal bone is not added to the sugar and hence qualifies for a definition of being vegetarian. But the sugar syrup is passed through the bone carbon for removing the dark coloration of the cane sugar. The debate commonly has been does the residue animal bone get into the sugar crystals and the answer from the sugar mills is no. But several independent opinion is that some overlay would get onto the sugar crystals though they may not get into the sugar itself.
2.It is strange that in a country that worships cow, we have got into the debate of whether cow bone residue gets left over in the sugar , rather than why cow bone would be used at all Or for that matter why animal bone or products need to be used at all. (, specially when an alternative is so easily available , albeit at a higher cost.)
3.The dark coloration is unique to cane sugar and this dark color can be removed by passing through active carbon filter. The active carbon filter can be vegetable carbon like some wood and coconut shell and also bone carbon(specifically cow as this is cheaper and available in larger quantity. )
4.Incidentally in places like USA the sugar is made from Beet and beet sugar process does not need the discoloration process and there fore animal or any other carbon is not used for discoloration. This is also one of the reason that such testing procedure has not evolved as this is not needed in USA or Europe.
4.About 20 years ago we had been to Sri Lanka for some projects and we got involved with the Coconut promotion council in promoting the use of coconut products. One of the products under discussion was active carbon derived from coconut shell. Sri Lanka had huge quantities of coconut shell and they were making active carbon from them for use in several industries including sugar mills. Even at that time they had reported poor response from the sugar mills in India as they were reluctant to substitute the bone product in use due to the cost factor.
Incidentally Sri Lankan Coconut carbon is very high in active carbon content and is considered best in the world for quality and also
processing and promoting this product.
5.We further decided to engage some persons in literature survey to get details of the sugar process.

The Process in the Mills

1.The study conducted gave us very shocking results.
2.Animal Bone mostly cow bone is used in the discoloration process in almost all the mills. This is basically due to the cost factor. Now with the sugar price control by the government the sugar mills are running under loss and there is very little chance of any mill trying to use vegetable carbon. We estimate that the price of sugar would go up by Rs.2.00 per Kg if vegetable carbon is used instead of animal carbon.
3.There may be exception to this . It is understood that some years back a Birla group M/s.Rajashree Sugar in Madhya Pradesh was manufacturing sugar without the use of Animal bone char, to ensure pure vegetarian sugar. They need to be contacted to check if the same process is being followed up even now.
4.The other exception is that very small sugar plants cannot have the economies of scale of using bone char and these also use vegetable char. We are unable to collect data on this so far and still pursuing the same.
5.Cow bones are imported from Pakistan mostly and other neighboring countries as they are cheaper . The bones are normally cleaned of all extra flesh and blood before converting into active carbon for use in the industry. However the cleaning is not conducted properly and there is left over of bone marrow which may get into the product as overlay. As the crystallization process does not allow the animal matter to get into and inside the product. However the chances of animal residue getting into the process is very strong , though it may get removed as residue later on during the crystallisation process. There is no doubt of the contact of the sugar with the animal product.
6.M/s.Anatech was completely shocked at the revelation of the study. He said he was surprised to know that such large quantity of bones were being imported from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. . With economy being the main motive cleanliness is the last thought in their mind. It is just plain rotten stuff being imported as the bones are not completely cleaned and dried prior to import or during the conversion to carbon.
7.M/s.Anatech states that the use of animal bone in the sugar process as filter is dangerous in the long run as any virus that may be in the bones would not be killed by the sugar process and would have every chance of getting into the sugar products. This is a danger of all animal products. He says that the use of such old bones, rotting and badly handled would have great chance of any deadly virus or its strain entering the final product. He says this is a silent ticking bomb,waiting to explode at any time.
( Incidentally we knew of two of our business acquaintances who use to deal in Bones of Cow. One was Mr.Mushtaque of Bangalore who use to boil cow bones to extract fat for supply to manufactures to make soap used in industries. The other was an NRI from Singapore who started M/s. Vijay bone meals at Chennai , to supply bones to various industries including sugar mills. We know from their rendition of their industry process, that hygiene and completion of the process, was the last thing in their mind. They used to tell us that the bones are so difficult to clean that most of the times the bones are not well cleaned for the next process and bone marrow, sinews etc would get left behind.

Test Procedure

We are still looking for any test procedure to conclusively test for any animal residue. This is difficult but we are pursuing and contacting other research and labs round the world through M/s.Anatech.
What is the alternative:
1.Use jaggery instead.
2.We understand that small mills may not use bone sugar. We need to identify such mills and under certification use such sugar. 3.During our childhood for festivals for making bhoga a sugar by name ‘Bhoosa-sugar ‘ used to be available. This was direct cyrstalised sugar from the village jaggery making process.We are unable to trace such product now in the market. With the supply chain changing the direct contact of some jaggery makers with the small trader has been lost.
4.We know that in some countries abroad due to health reasons they use sugar which has not passed through the filtration process and is brown ununiform crystals called brown sugar. However such similar sugars available in India are actually caramel that is white sugar burnt partially for use in cakes and cookies .
We should be careful of such so called vegetarian sugars in the market.
5.We should contact such mills run by the Birla group and find out if they have a animal bone free process.
6.Beet sugar invariable does not use animal bone and can be totally vegetarian.
7.We should try to enforce the government to label all sugar as either “animal-bone-used” or “animal- bone- not-used” in the interest of the public.

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