The problem isn’t red meat- it is grain fed beef. Eat grass fed beef and these health concerns disappear.

It seems to me that if you read all the info out there
related to what food is good for you or bad then you are
left with very little to eat .
CV

What a bunch of crap! This is just part of the lie that the mainstream feeds to us. Stick to eating plenty of red meat, including fatty cuts and you will be fine. What hurts us is all of the sugar and grains in our diets! Read the labels on food packages. Everything has corn and soy products in it! This is hurting us! Beef is good for us!! While you're at it, ditch the boneless, skinless, tasteless, chicken breast and switch to chicken thighs and legs, with the skin and bone intact. It's got more nutrients and tastes better too! Meat and animal fat are not our enemies!

Hmmmm.....good information & my immediate reaction was to feel concerned however, I would be interested to know such aspects as: individual exercise regime (in particular perhaps for those who developed stroke conditions), other foods incl in individual diets e.g sugar, processed foods, alcohol consumption etc. And yes, what was the range of meats consumed i.e. were sheep/lamb meats incl, if beef was it grain fed vs all grass fed & what was the consumption level of processed meats containing nitrites?

I agree. We have been hearing this for years, but noone talks about the vast difference between eating grain fed factory farmed animals and pasture grazed animals. BIG difference! I say grass fed beef is the new salmon!

The above comment I support how ever I wish to expand on it to make it more complete: important also the cattle to be free-range grazing on uncontaminated by hormone weed killers and other veedecides. If the cows fed baled hay and also grain while restricted in feedlots most likely been treated with hormones to accelerate growth and fattening as well antibiotics as their immune system is compromised due to their "lifestyle" conditions. The later animals meat is high in omega 6 oils from corn and soybeans and lack omega 3. Add to the cooking oils choices high in omega 6 few exceptions, organic cold pressed extra virgin olive oil the queen of exception rich in omega 9 fatty acids,- the increased levels of sub clinical inflammation not mediated by natural fish and quality fish oil supplements, antioxidants and minerals depleted in the vegetables that are also contaminated by pesticide residue no wonder the many environmental and dietary factors injure the lumen and provoke the inflammation resulting in the cascade of events ending in atherosclerosis. Not the animal fat per se and not cholesterol! The evidence is available that the industry propaganda tries to bury or smother with aggressive lies!

The research finding quoted by the above article does not informs about the details of that study that we could access. I suspect the extraneous variables were not controlled in that research so only one factor isolated i.e red meat consumption. The conclusion to me is not valid.

Be well! joseph.

I only ever really want to know numbers before I even think about getting concerned with this type of study. Please don't tell me percentage numbers, please tell me numbers.
eg. 4 people per thousand get something increasing to 5 makes it a 25% increase but it is only 1 extra person per 1000.

A big problem is arsenic used to force animals to grow faster and much bigger, bovine growth hormone (that prevents apoptosis in humans, thus causing cancer), antibiotics also used to force growth (bizarrely) and God knows whatever else. The thing is, the companies testing use only standardised processed meat samples, not real meat, so what you are really looking at is the effect of arsenic etc. Interestingly, strokes in animals are greatly reduced by implementing a correct balance of zinc in relation to copper, for instance in humans this should be 15mg to 2mg of copper. copper keeps the veins elastic and prevents breakage of blood vessels leading to stroke. Turkey farmers initially found they could massively boost turkey weight by putting loads of zinc in their food, but within a few months, 98% had died from stroke or burst hearts. Guys out there, please don't play around with zinc alone to boost your potency, a lot of rubbish vitamin and mineral
companies will sell you pure zinc without the copper (both metals are antagonistic, zinc will blow copper and vice versa out of your system, but still, both must be taken). Even 75mg and 50 mg pure zinc are not uncommon even in high end supplements, such as Solgar, remember the turkeys. Nature provides zinc and copper rich foods. Here is an Indian breakfast recipe that will blow your socks off with goodness and natural pranic energy, real live food: soak organic chick peas (very rich in copper and zinc, the veggie oyster so to speak) for at least 12 hours overnight, rinse a few times, they should be al dente, no need to cook (this would destroy the goodness-all pranic energy necessary for bioassimilationof minerals etc. would be lost), they will whiff a bit, then pour lemon juice on top and grind some black pepper on top, this is a traditional Indian breakfast recipe, you could even slap on a bit of organic raw yoghurt so it will go easier on your teeth.

Grass fed beef is not really new. It was originally how cattle were fed. Agrifarming changed all that for selfish reasons. My husband will not allow me to order grass fed beef even when it's on sale. It's about the dollars to him. Forget that it's way more nutritious. ;)

Christine is an excelllent writer but I think she has lost her objectivity in this article.

Although humans are an evolving species, our dentiture and digestive structure suggests that we are omnivores who likely evolved from pure meat eaters. Most humans would have no problems with metabolizing meat properly except that modern meats are bastardized products of industrial farmers, Animals are fed foods that are unnatural to their digestive systems, they are raised under stressful conditions, and they are medicated to deal with infections caused by those conditions. Also, they are fed or are injected with hormonal products to increase their growth rate. Pork products are then irradiated after their slaughter. This further denatures their proteins.

Once we get them home, or when we go to a restaurant, those foods are subjected to questionable cooking methods and become subjected to methods of chemical quisine before we eat them.

Then, when they arrive at the dinner table, they are salt and peppered to death and then slathered with all kinds of junk sauces to all more flavor to them so they can satisfy our damaged taste buds.

Eat real meat and there will be no problems

Animal fat, even from grass fed, organic cows, becomes unhealthy when it is cooked. If you eat meat, choose the leanest possible cuts. Cooked animal fats act like trans-fats in the body, disrupting the cellular membranes and blocking the ability of the mitochondria to burn fat properly. This leads to a host of health problems, including heart disease and diabetes.

Woden has begun to address the seldom-mentioned "other twenty per cent", the haemorrhagic stroke. In fact this is the first time I have seen it mentioned except in passing. Those of us who may be in the "other twenty per cent" (familial history) would love to know more! If one has fragile blood vessels, how do you protect/strengthen them? The fact that no respected blogger ever talks about this puzzles me. Any more, Woden? I would love a conversation about this.

Tom CHHC - not necessarily true. Read Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham. I'm not talking about putting meat on a BBQ and charring the heck out of it. Slow cooking, braising, etc is what we should be doing. More traditional cultures have been doing this for centuries without the health issues Americans have. It's the carbs. And even yesterday, Dr. Oz actually stated on his show that he believes it's the sugar that is causing cholesterol levels to whack out and clog arteries- not fats. Our ancestors ate the organs, meat, and even cooked with the fat, which gave them loads of valuable fat-soluble vitamins and minerals. It's time we stop demonizing fats.

Tully - for blood vessels, consider vitamin C, flavanoids (rutin, quercetin), herbs like bilberry, centella asiatica, hawthorne berry, foods rich in vitmain K, and even the catechins in green tea.

One more thing...I just now got an email warning of the risk of haemorrhagic stroke with the use of some over-the-counter meds. Not that you would use these but apparently the pheylpropanolamine in some common drugs used for colds and similar ailments is increasing the risk of these strokes (even in kids!). It's in Alka Seltzer, some Triaminic and Dinetapp products. I don't use any of this kind of stuff, but the fact that they're on the market, and otc, baffles me...

This info, if you want to call it that pertains ONLY to CONVENTIONAL RAISED GARBAGE MEAT, it has no bearing whatsoever on meat that was humanely raised and i'm talking about grassfed free range animals. Take a nice juicy steak with all the FAT, yes the fat is GOOD FOR YOU and briefly sear it on both sides so you don't denature the meat and the fat and tell me if that is not heaven you biting into..AND DON'T worry about all the crap some misinformed mainstream people write about !!!

It is interesting to note that grass-fed is healthier, and I assume more expensive at market. So why is it big agrifarm insists on do it with chemicals, and hormones, and a different food for the cows that make it cheaper at the checkout counter? Think of the profit they could be making with grass-fed cattle! And they would get a good report on taste, and health to boot. A win-win for everybody. Except of course the hormone, chemical, and grain people. But hey, they can peddle their wares elsewhere!
When I had my stroke at age 42, it was too much sodium. 4400 mg per day. Also lots of peanuts, and pop, and junk food, and RAMEN, and TV TURKEY DINNERS, and hi-sodium chilies, and other soups. I do not attribute it to meat as I WAS MOSTLY 90% VEGETARIAN!!!!!!!!!!!
MAYBE IT IS NOT THE MEAT!!!!!!!!
Be well and happy.
Steve

Lori-- to say "it's the carbs" that are the problem misses the point. Cooking alters the structure of fat molecules and the damaged lipids become incorporated into our cell membranes. This interferes with cellular metabolism (decreasing the sensitivity of insulin receptors, for example). When the body is no longer able to process carbohydrates due to the decreased efficiency of the cellular membrane, that's when health problems begin to occur.

You bring up a good point about low-heat cooking, and I would agree that it is less harmful-- but still harmful, particularly with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils, which oxidize from exposure to light (so imagine what cooking does to them). You might think you are being healthy by cooking with olive oil, but it is no longer healthy when it has been cooked and is thus oxidized. The millions upon millions of free radicals you consume in every bite can then bind to cholesterol and make it "sticky" so it forms plaque build-ups in your blood vessels. And once again, it is incorporated into your cells, causing damage.

The way to reverse heart disease and diabetes is not just to stop eating carbohydrates, but to also stop eating bad fats (those you cook with at home, and those that are in processed foods like chips, cookies, crackers, and french fries). This addresses the cause of cellular malfunction. Dr. Gabriel Cousens claims a 99.9% cure rate for diabetes at his Tree of Life Foundation by having patients follow a raw foods vegan diet. Improvements are seen in as little as 3 weeks, and blood sugar metabolism returns to normal after a few months.

You are partially correct in saying that fats should not be demonized-- but it is critical for people to understand the difference between good fats and bad fats, and cooking is the demon here.

We should not be cooking with any vegetables oil - period! But I still don't agree about the meat. It's been done for centuries, unlike consumption of refined carbohydrates. And raw is great for detoxing, but too many fat soluble nutrients are missing from raw diets, including those in the carotene family. Honestly - read the book.

Those fats that are the most stable are in fact animal fats. Animal fats do not oxidize therefore, they are not harmful, but it seems we all agree on this!