DECEMBER 2, 2014 BY BUKOLA ADEBAYO
| credits: coffeebreaksscience.com
Did you know that it takes three days for meat to digest in the stomach? I am sure many lovers of the delicacy are not aware of the effect that red meat consumption may have on their digestive system.
Yet, food experts say it is not only your digestive system that suffers when you eat meat regularly, as many do in these climes where a meal without it is seen as a poor diet.
Consultant cardiologist, Dr. James Adetayo, says many do not know that eating meat regularly, which he says can be as much as three times a week, can predispose them to heart disease, a condition that is responsible for the highest mortality in the world.
Adetayo notes that red meats such as beef, pork and lamb have more cholesterol and saturated fats than what you can find in white meats such as chicken and fish.
The danger that lies in eating red meat as often as people do these days, according to the experts, is that the cholesterol levels in meat raise fatty acids levels in the body, thus provoking heart disease.
He says,“We have all heard it a million times: Red meat isn’t exactly a friend to your heart given the high amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol. But many people ignore it and keep eating it every day.
“ As much as you can, reduce the pieces of meat you eat. It is the simplest dietary precaution you can take to reduce your chances of developing heart diseases.”
Still on our dear hearts, Adetayo states that meat contains a compound called carnitin, which hardens the blood vessels in the body, disrupting blood circulation and supply to the heart.
He adds, “The body naturally produces enough carnitine, so we don’t need extra from food. However, red meat has a high concentration of carnitine and when there is an excess of this compound in the body, some intestinal bacteria use it as food, and this leads to an artery-clogging and blood vessel hardening effect.
“Blood vessels are vital in circulating blood throughout the body. When they are hardened, blood cannot flow through to the heart. At the end of the day, the whole body pays for this poor blood circulation. Scientists have seen a strong link between high carnitine contents in the body through meats and an individual’s risk for heart attack, stroke and sudden death.”
Apart from heart diseases, eating red meat can also increase one’s risk for type 2 diabetes, a disease that has been declared an epidemic by doctors in Nigeria.
Food expert and Consultant on the popular Halleluyah Diet, Mr. Mike Okonkwo, says that a major reason why the population of Nigerians living with diabetes continues to rise is the people’s love for red meat.
Okonkwo says it contains a lot of calories that do not get digested until 72 hours after they have been ingested.
He states, “Sugar is not the cause of diabetes. That you stop taking sugar doesn’t mean you won’t have diabetes. Meat consumption is responsible for the alarming prevalence of diabetes in Nigeria. “
“It takes 72 hours for a piece of meat to digest. That means that the body does not receive nutrients from meat till three days after. By that time, it is useless, so it is stored as calories which are eventually converted to blood glucose – hence, the diabetes.”
A study conducted by US scientists establishes the link between regular eating meat and type 2 diabetes.
According to the physicians, eating 3.5 ounces of red meat or 1.8 ounces of processed meat a day (two pieces of meat) daily leads to a 19 per cent and 51 per cent increase in diabetes risk for the consumer.
The Medical Director, Mary and Dick Allen Diabetes Centre at Hoag Hospital, where the study was conducted in California, Dr. Dan Nadeau, notes that diets rich in animal foods such as red meat contribute to the increasing incidence of obesity as well as type 2 diabetes because of their fat content.
This warning is for the womenfolk, red meat contains harmful chemicals and hormones that increase a meat eater’s risk of developing breast cancer by another 50 per cent.
Researchers believe that the hormones or hormone-like compounds in red meat increase cancer risk by attaching to specific hormone receptors in the breast.
According to a study of more than 90,000 women, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, women who eat more than two pieces of red meat per day have a double risk of developing hormone-sensitive breast cancer than women who eat meat just thrice a month.
Nadeau notes, “Meat contains a lot of hormones passed down from the chemically enhanced feeds given to the cattle’s by their rearers.
“Many livestock are fattened up by hormones that have been illegally mixed into the livestock feed for profit sake. Such meats, when consumed, will increase the hormones in the body. This makes cells reproduce at a faster rate that is unusual for the body.”
This is not to say one should not eat meat at all as it is a rich source of protein. The experts only suggest that it is high time you reduced your meat intake and embraced healthier protein sources such as fish, chicken and white meat in general.
However, if you must eat meat all, Okonkwo says, it is best to chew it 50 times before swallowing it for easy digestion. If not, you might as well leave it as it only constitutes a nuisance to the digestive system
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