Friday, September 11, 2009 WASHINGTON: In the largest study of its kind (with over half a million subjects), it was found that mature people in the US Americans who eat large amounts of red meat like beef, pork and lamb, and processed meats like hot dogs and bacon were discovered to have a higher risk of death from cancer or heart disease.This research back up the long-standing advice of experts to limit red meats in the diet, and appears in the March 23, 2009 Archives of Internal Medicine.The researchers looked at over 545,000 subjects aged 50 to 71 years old, recruited from AARP members as part of the National Institutes of Health Diet and Health Study, and asked about their eating habits.The results relied on participants remembering what they ate, and this of course isn’t always accurate. Over 70,000 of the subjects died during the decade long study, and the researchers accounted for risk factors like smoking, high BMI (body mass index) and family history of cancer in their analysis.The findings however still point an accusing finger at red and processed meats.The equivalent of eating a quarter pound hamburger daily gave a 22% higher risk of dying from cancer; 27% higher risk of dying from heart disease when compared to subjects who ate just 5 ounces of meat a week.Women whose diet included more red meat had a 20% higher risk of dying of cancer; 50% higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less of this type of meat.In 2003-2004, the most recent year’s statistics are available, adults on average ate 2.5 ounces of red meat per day. So the consumption levels in the study are over the average.“The consumption of red meat was associated with a modest increase in total mortality,” said Rashmi Sinha, lead author of the study.Surprisingly, processed meats had a slightly lower overall risks than red meat according to the research.Also people whose diets had more white meat (chicken and fish) were found to have lower risks of death.“This fits together with the findings of the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Cancer Society, which recommend limiting the consumption of red meat,” said Sinha, who is an investigator with the nutrition epidemiological branch at the Cancer Institute.Some experts suggest the trouble might come from the fat and iron in the meats, others the salt, nitrates/nitrites of processed meats.Also, when meat is cooked (especially fried or charbroiled) at high temperatures compounds are created in the meat that can be mutagenic or even carcinogenic.And, if you need another reason, livestock contribute to greenhouse gas emissions that have been implicated in global warming.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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