On Meat and Veganism
Processed meat causes cancer?
Meat has been demonized for 40–50 years.
Plenty of early nutrition studies that the media loves quoting are based on questionnaires.
Nitrate & Nitrites are found in processed meat produces cancer causing Nitrosamine.
Heat processing causes a small portion of food additive sodium nitrite to become toxic (NDMA); NDMA is toxic but only in large doses ~3571KG of sausages. The toxicity does increase with age (40yrs and above) approximately 1.1KG of sausages a day for years to produce a cancer dosage.
Truth is: Nitrite & Nitrates are also found in vegetables and released especially when heated and cooked.
Our body actually turns Nitriate into Nitric Oxide which is essential for health, and used to relax blood vessels, Nitrate and nitrite is used to regulate blood pressure, improve hypoxic vasodilation and mitochondrial efficiency.
Nitric Oxide is found in supplements (Beet Root supplements)
Concept of Hormesis
On Veganism
- Leucine the amino acid that helps protein biosynthesis is low in plants.
2. Effectiveness of Plant Based Diet via Elimination (Honeymoon Phase)
Long Term Impact (6 Months to 2 Years slow decline):
- Low Protein
- Low Micro-nutrient
3. Protein Content in Plants is better?
- Amino Acid Profile of Meat is better; More Bioavailable
- Protein Grams in Plant Does Not Equal Protein Grams in Meat
4. Plant Protein has all the Amino Acids you need
- Fact, Yes it does have a complete Amino Acid
- However Protein is less bio-available
- For a 90KG Athlete (~200grams of Protein) = 3 cups of lentils, 3 cups chickpeas, 2 cups quinoa, 3 oz almonds, 3 slices of silken tofu, 10 tablespoons peanut butter. And still the DIAAS score will be low.
5. Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS) (Profile and Bio availability)
- Rare Beef is scored at 1.39 (Highest)
- Eggs at 1.13
- Peanut Butter at 0.45
- Wheat at 0.2
6. Animals are middlemen?
- Animals are amazing middlemen; they take indigestible foods for humans and converts them into nutrition.
7. Vegan Athletes get injured more often due to lack of collagen?
- Plenty of athletes stop being Vegan (Djokovich and many others as an example)
- Collagen is important for muscle recovery & repair; and is harder to obtain from vegetarian diet
8. Game Changers Film:
- James Cameron owns Verdient Foods Inc. a vegan food company.
- Game Changers offering CPD Hours for Doctors who completed the film & short quiz.
- Healthy User Bias found in studies quoted regular diet Vs. Healthy Vegetarian Diets. Regular Diet is average diet (Fast Foods, Sugar etc. may be included). Poor control found in subjects (Plant Vs. Meat). Better newer studies are looking at Food quality.
- Statement that Gladiators were Vegans: Low life expectancy, were fed grains (typically barley) to be fattened up to endure cuts.
