The Beef Industry

By Bonnie Jenkins, Advanced Natural Medicine

A couple of weeks ago, I told you how, despite the government’s assertions, mad cow disease may be more prevalent than the press is reporting. Which begs the question, how great is the risk from the foods we eat?

That was what one reader named Bill wanted to know. Bill wrote:

“I plan on pretty much eliminating my beef intake for a variety of health reasons, but the problems of mad cow have definitely convince me. But is there any possibility of getting "mad cow" from other animal protein sources? I plan on eating more chicken, turkey, fish and pork. The article also mentioned to watch out for gelatin sources. I am taking an omega-3 supplement for my heart, but do I now need to get gelatin-free capsules? Is there such a thing?”

Ok, so let’s tackle these questions one at a time.

Don't Shoot the Messenger

Sometimes it seems like there’s nothing really safe or healthy left in supermarkets – and never more than over the past few weeks. When mad cow hit the U.S., a lot of folks did the same thing Bill talks about. They switched to eating more poultry, fish and pork. And beef producers felt the pinch. In fact, meat prices have begun to plummet. Here’s a good example: During the holidays, a cross-rib roast was fetching around $6.00 a pound. This week it’s down to a paltry $1.87.

While some shoppers might think this is a great price, it just goes to show you how desperate the beef industry is to save their own hides – damn the risk to consumers.

But switching to conventional chicken and pork may not be the answer. You may remember that I told you how cattle remains (including the brain and spinal cord) can be rendered down and fed to pigs and chickens. Then the pig and chicken remains can be fed back to cattle. No where in that process is the organism responsible for BSE destroyed. So while the focus is currently on cattle, pigs and chickens may also be at risk.

If that’s not enough to dampen your appetite, a study in the latest issue of Environmental Health Perspectives found that young chickens (which is what most of us eat) have significantly higher levels of arsenic than other poultry or meat.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service sampled the liver tissue of 5,000 chickens to estimate the arsenic concentrations of the muscle tissue, which is the part of the chicken that is most consumed. They found arsenic concentrations in young chickens to be three to four times higher than in any other type of poultry or meat sampled.

But here’s the real kicker – arsenic is an approved animal feed supplement that farmers use to control intestinal parasites in chickens.

Of course, chicken isn’t the only way we ingest this toxin. Arsenic is also in the water we drink and the air we breathe. But deliberately given arsenic-laced feed to the chicken we eat just serves to increase our toxic body burden. The researchers of this study calculated that a person consuming approximately two ounces of chicken daily might ingest 3.6 to 5.2 mcg. of inorganic arsenic. People who eat more chicken than this are ingesting up to 10-times higher levels of arsenic. And chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic (10 to 40 mcg. a day) has been conclusively linked to an increased risk of skin, respiratory, prostate, liver, kidney and bladder cancers.

So is there any way to protect yourself and your family from these irresponsible laws that allow the contamination of our food? Fortunately there is. One option is to forget about meat altogether and embrace vegetarianism. But a lot of us, including my husband, won’t give up their steaks and chicken breasts. So I’ve made the switch to totally organic meat and poultry. Sure, it costs a little more, but its well worth knowing that I’m serving clean, nontoxic food.

The larger health food stores, like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, carry organic beef and chicken. But if you don’t live in are area where these stores are located, you can also fill up your freezer via mail-order. You can find many sources for certified organic meat online. Here are just a few:

Prather Ranch (beef): www.pratherranch.com

Rainbow Homestead (lamb): www.mwt.net/~naturewool/index.htm

Sara Joes (pork): www.sarajoes.com

Simply Grazin’ (beef, pork, chickens, eggs): http://sforganic.com

Make Your Supplement Vegetarian

Bill also wanted to know about the gelatin used in supplements. Many drugs and supplements come in capsules made from animal collagen (cow or pig bones, hooves and connective tissues). Although they probably aren’t contaminated, many manufacturers are making their capsules from a non-meat source: cellulose. You can find these labeled “veg caps” and they are appropriate for even the strictest vegetarian. Another option is to get your supplements in pill, powder or liquid form.

One Last Thing ...

As if all of this wasn’t frustrating enough, now fish are under attack. According to a report by the Environmental Working Group, salmon from fish farms contains significantly higher levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) than wild Pacific salmon.

As a salmon-lover, I was furious when I read this report, since PCBs, which lodge in fatty tissue, were banned in the U.S. in the late-1970s because they can cause cancer and birth defects. So how are they getting in my salmon? It seems that farmed salmon are fed fish-meal which, as the name implies, contains dead fish. Sounds eerily like mad cow, doesn’t it? And since PCBs become more concentrated each time they move up the food chain, the levels are considerably higher in farm-raised salmon than fish found in the wild.

To reduce your exposure to PCBs, choose wild or canned Alaskan salmon instead of farmed whenever possible. If farm-raised salmon in unavoidable, limit your consumption to once a month. Trim the fat and skin from the fish before cooking and avoid frying. Broiling, baking or grilling allow the PCB-laden fat to cook off the fish.

So, yes Bill, there is still safe food out there. It’s just getting a little tougher to find.

This Just In ...

Now here’s some good news: people with chronic heart failure who exercise live longer.

That was the conclusion of researchers at the Royal Bromptom Hospital in London after they reviewed nine clinical trials that included 801 stable heart failure patients. Exercise training was undertaken by 395 of the participants, while the other 406 subjects acted as controls. After analyzing the data, the researchers found that hospital admission was significantly lower in the patients who exercised than in those who didn’t.

Perhaps more important was their conclusion that exercise can boost the odds of survival and that properly supervised exercise programs for patients with CHF are safe. So if you suffer from CHF, get moving! Talk with your doctor about an appropriate exercise routine like walking or water aerobics and start exercising now.

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References:

Lask T, et al. “Mean total arsenic concentrations in chicken 1989-2000 and estimated exposures for consumers of chicken.” Environmental Health Perspectives. 2004; 112:18-21.

“PCBs in Farmed Salmon: Factory Methods, Unnatural Results.” Environmental Working Group. 30 Jul 2003. Available at www.egw.org.

Piepoli M, et al. “Exercise training meta-analysis of trials in patients with chronic heart failure.” British Medical Journal. 2004;328:189.