This is the transcript of a spot on this weeks Ukrainian radio show which is actually airing in a couple of days. I have a very busy few days ahead so I decided to post it in advance.
Thanks to all our retired and active duty military service men and women. They protect the rights, benefits and privileges we take for granted.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend.
AC
This is Dr. Andrij Chuma here for another health segment.
Just a quick infectious disease update. Covid cases continue to decline, with the latest numbers in the US approximating 500 deaths a week, the lowest since the pandemic started. That still represents 26,000 deaths a year so it is certainly not irrelevant.
I just got my latest booster last week. Vaccination and responsible careful behavior is still your best bet against contracting this disease. Remember that there is still an 8% covid complication rate.
Moving on.
Although there are a few other lifestyle topics I would like to cover in the future, like sleep and stress management, there are so many more nutritional topics that are important. So I would like to address these in between.
Today’s topic is about an almost universal response I get from people when we discuss healthier eating patterns: “I don’t eat red meat. I only eat chicken and fish”!
It’s unfortunate that this particular topic is being brought up just before Memorial Day weekend given all the barbequing that will be going on, but my job is often not to be the good guy.
It is abundantly clear that red and processed meat are not healthy for you. Processed meats like bacon, deli meats and even Ukrainian’s beloved kobasa, have been categorized as a Class 1 carcinogen by both the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. These meat products join such notable substances and behaviors as smoking, plutonium and asbestos exposure. This class has the highest level of evidence definitively causaly linking them to developing cancer. Red meat in general is a Class 2 carcinogen, meaning that it probably causes cancer. Given the skyrocketing colon cancer rates with new recommendations being to get colonoscopy screening beginning at 40, dropping these meat products is an imperative choice.
Saturated fat, cholesterol, heme iron, nitrates, antibiotics and carcinogenic compounds caused by cooking… the list of compounds in meat in general, but particularly processed meats, causing diseases like heart disease and cancer is lengthy.
But the chicken and fish alternatives are also very misguided and are just as unhealthy.
Take chicken. Thinking of chicken as “lean meat” implying that it is healthy is just wrong. A skinless, steamed piece of chicken breast has almost as much cholesterol as steak and maybe 1/3rd less fat. In fact, chicken is overall the highest source of saturated fat in the American diet. Americans eat, on average, 1 million chickens an hour! And please do not believe some of the misinformed social media influencers who say that saturated fat does not matter. It simply does!
Chicken is also the second highest source of salt, closely following cheese. Lastly, chicken is the greatest contributor to the antibiotic load in humans. There is no question that doctors over prescribe antibiotics but 80% of the antibiotics produced worldwide are not prescribed to humans, but are fed to animals. And chickens are fed the most. And although you consume small amounts, they do have an impact on your microbiome and are the leading cause of antibiotic resistance, the singular most concerning issue facing healthcare according to the World Health Organization.
And then there is fish. Although some fish have high levels of the healthier omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, you can’t pull a fish out of the ocean that is not contaminated with PCPs, heavy metals like mercury and cadmium and significant amounts of micro plastics. Healthier fish are part of the SMASH fish grouping. Salmon, Mackerel, Anchovies, Sardines and Herring. These are cold water fish, relatively low on the food chain and do not bioaccumulate as many chemicals but they still are contaminated. In addition, they do not make omega-3’s, in the same way that cows do not make calcium. Fish consume Omega 3s from the algae they eat. Just like cows consume calcium from the grass they eat, assuming they are even fed grass. Most cows these days are fed fortified pesticide ridden soy. If you want your omega-3’s, get them from a healthy clean algae source. If you are consuming farm raised fish, they likely do not have very much omega-3’s since those fish are also fed mostly soy and other grains. And fish also contain a lot of fat. Even salmon, arguably the healthiest fish to eat, is about 70% fat, 40% of which is saturated. Lastly, we have drained the oceans of life. 90% of sea life has been destroyed by us already.
There is no such thing as lean meat and the whole “white meat” label is also misguided.
Pointing to the Blue Zones in the world, although 5 of the 6 populations do consume some animal products, it is less than 10% of their caloric intake. The majority of that is fish and they very rarely consume dairy. But that is not how most Ameicans eat. Most Americans consume some kind of meat and cheese with every meal.
So going into this Memorial Day weekend and Victoria Day weekend for my Canadian friends, please give some thought to what you throw on your grill. Grilled veggies are fantastic.
As a last comment, I have the great privilege of taking care of many active duty soldiers and military veterans. I would like to thank all those who served or continue to serve in our armed forces, protecting the freedoms and rights we all enjoy and unfortunately, all too often, take for granted. I also want to thank all the brave soldiers in Ukraine who are fighting not only for Ukraine’s freedom but for the freedom of all nations who face tyranny from outside forces.
Slava Ukraini!