Thou Shalt Not Eat That

Two new food studies have upset my stomach. It's because the food police have distorted (as they usually do) the results to conclude that eating either is dangerous, even fatal.  The first conducted by the World Health Organization has deemed that processed meats such as bacon, sausages and hot dogs can cause cancer. It also says that all red meats including beef, pork, veal and lamb are "probably carcinogenic" to people. A group of 22 scientists reviewed the evidence linking red meat and processed meat consumption to cancer, and concluded that eating processed meats regularly increases the risk of colorectal cancer. But only slightly.  And the study also says red meat provides benefits as well as tiny risk.

Problem is with these studies that the pervasive media looks for alarm and publishes, not the results but an interpretation of them that is way left of center. In the case of the meat report, media reports leave out the fact that one would have to eat a great deal of that stuff to have even a slightly higher cancer risk. For example, bottled water and the aloe vera we use so much in cosmetics and for dry skin are also listed as potentially cancerous. The fact is, most substances, even natural ones, have an elevated risk of cancer. That natural spring water humans think is best often has elevated levels of arsenic. Yet, one would have to drink a river to be affected by it.

I wish the media would stop claiming that the sky is falling every time a "study" suggests a slight risk increase. Life must be lived with risk or not enjoyed. To remove all cancer risk, for example, one would have to live in an enclosed space, away from people and would have to subsist on a limited diet of raw foods. Who wants that kind of life? Unless we scuba dive we won't know what is in the ocean deep below. If not driving our cars we won't get to destination as that greatly benefit us. You get the idea. A risk free life is an empty one.

The second study distorted by the food police is a University of Michigan study on cheese. The conclusion is that Cheese was among the most addictive foods. Pizza and cheese were at the top of the list, along with other processed and fatty foods. It turns out that cheese, like all milk products, contains something called casein, a protein that releases opiates. So some food crazies are claiming that cheese is similar to crack cocaine. I wonder what they are smoking. One vegetarian doctor who is president of a anti meat dairy organization calls cheese "Dairy crack. The problem is some people actually pay attention to such nonsense.

My strategy to crazy media reports about foods we love is simple. I shall head to a pizza parlor and order a double cheese sausage pizza. If I live to tell you it didn't kill me I'll let you know when I finish eating that "dangerous" food.