We all take our chances
2nd April 2012 · 0 Comments
By Fr. Jerome LeDoux
Contributing Columnist
Even the unhealthiest food is the preeminent apologist for itself and the greatest seducer to most human beings. It is, therefore, no wonder that most people defend their eating habits with resolve and indignation when anyone dares challenge their choices. So, virtually all health studies fall victim to this jealous resolve and righteous indignation.
Perhaps the only other arena in life that enkindles such heated, passionate arguments and irrational inferences and conclusions is the range of political topics bred and nurtured by the ideologies of diametrically-opposed political parties. The rigid dogmas of either the foods or the ideologies can be the source of bitter altercations.
Well, here comes another study, folks. Linking red meat to a higher risk of early death, a major medical study from the Harvard School of Public Health is raising the hackles of those who treasure red meat. It is well known, of course, that red meat is to its ardent lovers what blood in the water is to ravenous sharks.
So ingrained in our culture is our penchant for red meat that it has become part of our imagery. Perhaps more than any other group, politicians color their language with this kind of terminology, saying of one another that hot issues – even bogus ones – are offered to their constituents as red meat issues that they will devour.
With this background, there are hardly hordes of people out there waiting with bated breath for a new, hard-hitting study on the dangers of red meat. No one will be banging on the doors of the Harvard School of Public Health to get the latest news.
That new study had 37,698 men and 83,644 women complete questionnaires about their diets every four years. During a follow-up period of 20-plus years, almost 24,000 of the participants died, including 5,910 from heart disease and 9,464 from cancer.
Those who ate one more serving of unprocessed red meat each day had an 18 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease and a 10 percent greater risk of dying from cancer. But those who ate one more daily serving of processed red meat had a 21 percent higher risk of dying from heart disease and 16 percent higher risk from cancer.
On the positive side, based on these findings, the researchers estimate that substituting one daily serving of red meat with fish, poultry, nuts, legumes, whole grains, or low-fat dairy products would reduce the risk of dying in this time frame by seven percent to nineteen percent.
Certainly, we all take our chances, and there are many who like being risk-takers.
A minority even get their jollies out of extreme exposure to danger and death. But can you honestly claim that risking your health and very life are worth tasty chunks of meat?
“Well, I won’t be eating it all the time!” is the first line of defense. “An occasional splurge can’t hurt anyone as long as it does not happen too often.”
There is some merit in that line of reasoning. It all goes back to the old “All in moderation” adage that would have us avoid extremes in all the things we do. Indeed, if the whole world would do that consistently, what a wonderful world it would be!
“You have to die of something!” is a frequent defense. To be sure, that is true. But why should you hasten the moment of your demise by ingesting large amounts of things that taste great but are toxic to parts of your physical system over the long haul?
“Because I want to enjoy things that taste great for as long a time as I am able to.
I don’t want to make myself miserable by depriving myself of the things I like most in life. Quite the contrary! I want to eat and enjoy the things I like. I want to enjoy my life, not drag myself through the dullness and sadness of constant self-denial.”
That is a choice many people make in forging the direction of their lives. For the sake of enjoying their lifestyle, despite a National Cancer Society 3-year-old study that is mirrored by this Harvard School of Public Health study, meat-lovers are willing to fly in the face of the linkage of a diet high in red meats to a shorter life span.
Yes, we all take our chances, and it is everyone’s right to do so. Still, short of causing premature deaths, it should also be pointed out that red meat—and we can add related foods—eventually impose a miserable, unbearable penalty on its overeager consumers by triggering arthritis, gout, hypertension, rheumatism and assorted pains.
This article was originally published in the April 2, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
