A recent article on the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21258509) puts forward a study by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition which suggests there is a greater chance of suffering heart problems if you eat meat. The problems are caused like this:
The heart’s own blood supply becomes blocked up by fatty deposits in the arteries that nourish the heart muscle. It can cause angina or even lead to a heart attack if the blood vessels become completely blocked.
Which may well be true – but it doesn’t indicate a cause.
On the strength of the article, I may well become vegetarian. I look forward to my meals of deep fried potato chips, along with a side order of half a pound of butter – because, you know, potato and butter are perfect on a vegetarian diet.
I will also drink fifteen cups of coffee a day, each with ten tablespoons of sugar in them – because again, that’s fine on a vegetarian diet.
Apparently, and I quote directly from the article, “Vegetarians probably have a lower intake of saturated fat” – not necessarily! And when did we decide that fat was so bad for us? Isn’t sugar, that rampant carbohydrate, far worse in large quantities?
The study had almost twice as many meat eaters included compared to vegetarians, and found that 169 people died from heart disease and 1066 needed hospital treatment – and they were “more likely” to be meat eaters.
Which potentially proves that 84 vegetarians and 85 meat eaters died of heart disease, and you are more likely to break your leg and need hospital treatment is you eat meat – making this an exceptionally flawed study.
As a parting shot, the article recommends, “If you’re thinking of switching to a vegetarian diet, make sure you plan your meals carefully so that you replace any lost vitamins and minerals, such as iron, that you would normally get from meat.” – so unless you are careful, you will have a lack of nutrients in your vegetarian diet to go along with your high carb intake, virtual equivalent risk of heart disease, and a greater chance of breaking your leg.
Bring on the meat.
