ARTICLE: Diet High in Meat Proteins Raises Cancer Risk

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"For people aged 50 to 65, a high-protein diet increased the risk of cancer fourfold, comparable to the risk associated with smoking "

I belong to a bunch of fitness boards where people inhale protein powder by the 5 lb bottles they come in. And I have heard a lot of people crying about a study that came out which links diets high in meat consumption to cancer. They seem to discredit the studies pretty quickly. Is this the study that sparked the most recent debate about protein consumption?

Here's the link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/diet-high-in-meat-proteins-raises-cancer-risk-for-middle-aged-people/

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  • susanswan
    susanswan Posts: 1,194 Member
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    People seem to routinely discredit anything negative about animal consumption. People love to hear good news about bad habits. "Eat meat for protein". Don't they wonder where the beef cattle get their protein needs met to build all of that beautiful meat the people eat? Cattle and chickens are vegans! Unless of course they are the unfortunate that get ground up beef along with sawdust and concrete and junk food put into their feed supply. I don't even want to think about it......

    I've been following many doctors and others on YouTube: John McDougall, Neal Barnard, Dean Ornish, T.Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstein, Doug Lisle, Alan Goldhamer, and more. SO much info is out there. People seem to pick and choose what they want to hear. So many lies abound from the food lobbies, drug companies, and more. As they all seem to agree, there is no money in health, only in sickness. The more pills people take the sicker they will get. It is a proven fact in studies posted in medical journals. Just not publicized because it is hard to make a buck on it. It is simply easier to do what we've always done.

    I'm taking the hard approach. Working towards 90% vegan. If I can do better, I certainly will. I just don't want to say I've failed because I got a sprinkle of cheese on my restaurant food by accident, etc.
  • lisabinco
    lisabinco Posts: 1,016 Member
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    There are many studies out there that also find that too much protein is not good for your kidneys. You force your kidneys to work harder than they should, getting rid of excess protein. This is, besides too much sodium in most diets, one reason why we're told to drink 8 glasses of water a day -- to help flush those hard-working kidneys. I agree that we humans only want to hear what we want to hear, so many of these studies fall on deaf ears. I was never a fan of protein powders; they all taste pretty bad and frankly, I'd rather eat my protein than drink it any day. Even without eating meat, I get 60-90 grams of protein a day, plenty for my fairly sedentary lifestyle. When I'm feeling washed out or tired, I find I usually just need to hydrate with water, not go eat some protein.

    I'm whole-heartedly behind this statement from that article: "The link between high-protein intake and risk of cancer almost vanished when the researchers considered participants whose protein mainly came from plants, such as beans."
  • susanswan
    susanswan Posts: 1,194 Member
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