New York – As the school year approaches and parents begin to think about packing their children’s lunches, the World Cancer Research Fund is recommending that parents avoid using processed meats because of possible cancer concerns.
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Parents often serve their kids processed meats because they are convenient and cheap, and children enjoy them. Dr. Marie Savard, ABC News medical contributor, said that the concern about these meats stems from possible carcinogens, such as nitrites.
Savard cited several studies that have linked eating large amounts of red meat and processed meats to an increased risk of colorectal, prostate and stomach cancers, according to the American Cancer Society.
And those studies, Savard told “Good Morning America” today, were only in adults.
“Why would we risk our children?” she said. “I think we give our kids more processed meats because it’s easy.”
The American Cancer Society said women should not eat more than one ounce, or just one slice, of bologna more than two or three times a week. Men should not eat more than three ounces more than five or six times a week.
Setting aside the American Cancer Society’s warning, experts say processed meats can also contain large amounts of saturated fats and salt.
Savard noted that a generic turkey sandwich has nearly the same amount of salt as a hotdog and bun — nearly the maximum allowance of salt for the entire day.
Too much sodium, Savard said, increases blood volume, forcing your heart to work harder and putting more pressure on your arteries, which can lead to high blood pressure, heart failure, kidney disease or a stroke.
Healthy, Affordable Alternatives
Doctors, she said, are seeing more thickening of the arteries in children, particularly those who are obese or have high cholesterol.
Savard recommended going “back to basics” when packing lunches for children. Peanut butter and jelly on whole grain bread [for children not allergic to peanuts], she said, is a healthier alternative, which doesn’t offer nearly the amount of sodium and potentially cancer-causing chemicals as processed meats.
Parents can also use leftover meat from the night before, such as chicken, fish, pork or beef. It will most likely have less sodium and probably less saturated fat as well.
Tuna and boiled eggs are also healthy protein options.
TUNA?? What – are these people nuts?? Most doctors recommend very little tuna consumption and almost NONE in children because of the high mercury levels.
Are these poisons put into glatt kosher meat also. I’m pure no reputable mashgiach would allow that, after all, it’s pikuach nefesh.
I stopped listening to these “expert doctors” and scientists. Everything has a cancer connection these days. Will they let us eat anything because there is a huge list of foods to avoid over the years from these cancer connection studies.
No. 3 is correct. Kosher meat often also has high sodium levels because not all the salt used for kashering gets washed out. Limiting meat consumption is a good idea for many reasons.
Nitrite, nitrate-rich foods may not be so bad after all
By Stephen Daniells, 13-Nov-2007
Related topics: Science & Nutrition, Preservatives and acidulants
Nitrites and nitrates, much maligned additives in processed and cured meats, may help heart attack survival and recovery, suggests a new mice study from the US.
Published on-line in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report that the compounds, also found in vegetables and drinking water, reduced heart cell death in the mice following a heart attack by 48 per cent.
Animals with a low nitrite/nitrate diet had 59 per cent greater injury, report the researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
Nitrites are added to meat to retard rancidity, stabilise flavour, and establish the characteristic pink colour of cured meat. Studies and recommendations by health and governmental organisations ensure the safety of such products.However, observational studies, including data from the third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) on 7,352 subjects over the age of 45, have suggested that increased consumption of nitrites from cured meat could increase the risk of lung disease. “The public perception is that nitrite/nitrate are carcinogens but they are not,” said lead author Nathan Bryan.
“Many studies implicating nitrite and nitrate in cancer are based on very weak epidemiological data. If nitrite and nitrate were harmful to us, then we would not be advised to eat green leafy vegetables or swallow our own saliva, which is enriched in nitrate.”
He also notes that vegetables have up to 100 times more nitrate than processed meats, meaning nitrite and nitrate from processed or cured meats may account for only a small quantity of these compounds consumed in the diet.
The new study offers some positive news for the additives, reporting that mice fed an extra helping of nitrite had a survival rate of 77 per cent compared to 58 per cent for the mice that were nitrite deficient.
The mice were supplemented with nitrite (50 mg per litre of drinking water) for seven days. A comparison group received no nitrite supplementation. The researchers subsequently simulated a heart attack by stopping blood flow to the animals’ hearts for 30 minutes, followed by 24 hours of reperfusion.
“This new appreciation of the health benefits of nitrite and nitrate is ironic,” said co-author David Lefer, from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
“They’ve traditionally been regarded as toxic because they tend to form chemicals called nitrosamines, some of which are carcinogenic. But recent research has found no convincing evidence that nitrite and nitrate pose a cancer risk.” from: http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Nitrite-nitrate-rich-foods-may-not-be-so-bad-after-all
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What about vegetarian “meats”? They are also unhealthy.The amount of sodium in those fake meats is very hgih.. The main ingredient, soy meal, is not so good either, . Soy tends to cause hormonal imbalances, has something like sixteen known allergens, and the things they do to it in processing appear to cause cancer.
Look for example at a single serving of salami (2 slices) or a single chicken bullion cube. Either one has nearly 50 percent of your daily sodium allowance. Kosher takeout food is even worse. Independent lab tests of several high end “glatt” takeout places in WB and BP show that the salt levels are even higher than frozen kosher meals
I would love nothing more than to send peanut butter sandwiches, alas all the schools and camps are peanut free. He wont touch tuna, so it ends up being cream cheese which is not very nutritious.
The “food police” are at it again. These people don’t care about your health, they want to regulate your LIFE. As for me, I think I’ll go home and have a nice kosher salami.
Any organization whose name begins with the word “world” is a left wing, liberty restricting agency that we should stay FAR away from!
why don’t they call for companies not to add nitrare, and put less salt instead?
How did our great grand mothers make it without chemicals?
lets do the same
these days there is so much conflicting evidence it makes it hard to know what to believe and what not.
Back in the 18th and 19th centuries the incidence of stomach cancer was much higher than it is today. Medical historians attribute it to two things – the much greater alcohol consumption and the prevalence of preserved meats which were generally heavily salted, smoked or treated with other chemicals.