Will Bovril Kill Me?

[oldjerry]

A couple of days ago some scientist was on the radio,with 'conclusive' evidence that 'Red ' meat definitely is bad for you,in anything other than tiny amounts.I'm not really bothered ,since the pigs went, as a family of 5 ,we probably eat less than a pound of red meat a week,but I really like stuff like Bovril,black pudding,liver etc.I'm not being flippant here,does 'Red Meat' mean all bits of Pig\Cow\Sheep? It's far too late for me to embark upon any dietry strategy that would do me any good,but if only for the sake of Red Meat producers,and fellow Bovril fanatics which bit of the animal is going to do the damage?

[Odsox]

Very interesting question Jerry, and one I hope you get an answer to.

I also eat very little beef or lamb, although I love it my OH can't stand the taste of blood in meat, so we pretty much only buy it when we have visitors. I must admit I hadn't given it too much thought as to what it is that is actually bad for you, and if it's the blood, does that also include chickens livers, which I do eat on a regular basis.(One of the perks of growing your own chicken meat )
Not only Bovril (which I also eat) but also Oxo cubes and salami for instance.

I never considered pork to be a "red" meat as it's bled at slaughter.

[chickenchargrill]

Meh! I heard conclusive evidence that red meat is good for you, and you should eat the chicken skin too.

The evidence against red meat is far from conclusive. What they're saying at the moment is it's something in the blood that is particularly bad for you when cooked on a bbq or when processed. The haem releases something or other, which they've 'linked' to bowel cancer.

In reality, most things can cause cancer, from the thing we do to create babies, to the more obvious stuff like smoking. C'est la vie.

[pelmetman]

I suspect if a jar of it dropped on your head from a great height............ then yes

As for eating red meat ......all I ask is that it joins the queue of things waiting to kill me

Perhaps they could have a sweepstake to decide who gets the job of finishing me off ..........personally I favour alcohol ...........but it could be a mad axe man, or the number 99 bus

Dave

[Carltonian Man]

I read that sitting down on a toilet seat constricts your bowels and contributes greatly to (or even causes) bowel cancer, the higher the seat the worse it is. I wonder how many scientists and doctors who put out these meat scares etc. use a sit down toilet..

[Green Aura]

Surely the world's population would be much, much smaller if red meat was so bad for humans as most diets include it to some extent.

I'd agree that some current farming practices - growth hormones, antibiotics etc that may be passed on through the meat and the processed end products that end up on many peoples' plates are probably harmful though.

[bill1953]

You're more likely to shorten your life worrying about what might kill you rather than shortening your life by engaging in the things that might kill you

[gregorach]

You're more likely to shorten your life worrying about what might kill you rather than shortening your life by engaging in the things that might kill you

Quite right!

And besides, would you rather have a short life of happiness or a long life of misery?

[chickenchargrill]

Quite right indeed.

I once visited a patient who was end stage cancer. Mid-thirties, never smoked, only alcohol he'd ever consumed was a glass of champagne at weddings, was a fitness instructor. Did everything 'they' tell you to do to live a healthy life.

[Odsox]

Forgive me, I don't know about OJ but the question I wanted answering was "what is in red meat that is supposed to be bad for you" ?
I personally don't give a monkeys about whether it will kill me or not, I'm just curious as whether it's the blood or something else.
I assume it must be the blood or white meat would be equally as bad, unless it's peculiar to beef.

[chickenchargrill]

As I said in my earlier post. It's the blood, or what's in the blood to give it it's pigment. Haem is the cancerous thing in the research you mentioned.

What they're saying at the moment is it's something in the blood that is particularly bad for you when cooked on a bbq or when processed. The haem releases something or other, which they've 'linked' to bowel cancer.

[baldybloke]

Best have another black pudding butty then!

[Pumpkin&Piglet]

Very interesting question Jerry, and one I hope you get an answer to.

I also eat very little beef or lamb, although I love it my OH can't stand the taste of blood in meat, so we pretty much only buy it when we have visitors. I must admit I hadn't given it too much thought as to what it is that is actually bad for you, and if it's the blood, does that also include chickens livers, which I do eat on a regular basis.(One of the perks of growing your own chicken meat )
Not only Bovril (which I also eat) but also Oxo cubes and salami for instance.

I never considered pork to be a "red" meat as it's bled at slaughter.

It was my understanding that all meat has been bled before being ready to be sold to the customer (in this country anyway!). The red coloured liquid coming out is water that has mixed with blood looking meat juices.

This is why Jehovah's Witnesses can eat meat whilst still abstaining from blood.

I know it's a little off topic but I am really interested in it. Does anyone have any more information?

[oldjerry]

As I said in my earlier post. It's the blood, or what's in the blood to give it it's pigment. Haem is the cancerous thing in the research you mentioned.

What they're saying at the moment is it's something in the blood that is particularly bad for you when cooked on a bbq or when processed. The haem releases something or other, which they've 'linked' to bowel cancer.

Thanks for that,it's as near a complete an answer asI expect I'll get.I was confused as they seemed to be saying that processed pork such as bacon etc was really iffy,and I'm not sure how that is more blood soaked than anything else.Strangely I always thought that black pudding was quite good for you.

I did expect to be pelted for the question,but hoped I'd made it clear that I'm really not some health freak,because even though I've had Crohn's for 3 decades and am therefore statistically 300x more likely to contract bowel cancer than any other bloke of my age,Icouldn't give a toss about healthy living.If my weekly intake of alcohol units falls much below three figures,I'm probably in hospital at the time.

[chickenchargrill]

Really sorry for the source of this info, but it was the easiest to find through Google. From the Daily Mail article about the research, which explains the bacon and ham bit:

haem can also trigger the formation of a class of harmful chemicals called ‘nitroso compounds’ (NOCs) in the body and some types of these chemicals have been linked to bowel cancer.
Barbecued or chargrilled meat is thought to be particularly bad for us. For, when meat is charred, compounds called Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed. Again these are thought to increase the risk of bowel cancer.
The worst type of meat is that which has been cooked and processed. These contain cancer-causing haem, HCAs and PAHs as well as preservatives called nitrates and nitrites, which also increase the risk of bowl cancer. However, the links between red meats and heart disease are less clear.
Some nutritionists believe the high doses of salt in processed food may be to blame. Professor Frank Hu of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, author of the new research, blames the saturated fats in all red meat for clogging up arteries.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1pJjcSpuc