BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?

Subject: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 10:59 AM

So the latest food scare in the UK is that eating processed meats such as sausages, pastrami, luncheon meat etc etc increases the chances of getting bowel cancer by upwards of 20%. Just one more thing to cancel from my diet..I love pastrami!

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Becca72
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 11:00 AM

Include bacon on that list, too...

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: SINSULL
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 11:06 AM

I wonder if the meat causes it or that people who eat a lot of it tend not eat fruit and vegetables - roughage. Just a thought.
M

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Becca72
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 11:13 AM

Supposedly it's the nitrates found in the processed meats that cause it

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: number 6
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 11:20 AM

I don't eat meat ... and very little processed foods.


biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 11:25 AM

Moderation, and eat roughage (greens, salads, apples, strawberries, downed trees, stuff like that). If you want to survive on an all-meat diet (99% meat), cook it very, very little -- raw is preferred.

Or...you could buy meats without added nitrates and nitrites. Read the label for information.

Or make your own pastrami:

he basic method for making pastrami from scratch is to start with a mostly trimmed beef brisket. If you buy a trimmed brisket at the store or butcher it will have no layer of fat on it. For the best results, it is best to have a very thin layer of fat on your brisket to make pastrami, about 1/4 inch. This means separating the flat and the point. For those of you who don't have a lot of experience with brisket, a whole brisket is actually two pieces of meat separated by a thick layer of fat that are referred to as the flat and the point.

From this point you need to corn the beef. This is done in several different ways. The easiest and safest in my opinion is to use a brine. The salt-water brine preserves the meat and gives it the texture that we would call corned beef. The basic brine consists of water, enough salt to float an egg and seasonings like black pepper, coriander, juniper berries, garlic, etc. People who make their own pastrami usually end up with a recipe unique to them. The beef brisket should remain in the brine stored in a cold, dark place for anywhere from seven days to three weeks. You do need to regularly check on the meat and turn it to prevent spoilage.

Once you have corned beef you need to rinse the meat off. If you have brined it for a long period of time, like three weeks you might want to soak it overnight in fresh water to lift some of the salt out. Now, apply a rub and place it in a smoker. The old fashioned way of preparing pastrami is to cold smoke it. This will give it a more pastrami like texture, but not that many people have the smokehouse to do this. A modern, "hot" smoker will do the trick. Smoke your brisket for about 45 minutes to an hour per pound. Keep this part in mind when selecting a brisket. A ten-pound brisket can take 10 hours to smoke. Once the meat has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees it is done. You do not need to smoke pastrami as long as you would a regular brisket. The long brining time will make the meat tender.

Homemade pastrami is one of those things you need to be careful with. Because you cure the meat for a long period of time the risk of spoilage is high compared with other smoked foods. Make absolutely certain that everything, including your hands, that come in contact with the meat is very clean. Make careful observations of the meat during the whole process. And make sure that every inch of the meat reaches 165 degrees before you remove it from the smoker.

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: greg stephens
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 11:28 AM

Being alive increases your chance of death by 100%

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: number 6
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 11:47 AM

Thanks Greg .... with that tidbit of enlightenment my day goes downhill from here. :)

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: redsnapper
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 12:38 PM

Latest food scare?

This has been informed medical opinion for at least 30 years as far as I'm aware and the reason I was recommended to go vegetarian by a doctor some 27 years ago since my mother died of bowel cancer and my father from another GI tract cancer... hence the possibility of a genetic predisposition.

RS

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 01:08 PM

Heck, I first heard it in the '70s. Also grilled (barbecued) meat can contain carcinogens.

Like with contaminated fish or vegetables, eat a moderate and varied diet. Wash your fruits and veggies before eating (you can also rinse off meats). And be sure to get the internal temperatures of meats to the correct level -- you might love steak tartare, but you won't like the gift Sam 'n' Ella brings.

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 01:30 PM

Georgiansilver,

I bet the 20% you mention are not the absolute risk increase but the relative risk increase. All people who want to scare us use the figures of the relative risk increase because they are so much more impressing.

Example (with invented numbers):

Say the baserate of getting bowel cancer would be 4 in 10,000. If the processed meat eaters would have a rate of 5 in 10,000 that would be a 25% relative increase of the risk. Scaring?

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 03:26 PM

Everything frightens me, Wolfgang. But I'm going to do something about it! I'm going to take a stand!

Yes, from know on I'm not going to read any statistics!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 03:32 PM

The most dangerous activity is living. There is a 100% chance of it leading to death. Also avoid hospitals at all cost because statistics have proven that more people die there than anywhere else.

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 04:12 PM

Yeah, I'm reminded of the police who installed crime mapping software for a huge amount of money and found that almost all the murders occurred at one particular address. Turned out to be the hospital, where the victims were pronounced dead.

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: The Vulgar Boatman
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 04:35 PM

And when a teetotaller gets up in the morning, that's as good as he's going to feel all day...

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Rabbi-Sol
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 05:03 PM

Nitrosimines are the culprit.

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 05:34 PM

A science report on the BBC today, several genes are involved, some restricted to specific races.

As my wife says, "I should have been dead years ago." Southerners can't live without ham and bacon grease, Czechs can't live without bratwurst, Italians without pastrami, New Yorkers without hot dogs, ....

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: M.Ted
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 06:52 PM

Italians and pastrami? Rumanians and Lithuanians like their pastrami, and Turks may sometimes crave pastirma, but Italians are more inclined to salami--thought the Italian diet includes a lot more vegetables, and considerably less red meat, than many others.

Subject: RE: BS: Processed meats---Cancer of the bowel?
From: bobad
Date: 31 Mar 08 - 06:56 PM

" Southerners can't live without ham and bacon grease, Czechs can't live without bratwurst, Italians without pastrami, New Yorkers without hot dogs, ...."

They can't live without them and they can't live with them - what's a person to do?