Those who love to eat meat, will you please raise your right hands!
These days, more and more Filipinos are eating meat (beef, pork, chicken and fish). But it is not only in the Philippines that meats are getting popular but in other developing countries, too.
“Meat consumption in developing countries has been continuously increasing from a modest average annual per capita consumption of 10 kilograms in the 1960s to 26 kilograms in 2000 and will reach 37 kilograms around the year 2030,” according to the projects of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
There are several reasons why meat consumption is increasing in developing countries. “The rising demand for meat in developing countries is mainly a consequence of the fast progression of urbanization and the tendency among city dwellers to spend more food than the lower income earning rural population,” FAO claims.
Man’s propensity for meat consumption has biological roots. In ancient times, meat was clearly preferred, consequently time and physical efforts were invested to obtain it, basically through hunting.
“Quantitatively and qualitatively, meat and other animal foods are better sources of protein than plant foods (except soybean products),” FAO explains. “In meat, the essential amino acids – the organic acids that are integral components of proteins and which cannot be synthesized in the human organism – are made available in well balanced proportions and concentrations.”
It is common knowledge that plant food has no vitamin B12. As such animal food is indispensable for children to establish B12 deposits. Animal food, in particular meat, is rich in iron which is of utmost importance to prevent anemia, especially in children and pregnant women.
The demand for meat has paved the way to processing meat. “It fully utilizes meat resources, including nearly all edible livestock parts of human food consumption,” FAO says.
Meat processing is defined as “any mechanical, chemical or enzymatic treatment of meat which alters the form from which it originally occurs.” It has six functions, namely: preservation and/or self-life extension, tenderization, meat cookery, manipulation and control of composition, portion control, and improvement of consumer convenience.
On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines processed meat as “meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking or other processes to enhance flavor or improve preservation.”
Most processed meat contains pork or beef, but also can include red meats, poultry and organs or blood. Red meat is defined as unprocessed mammalian muscle meat – aside from pork and beef – such as veal, lamb, mutton, chevon, including mince or frozen meat.
Some of the most common processed meats are bacon, ham, hotdogs, sausages, salami, corned beef, beef jerky, canned meat and meat-based sauces.
And here’s bad news! The United Nations health agency reports that processed meat does cause cancer – and even those red meats contain carcinogenic agents, too!
The WHO classifies agents into one of five groups: Group 1 (carcinogenic to humans), Group 2A (probably carcinogenic to humans), Group 2B (possibly carcinogenic to humans), Group 3 (not classifiable) and Group 4 (probably not carcinogenic).
“Suspected carcinogenic chemicals can form during meat processing,” reports the BBC news. “These include N-nitroso compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.”
Cooking the meat at high temperatures, especially on a barbecue, can also produce these dangerous chemicals.
Each 50 grams of processed meat each day – that’s fewer than two slices of bacon – increased the risk of cancer by 18%. But WHO admits that the cancer risk is “not yet fully understood.”
On the other hand, each 100 grams of red meat – which is classified under Group 2A – per day increased the risk by 17%, although the WHO also admits that there is limited evidence.
The WHO classifies processed meat under Group 1 since it has found sufficient evidence that consumption of processed meat by humans causes colorectal cancer. A 2016 report by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund also found that processed meat consumption increased the risk of stomach cancer.
Now, should you stop eating processed meats and red meat? Well, the WHO cannot set safe levels as there is “insufficient evidence.” However, the World Cancer Research Fund suggests eating “as little as possible” processed meat and as much as 500 grams of cooked red meat). That’s not per day but per week!
Perhaps, you can start eating plant foods, too, that are rich in protein. Frankie Philippines, spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, was quoted as saying by BBC: “The general message is it’s OK to eat red meat but perhaps to look at ways of increasing the amount of plant-based foods – in particular, pulses.”
