Risks of Eating Animals

See how plants provide more benefits by calorie in this chart

All Cause Mortality due to eating animals

2015 WHO Report: “processed meat has been classified in the same category as causes of cancer such as tobacco smoking and asbestos”. So eating meat in moderation is like smoking in moderation.

Study: The more vitamin K component (found only in plants) you eat you lower your risk of all-cause mortality.

Study finds the more fiber & fruit EATEN (not pills) the less all-cause mortality.

Study: High animal protein intake was positively associated with cardiovascular mortality

Study: High intake of grilled/barbecued and smoked meat associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality.

Physicians should encourage patients to limit animal products when possible due to all source mortality risk.

Byproduct of meat & eggs leads to heart failure(TMAO)

Harvard study finds 2 TIMES the risk of prostate cancer progression eating 1 egg a day and 4 times for eating poultry.

“The main dietary sources of PCBs are fish (especially sportfish caught in contaminated lakes or rivers), meat, and dairy products.”

Antibiotic use in animals

Use of antibiotics in animals threatens human health here.  Antibiotic 101 here.

73% of antibiotics are used to quickly increase animal weight rather than to cure human diseases. Pew Trust report here.

The FDA’s yearly National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System report for 2013 shows foodborne illness (bacteria etc) are becoming more antibiotic resistant. This on top of the fact that samples show 74% of turkey meat sampled have E.coli and 74% of the E.coli was antibiotic resistant. Summary here. FDA reports here.

Report: An “emergent clone” of antibiotic resistant bacteria was found to have originated in cattle and switched to humans, causing the “potential for pandemic spread”.

Study finds those consuming 7 servings of fruits and vegetables/day saw a 42% decreased risk of death due to any cause, compared with those who consumed the least amount.

Antibiotics for use in cows, chickens and other animals raised for food increased 16%. San Fran law requires antibiotic use disclosure.

Reuters article on antibiotics in chickens and the resulting danger for humans

UN admits antimicrobial due to resistance use in animal agriculture

NYT-virulent strain of salmonella one of a growing number of drug-resistant germs

In 2019 33 million pounds of medically important antibiotics, a 26 % increase from 2009, were sold in the United States for farm use

Head of UK medicine warns animal antibiotic use could put humans back into the pre-antibiotic era.

Risks of eating “red meat” animal flesh

Study reports: “The results of our analysis support a moderate positive association between processed meat consumption and mortality, in particular due to cardiovascular diseases, but also to cancer.”

Harvard study: “Red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of total, CVD, and cancer mortality.” (CDV is cardiovascular disease).

A meta-analysis of studies “indicate that high consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, may increase all-cause mortality.”

We Feed Cows Chicken Poop Containing Cows: Poultry litter is the agriculture industry’s term for the detritus that gets scooped off the floors of chicken cages which contains a combination of feces, feathers, uneaten chicken feed, antibiotics, heavy metals, disease-causing bacteria, and even bits of dead rodents, according to Consumers Union, publisher of  Consumer Reports. Poultry litter is fed to cows.  The excrement and uneaten pellets of chicken chow found in poultry litter can contain beef protein which when fed to cows, making cows canibals, could allow for the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, the gruesome and fatal neurodegenerative disorder more commonly known as mad cow disease.

Study finds greater red meat intake is associated with unfavorable plasma concentrations of inflammatory and glucose metabolic biomarkers    in diabetes-free women. As total red meat consumption increased, C-reactive protein (biomarker of infections and diseases including heart disease and cancer) and hemoglobin A1c (an indicator of diabetes risk) also increased.

Study finds strong evidence that consuming fruits and vegetables and avoiding red meat and foods high in animal fat will substantially reduce risk of human cancer.

 11 studies on processed meat reviewed: “Significant” link “between processed meat consumption and bladder cancer” 

Study finds sodium intake was NOT associated with mortality, heart disease or heart failure-so it must be the FLESH that is the problem. 

Studies show red & processed meat increases risk of type 2 diabetes

Eating  flesh cooked directly over fire makes it more dangerous than smoking or consumption of alcohol.

Study shows red meat intake during childhood leads to earlier onset of puberty in girls which negatively affects disease risk for breast cancer, obesity, & cardiovascular disease.

World Cancer Research Fund recommends for cancer prevention, eat more vegetables and limit consuming red or processed meat

6 hormones fed to cows

Recalls of meat and poultry that USDA classified as the most hazardous to public health doubled between 2013-2020.

Risks of eating dead fish

Seafood eaters ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic every year

Risks of eating dead chickens

In a 2013 John Hopkins Environmental Health Perspectives study, the article notes: “Chronic inorganic arsenic exposure has been shown to cause lung, bladder and skin cancers and has been associated with other conditions as well, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cognitive deficits, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.” The study was reviewing arsenic-based drugs used to promote unnaturally rapid growth in chickens.

Contaminants and risks of death listed hereChicken flesh sprayed with antimicrobials to control bacteria (practice banned by EU). 

Undercooked poultry is the top promulgator of Campylobacter jejuni which can cause diarrhea, temporary arthritis, hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can result in renal failure,appendicitis, carditis, Reiter syndrome, and Miller Fisher syndrome, which is a subtype of Guillain-Barré syndrome. Campylobacter cases are over 2.5 times more common than E Coli cases, as there are approximately 2.4 million cases in the US yearly.

Apparently you have to wash chicken flesh in your garage!!! The flesh is so unsafe the National Chicken Council WARNS you not to wash it in your kitchen sink or you will spread deadly bacteria found on the flesh. “Bacteria in raw meat and poultry can only be killed when cooked to a safe internal temperature.”