Some Drawbacks of a Meat Diet

The effect of meat additives on human health also is a point of contention among scientists. In 1971, for example, Charles Edwards, M.D., former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, testified before a House committee on nutrition that sodium nitrite—a meat preservative—is potentially dangerous to small children, can deform the fetus in pregnant women, and can cause serious damage in anemic persons. Dr. Edwards, currently secretary of health in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, also said the additive may be carcinogenic, or cancer causing.CD-SG 38.7

But Harvard’s Dr. Stare says no carcinogenic agents are used in preserving meat. “Sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate have probably been used longer than any other type of preservatives,” he explains. “And there is no evidence, which I know of, that they are carcinogenic.”CD-SG 39.1

Some studies, however, indicate a strong correlation between a meat diet and cancer of the colon. “Animal protein tends to create anaerobic bacteria in the intestinal tract, and these anaerobic bacteria tend to convert bile acids into carcinogenic compounds,” explains U. D. Register, Ph.D., chairman of the nutrition department at the Loma Linda School of Health.CD-SG 39.2

And there are some indications that meat is highly susceptible to bacteria growth and food spoilage.CD-SG 39.3

Meat eaters also may be bothered by poor absorption and elimination. Food with a low fiber-content, such as meat, moves sluggishly through the digestive tract, making stools dry and hard to pass. But vegetables retain moisture and bind waste bulk for easy passage.CD-SG 39.4