A reminder about the high levels of salt in bacon

A few days ago the Guardian reported that CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) has again warned about the high salt content of bacon, and has described it as "now the second-biggest source of salt in the UK diet after bread." - Me, I sometimes describe it as laden with salt. One of the reasons the food manufacturers make it so salty is so that they can get away with adding more water to it, because salt helps to hold water in a product. This enables salt water to be sold at the same price as the bacon which holds it, and accounts for that off-putting feature, when frying bacon, of seeing water vapour rising from it as some of the water content is driven out by the heat. 

 

If you have high blood pressure, or if you are overweight - particularly if you are overweight as a result of taking anti-depressants or prescribed steroids or anti-epileptics or anti-psychotics - then cutting down on salt-laden food like bacon would benefit your health immensely and you would feel sooo much better. - Go on! - Give it a try!

Eat less salt to reduce your risk of cancer

Big 'news' this week is that eating less salt lowers your risk of developing cancer, especially cancer of the stomach. See this BBC News report, where you will read: "Cutting back on salty foods such as bacon, bread and breakfast cereals may reduce people's risk of developing stomach cancer, according to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)." I put inverted commas round the word 'news' because my website has been informing people of this fact for many years and so it is hardly news. The usual establishment health message about salt reduction is that reducing salt intake reduces your risk of stroke, heart disease and heart attacks, and that it lowers high blood pressure, and while this health message is undoubtedly correct, it omits a multitude of other health benefits that result from eating less salt, most amazingly omitting the information that cutting salt intake is the fastest, safest way to lose excess weight. - In view of all the publicity about the prevalence and dangers of obesity, it's a real shame (I use the word advisedly) that this weight reduction information is not being promulgated by the public health brigade. Indeed, they almost seem to go out of their way to keep us in the dark about it. (The explanation for the weight loss is that salt reduction reduces the fluid retention which contributes to all overweight. Read about the groups of people that are particularly vulnerable to salt.)

Processed meat risks health, studies suggest; fresh meat OK.

BBC News reports that a Harvard University team which looked at studies involving over one million people from 10 countries found just 50g of processed meat a day increased the risk of heart disease and diabetes, while there was no such risk from unprocessed meat, such as beef, lamb or pork. They posit that the difference may be explained by the salt and preservatives added to processed meats (like bacon, sausages, salami and other luncheon meats).

Well I've been saying for years on my website and in my blogs that salt intake and dodgy added chemicals in processed 'foods' promote degenerative disease and obesity.
See Sodium in foods.

I've been watching "Jamie Saves Our Bacon" on Channel 4 - a powerful programme

I've been watching Jamie on Channel 4 - http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/jamie-oliver/jamie-saves-our-bacon/index.html - This was a powerful plea for pigs to be farmed more compassionately. Currently many pigs in Europe, particularly the sows, endure very long periods of cruel restriction, unnaturally confined in uncomfortable pens.

If you click on the link and learn more about the matter, I feel sure you will be moved to do what you can to ameliorate the lives of the pigs. Jamie is asking us to buy British pork, because pig welfare standards here are higher, and he is asking us to buy shoulder of pork, belly of pork and pork neck fillet, because buying these cuts, which at present are less popular cuts, will help hard-pressed British pig farmers. There are recipes for these cuts on the Channel 4 website.

He is also pressing the powers that be to put better labelling on packs of pork so that consumers can be sure about the country of origin of the pork and in particular, the bacon.

(He also showed us a distasteful practice of some pork dealers - that of injecting water and phosphates into pig meat, so that you could be buying a pack of pork that is 89% pork and 11% water and phosphates...)o: - Include me out of pork like that!)

breakfast cup of coffee and a muffin on the way to work contains a third of the recommended daily salt limit, a study has warned.

Breakfast of coffee and a muffin 'can contain high levels of salt'
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The worst offenders among those tested were a Starbucks Cinnamon Swirl, which contained 1.74g of salt, the equivalent of two rashers of bacon, and Costa's Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffin, which contained 1.71g.

But the study warns that a "healthy" home breakfast can also be high in salt.

Researchers found that those who kick-started the day with a bowl of cornflakes and two slices of toast with butter and Marmite took in half of their recommended daily salt limit, around 2.8g.

Those who ate the same meal with jam instead of Marmite still took in a third of their daily salt limit, around 1.8g.

A full English breakfast can contain more than the daily recommended limit of salt, the study also found.

A fry-up which includes two sausages, two rashers of bacon, two slices of black pudding, one fried egg, mushrooms, baked beans, a tomato and one slice of toast with butter, contains around 6.1 g of salt.

Carrie Bolt, a nutritionist with CASH, said: "When eating breakfast away from home, customers shunning greasy spoons for coffee shop breakfasts could actually be eating more salt and would be better off choosing lower salt options from the greasy spoon menu."

Doctors recommend that salt intake be limited because it can push up blood pressure levels, increasing the risk of heart disease or stroke."

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

See Sodium in foods

vulnerable groups

See amitriptyline

prescribed steroids and HRT

Sausages, bacon, ham and other processed meats increase the risk of developing bowel cancer.

Sausage a day can increase bowel cancer risk

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Eating one sausage or three rashers of bacon a day can increase the risk of bowel cancer by a fifth, a medical expert has said.

The warning involved only 1.8oz (50g) of processed meat daily.

Researchers found that almost half of cancers could be prevented with lifestyle changes such as a healthier diet, using sunscreen, not smoking and limiting alcohol intake.

The charity World Fund Cancer Research (WCRF) said more needed to be done to get across the message that people who eat processed meat regularly are putting their health at risk.

The Government has introduced a bowel cancer screening programme to offer tests every two years to all men and women aged between 60 and 69. Older people could ask for testing.

But experts believe it is more effective to prevent bowel cancer, the second most lethal form of the disease after lung cancer.

Prof Martin Wiseman, the medical and scientific adviser for the WCRF, said there was convincing evidence of a link between processed meats and cancer.

Processed meat is preserved by smoking, curing, salting or the addition of preservatives.

Examples include ham, bacon, pastrami, salami, hot dogs and processed sausages.

This includes hamburgers and minced meat if it has been preserved with salt or chemical additives.

One in 20 people develops bowel cancer and 16,000 people die from it each year.

Prof Wiseman said: "We are more sure now than ever before that eating processed meat increases your risk of bowel cancer.

"Whether it is bacon or ham, the safest amount to eat is none at all.""

It is advisable to cut down on all salted food, particularly if you are overweight/obese, because all overweight and obese people are sensitive to salt, and it is this salt sensitivity that has caused them to become overweight with fluid retention.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

Prescription drugs that can and do cause weight gain include Prednisone, Prednisolone, HRT, some oral contraceptives, amitripyline, Zoloft, Zyprexa,..

Higher doses cause greater weight gain. The drugs that cause the greatest weight gain tend to be some steroids like prednisone and prednisolone, oestrogen-containing drugs like HRT and oral contraceptives, some antidepressants including amitriptyline/Elavil, Paxil, Tofranil/Imipramine and Zoloft, and some antipsychotics including Zyprexa. The antiseizure medication, Depakote, diabetes drugs like Diabeta and Diabinese, and the high blood pressure drugs Atenolol, Cardura and Inderal and heartburn drugs like Nexium and Prevacid may also cause drug-induced weight gain. NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like Brufen/Ibuprofen/Nurofen and some other painkillers can also cause weight gain.

The weight gain is because of sodium retention and water retention, and this fluid retention can easily be reduced by avoiding salt/sodium and food containing salt, such as bacon, ham, pork pies, Marmite, ready meals, tinned soups, shop-bought sandwiches, sauces, etc. - So eating less salt is the fastest, surest and safest way to lose excess weight...(o:

Lose weight and improve your health in many ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/steroids.html

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

vulnerable groups

How to Lose weight!

Children and Obesity

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

Researchers claim that red meat 'raises risk of breast cancer'

Red meat 'raises risk of breast cancer' - Telegraph

Extracts:

"Eating even small amounts of red meat daily can increase the risk of breast cancer by 56 per cent in older women, according to British research published today.

Researchers were quite surprised that only 2oz of red meat a day appeared to have an effect
As little as 2oz (57g) of beef, lamb or pork a day showed an effect. Post-menopausal woman who ate larger amounts, 3.6oz (103g), of processed meats such as sausage, bacon, ham or pies had an increased risk of 64 per cent.

Even younger, pre-menopausal women had a slightly raised risk if they ate red meat daily, the study from the University of Leeds found.

The research, led by Prof Janet Cade, a professor of nutritional epidemiology and public health, involved 35,000 women aged between 35 and 69 who have been followed for nearly eight years."

"The researchers took into account smoking, weight, fruit and vegetable intake, class, education and use of hormone replacement therapy.

"The findings are robust. Whatever we adjusted the data for we could still find an association," Prof Cade said yesterday. The study, in the British Journal of Cancer, says: "Women consuming the most total [all kinds] meat, red meat and processed meat were at the highest risk compared with non-meat eaters, although red and processed meat were only statistically significant post-menopausally"."

"Prof Cade said one reason why red meat may contribute to a raised risk of breast cancer is that it is a rich source of saturated fat. The women who ate the most meat were also more likely to be fatter."

"Henry Scowcroft, of Cancer Research UK, said: "Our best dietary advice to women worried about their breast cancer risk is to maintain a healthy body weight by taking regular exercise and avoiding large regular portions of fatty foods like red and processed meat, and excess alcohol. It's also important to be breast aware, and to go for screening when invited by your GP."

Dr Alexis Willett, of the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "We encourage all women to eat a balanced diet, limit alcohol consumption, exercise regularly and keep a healthy weight to maintain general good health.""

I have quoted rather extensively from this article because when advice is given the amount of coverage that this has had today - radio, TV, newspapers - it is likely to be very influential. And this research must have cost a huge amount of money - 35,000 women over a period of eight years. - Despite its cost, and despite the publicity given to it, I am not remotely persuaded that its findings can be given much credence and I am confident that the conclusions the researchers have drawn are flawed. I'll explain why I am of this opinion.

Neither the researcher nor the people quoted as commenting on the research findings makes any mention of salt (or sodium) as far as I can see, even though Prof Cade says: "The women who ate the most meat were also more likely to be fatter." - But people are made fatter by the conjunction of salt sensitivity and the intake of salt, not by eating red meat as such. It looks to me as though the red meat eaters may possibly have used a bit more salt than the other women in the study. - The processed meat in the study would have had salt added by the food manufacturers, and that added salt would of course have increased the weight of the women who were sensitive to salt, and so would have increased the risk of their getting breast cancer.

The research would have been much more useful if levels of salt/sodium intake had been among the parameters considered, but it does not appear to have been.

Obesity is caused by fluid retention which in turn is usually caused by salt sensitivity. And obesity is the main individual contributory factor in the causation of most cancers. - So in my opinion, the best dietary measure anyone can take to lower their risk of developing cancer in general, and breast cancer in particular, is to lower their salt intake to the lowest they can manage.

This page lists many of the adverse health conditions that are caused or exacerbated by salt sensitivity, and cured or made less severe by cutting down on salt intake, and by eating plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit - http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)