Last month, two food-related stories dominated the press. First, the World Cancer Research Fund announced that no one should eat processed meat ever because of its incontrovertible link to colon cancer. Second, President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron made sausage the centerpiece of their photo-op during the president's trip to the United Kingdom.
The World Cancer Research Fund's new report, the most comprehensive ever conducted on colon cancer, confirmed that both red and processed meats play a significant role in the development of colorectal cancer. The authors found that 45 percent of all colorectal cancer cases could be prevented if we ate less meat and more fruits and vegetables and made other lifestyle changes.
You can't begrudge heads of state a bit of choreographed symbolism (pour the Guinness now, please). But when obesity, heart disease, cancer and other food-related conditions are epidemics costing hundreds of billions of dollars and a great many lives, the president needs to lead, not follow. He should set an example. So far, it's been in the opposite direction.
First, it was a well-publicized motorcade to Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington, Va., with the Vice president. Then, a repeat performance -- same place, same menu -- with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Five Guys burgers, meaty chili and similar junk food used as props of choice show a president who is out of touch with health.
Just as the previous administration ignored the pleas of the president's cancer panel to stop subsidizing unhealthy foods, the current one has similarly treated health and nutrition with indifference.
The First Lady's signature anti-obesity campaign -- Let's Move -- is no match for the administration's ongoing purchases of sausage, cheese, burgers and other fatty foods that are sent to schools everyday. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to bow to the interests of meat lobbyists and heavily subsidize the production of meat and other unhealthful foods.
It's time for the administration to acknowledge the clear and convincing scientific evidence linking processed meat to increased cancer risk. And it's time for action to protect our children: The president and the USDA should work to get hot dogs, bacon, pepperoni pizza and other processed meat products out of school lunches.
The president should also reconsider photo-ops that promote unhealthy foods.
Certainly, no political leader wants to appear aloof, and beer, burgers and sausage lend a "regular guy" image. But I don't want a regular guy as president. My plumber, my accountant, the pharmacist are all regular guys. And none of them should be running the country, much less setting a dietary example. Most "regular guys" die of heart disease, and half will develop cancer.
The fact that the Obama-Cameron photo-op served food to British soldiers doesn't excuse the unhealthful choices. British Ministry of Defence recently reported that 57 percent of its troops are overweight or obese. Many American soldiers are in the same predicament.
There is no shortage of healthful choices, as Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron demonstrated with an agile pair of salad tongs. The sooner our leaders break the pattern of catering to the worst of health problems, the better off we'll all be.
Neal D. Barnard, M.D., is a nutrition researcher and president of the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Obama, Cameron serve burgers at barbecue
What is the special relationship behind the barbecue bonhomie?
One to worry the right: Cameron and Obama are both revealed to be left-handed
That No. 10 barbecue was so fake - not like chicken drumsticks cooked Utley ...
Experimental H-type bovine spongiform encephalopathy characterized by plaques and glial- and stellate-type prion protein deposits
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/experimental-h-type-bovine-spongiform.html
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Transmissibility of BSE-L and Cattle-Adapted TME Prion Strain to Cynomolgus Macaque
"BSE-L in North America may have existed for decades"
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/transmissibility-of-bse-l-and-cattle.html
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Risk Analysis of Low-Dose Prion Exposures in Cynomolgus Macaque
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/risk-analysis-of-low-dose-prion.html
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Galveston, Texas - Isle port moves through thousands of heifers headed to Russia, none from Texas, Alabama, or Washington, due to BSE risk factor
http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2011/06/galveston-texas-isle-port-moves-through.html
TSS
And on Memorial Day, what is wrong with having a good hamburger? Occasionally having one of those or a good hotdog is fine. I just keep thinking back to Clinton jogging with his McDonalds--he was chubby. Obama looks fit.
We would be better off if Doctors would put their clout behind demanding bike lanes and sidewalks. That way regular people have a place to walk, ride or skate and get that exercise.
I agree with you about bike lanes and sidewalks. But our doctors in the U.S. aren't educated on fitness or health. That's why their profession has the highest rate of smoking, drug use, alcohol consumption, and obesity. And with the 6 total hours of nutrition that they must take in college, i wouldn't take a single piece of advice from a doctor.
What a person puts in his or her own body should be of no concern to anybody else. I cannot beleive that there are people in this world who think that it is acceptable to criticise what someone else eats. Worry about your own health and diet and leave me to mine.
Just how far would you go with this?
http://www.acg.gi.org/patients/gihealth/colon.asp
Your immune system also starts breaking down around that time, regardless of your diet, antioxidants, etc. Perhaps red meat increases your risk of developing colorectal cancer, but then again, your risk for all cancers is up when you're over 50 anyway, because your immunological clock is at its end.
Calorie restriction is the only tested method of increasing your immune system's longevity, so when eating red meat, only eat a little.
Man this stuff grates. There are better uses of your valuable - I say without irony - time, Doctor, than slinging more needless drama into an already overtaxed system. The hits you're picking up here aren't worth it.
Thanks Doctor, but, uh, mind your own business.
The President doesn't need to be a role model for every cause there is. What's next, a Presidential demonstration of tooth brushing? Leading the nation in exercise every morning in tights like Jack LaLanne? Put your information out there, then allow people to choose for themselves. Then stop whining.