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| Tuesday, 10 August 2004 |
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Dangers of eating animal proteins by Dr. D. P. Atukorale Since protein is such a good thing you may be wondering whether you can eat too much and if so what will happen if you do so. Unlike certain other nutrients such as water soluble vitamins (vitamin B-complex and vitamin C) which can be consumed in fairly large quantities with no adverse effects, over consumption of protein can be hazardous to your health. When you eat too much of protein, a byproduct of protein metabolism called urea (blood urea nitrogen or BUN) is formed in your liver and excreted via the kidneys. The kidneys have to work overtime to eliminate the excess urea which has accumulated in your blood. This can lead to kidney damage especially in older people whose kidneys function less efficiently or in people with preexisting kidney damage. If you take in more protein than is needed, it is excreted because protein is not stored. The way it is excreted through the body is through the liver. The liver has to in crease its activity because of that increased workload and it changes that protein into urea (B.U.N.). B.U.N. goes to the kidneys which filter out this urea and kidneys also filter out protein which is unprocessed. As a result of the filtering of the urea and the protein, kidneys enlarge under this high protein load that we eat (John McDaug-all MD, Natural Living W B A I, New York, 26 March 1987). In addition to enlarging the kidneys the excess protein causes pressure to accumulate inside the kidneys causing damage to the tubercles (the filtering apparatus in the kidneys). For most people this presents no real threat since we have much more kidney tissue than we actually need. But if you have suffered kidney damage due to diabetes or high blood pressure or if you have only one functioning kidney as in patients who have accidental trauma to one kidney extra stress placed in your remaining kidney can severely overtax it and eventually can lead to destruction of the remaining kidney tissue. That is why doctors recommend a low protein diet for patients with high B U N (blood urea) or high serum creatinine. In order to flush excess urea (B U N) from our bodies we need to drink plenty of water for the kidneys to filter the urea out of the blood stream. Infants are especially at risk when they are fed high protein diets. A large number of babies in Sri Lanka are receiving cows milk which has twice the protein in human milk and an unrestricted amount of protein can be excessive, leading to hypernatraemic dehydration which can lead to brain damage, shut down of the kidneys and death within hours. (Hara Marano The problem with Proteins, New York 5 March 1979, 51). Dehydration from excess protein or protein loading can be dangerous to athletes. Not only these athletes are losing large amount of fluid from perspiration, they also require water to filter the urea from blood. For a marathon runner this can lead to serious heat stroke. Another nitrogen byproduct of protein metabolism is ammonia which builds up in our intestinal tract and can cause cancer. Dr. Willard Visek of University of Illinous Medical School, says ammonia behaves like chemicals that cause cancer or promotes its growth. It kills cells, increases virus infections and increases the rate at which cells divide and the incidence of cancer parallels the concentration of ammonia (Hara Marano). Ironic as it may seen another major problem associated with excess animal protein is calcium deficiency. Another thing that happens when kidneys begin to work overtime to rid the body of excess urea, they also excrete large amounts of minerals, the most important of which is calcium. The high concentration of calcium mixed with uric acid in the kidneys form kidney stones and the body becomes depleted of calcium and draws it out of the bones rendering them weak, the end result can be osteoporosis. Today osteoporosis in middle aged and elderly especially in the women is very common and people are terrified by the thought of getting shortened in stature, stooped and crippled and causes of this osteoporosis in many cases is due to excessive consumption of animal protein. Fortunately for women milk is not our only source of calcium. Natural vegetable sources that are very good suppliers of calcium include leafy vegetables, cauliflower, sesame seeds, soya beans, fresh and dried fruit and sea vegetables. If you eat a vegetarian diet it is unlikely that you will be taking excessive amounts of protein unless you eat a large amount of legumes. Even if you do take a vegetarian diet which is high in protein you will be taking a diet high in fibre which will cleanse your intestine from ammonia build-up. Vegetable proteins are easily digested and will provide you with calcium that you actually use rather than depleting your body of calcium. Animal protein on the other hand is where the problems of excess protein begin. A typical American diet includes eggs and bacon in the morning, hamburger or meat sandwich with a glass of milk for lunch and meat dishes for dinner, can add up over 200 grams of protein. This means massive amounts of urea and ammonia, fat, drugs and pesticide residues and very little fibre (as most wheat products are refined while meat, dairy products and eggs have little or no fibre). The result of above type of diet can result in major diseases such as coronary heart disease, colon and prostatic cancer, obesity osteoporosis, kidney and liver damage. Dangers of Animal Protein So called completed protein founding meat, paultry, fish, eggs and milk can be associated with saturated fat, cholesterol, nitrates, hormones, pesticides herbicides residues, antibiotics, preservatives and countless additives. So animal proteins can be worse for you than vegetable protein. An individual in US eats about 200 pounds of red meat, 50 pounds of chicken or turkey, 10 pounds of assorted fish, 300 eggs and 250 pounds of various dairy products a year. That is some feast! Biochemical nutritionist Dr. David Kritchevsky says best correlation with heart disease is animal protein. He found that animal sources contributed to more cases of arthritis than vegetable sources (Mara Marano) "The problem with Protein", New York, 5 March 1979, 52) Cross cultural studies have also shown that there is a greater incidence of cardiovascular diseases and colon cancer among people consuming diets high in animal products ie protein and fat (Osmo Turpeinen MD, Circulation 59, No. 1 January 1979; Margaret A Howell, Journal of Chronic Diseases 28, 1976, 67-80). Research also indicates a strong positive correlation between dietary protein and other cancers, breast, prostrate, pancreas, uterus, bowel and kidney says Collin Campbell, a Professor of Cornel University's Science Department (Susan Lang 'Diet and Diseases', Food Monitor, May/ June 1983, 24). Digestion too suffers when bombarded with lots of protein. The high saturated fat content of animal products makes them hard to digest and these food items settle in the stomach for about 7 hours. It is possible that food colouring, antibiotics and the hormones in animal products could contribute to causation of cancer. These ingredients are introduced into livestock at breeding phase. There are over five hundred chemicals allowed by US Government as additives. For starters the livestock and dairy cows consume large amounts of chemically treated feed and one of these is DDT which is an insecticide. The crops absorb small amounts of DDT; livestock eat the crops and concentrate the chemical and we eat livestock, DDT and all. A pound of beef may contain significant quantities of DDT residues and DDT may also be passed on in cows milk. The DDT we ingest in our burgers and shakes and in turn is stored in our body fat where it sits idle until we come under stress. DDT can be passed on to babies through mothers' milk. The two antioxidants BHT and BHA are added to livestock feed to keep the fat in the feed from going rancid, to make feed handling and shipping easier and ultimately to improve the taste in the meal once animals are slaughtered. The food additive sodium nitrate used as colour fixative in most processed meats, hot dogs, cured meats, bacon, meat spreads sausages and ham is another ingredient detrimental to health. When eaten, nitrates form substances in the stomach called nitrosamines which are potential cancer causing. Although bacon producers add vitamin C to bacon to lessen the cancer threat, two-thirds of vitamin C is destroyed during cooking. Antibiotics are used to keep animals disease-free and promote rapid weight gain in some livestock and animals pass these drugs on to humans who eat their flesh. Humans who are allergic to these antibiotics like Penicillin may be aggravating their allergies by unknowingly eating meat treated with such drugs. Hens are often fed a combination of antibiotics, sodium bicarbonate and terephthalic acid, a three niter mash that assures additives to correct any pigmentation abnormalities. The consumer trusting in high grade meat have no way to know how much of these toxic chemicals they are actually consuming. Meat has a high phosphorus content but it is very low in calcium. Consequently your burger, steak and roasted chicken may create an imbalance by loading you with phosphorus which is detrimental without adding calcium. So meat eaters should consume calcium rich foods along with meat. Otherwise the body will take the calcium from the bones thus weakening the bones. To get enough calcium vegetarians and meat eaters alike can turn to dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and cauliflower, sesame seeds, soya bean, sea vegetables, yogurt and other milk products. Cooking food with water and steam protects protein value and preserves vitamins and minerals. Certain cooking methods such as charcoal broiling and fan frying can render animal food carcinogenic. Roasting, poaching, steaming or stewing are perfectly safe. It is the cooking method that gives these foods cancer causing properties. Reference: Vegetarian Handbook by Gary Null |
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