Page 39 - Fall2012

In fact, the study was pseudo-science at its not a mortal dietary sin after all? What if we Bacon's
best—an observational study using notoriously can eat all we’d like? Naughty propositions to
fallible food-frequency questionnaires, with be sure, but ones the Naughty Nutritionist™ is primary asset
researchers drawing unwarranted conclusions prepared to argue. And that promise is not just is fat and that
based on mere associations. Much ado about a strip tease! fat is primarily
nothing, in other words. A careful look at the data
suggests a 0.2-fold increased risk at most. And HEALTHY FAT mono-
that’s for people eating supermarket meat from Bacon’s primary asset is its fat, and that unsaturated.
factory farms who also happen to smoke, are fat—surprise!—is primarily monounsaturated.
couch potatoes, and eat their red meat wrapped Fifty percent of the fat in bacon is monounsatu-
up in white bread and buns. 4-6 rated, mostly consisting of oleic acid, the type so
Sadly, lots of people assume Harvard’s valued in olive oil. About three percent of the fat
warnings must be valid. Red meat, bacon and is palmitoleic acid, a monounsaturate with valu-
other tasty high-fat foods, after all, have long able antimicrobial properties. About 40 percent
enjoyed reputations as being both delicious and of bacon fat is saturated, a level that worries
dangerous. Indeed, the bacon question has been fat phobics, but is the reason why bacon fat is
argued for years now, with most non-vegan in- relatively stable and unlikely to go rancid under
ternet bloggers concluding that bacon’s “not so normal storage and cooking conditions. That’s
bad” if used to add a bit of flavor and crunchiness important, given the fact that the remaining 10
to “healthy” foods such as salads and vegetables. percent is in the valuable but unstable form of
Comedian Jim Gaffigan spoofed this point of polyunsaturates. 7
view on Late Night with Conan O’Brien when he Pork fat also contains a novel form of
described bits of bacon as “the fairy dust of the phosphatidylcholine that possesses antioxidant
food community” and eating a salad sprinkled activity superior to vitamin E. This may be one
with bacon as “panning for gold.” reason why lard and bacon fat are relatively stable
A bit more bacon—even a few strips— and not prone to rancidity from free radicals. 8
sometimes even gets the Food Police stamp of Bacon fat from pastured pigs also comes
approval, provided it’s a special treat, of course, replete with fat-soluble vitamin D, provided it’s
and not a daily indulgence. But such recommen- bacon from foraging pigs that romp outdoors in
dations usually come complete with a warning to the sun for most of the year. Factory-farmed pigs
stick with lean bacon, and then cook it so it’s firm kept indoors and fed rations from soy, casein,
but not soft. While that last sounds a bit naughty, corn meal and other grains, are likely to show
it’s actually anti-fat food puritanism—the goal low levels of vitamin D.
being to render the soft parts into fat that can be
poured or patted off. NUMBERS GAME
But what if bacon is actually good for us? How much vitamin D is the question. Most
What if it actually supports good health and is databases suggest 100 to 250 IU per 100 grams,

THE PORK-BLOOD STUDY

Recently, the Weston A. Price Foundation published a study on pork by Beverly Rubik, PhD (Fall, 2011, http://www.
westonaprice.org/cardiovascular-disease/how-does-pork-prepared-in-various-ways-affect-the-blood). Using a dark-field
microscope, Rubik looked at the blood of healthy volunteers before and after eating pork prepared in various ways. Eating
a cooked pork chop caused normal blood to clump up in a pathological way. However, if the pork chop was marinated
in vinegar before cooking, then no adverse changes in the blood occurred. Likewise with prosciutto ham, which is made
with a salt cure and aged, no adverse changes occurred.
Happily, bacon caused no adverse effects, no blood clumping or other pathological changes to the blood.
As with so many other foods, it seems that pork needs proper preparation to be truly healthy and digestible for human
beings. Marinating in vinegar or lemon juice, or a salt cure, appears to eliminate whatever allergen or toxin causes blood
clumping after consumption of unmarinated or uncured pork. This may explain the prohibition against consumption of
pork in some parts of the world.
Wise Traditions FALL 2012 FALL 2012 Wise Traditions 39

101665_text.indd 39 9/14/12 1:33 AM