Page 12 - Summer2009

Caustic Commentary

Sally Fallon and Mary Enig take on the Diet Dictocrats

RED MEAT VILLANY? DEADLY
Red meat is under attack again, this time with a study pub- Barely a month after the U.S. Department of Justice sued
lished in the Archives of Internal Medicine Forest Labs, maker of the popular and potentially suicide-
ZKLFK PDGH LW WR WKH IURQW SDJHV RI WKH QHZVSDSHUV inducing antidepressant Lexapro, for illegally marketing the
“Eating red meat increases the chances of dying prematurely,” drug for children when it wasn’t approved for use in children,
said the newspaper reports, “Americans who consumed about the FDA has approved this highly dangerous drug for use in
four ounces of red meat a day were more than 30 percent children. The Department of Justice lawsuit alleges that the
more likely to die during the 10 years they were followed, company essentially bribed doctors to prescribe the drug to
mostly from heart disease and cancer” (Washington Post, kids, so we can expect more of the same now that FDA has
0DUFK 7KH UHSRUW LWVHOI GHVFULEHG WKH LQFUHDVHV given Forest Labs the green light. FDA approval doesn’t make
in total mortality as “modest,” and a careful reading of the the risk go away. On the Forest Labs’ own Lexapro website,
text reveals that compared to those in the lowest quintile of \RX¶OO ¿QG WKLV ZDUQLQJ ³$QWLGHSUHVVDQWV LQFUHDVHG WKH ULVN
meat consumption, those in the highest quintile were three compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (sui-
WLPHV PRUH OLNHO\ WR VPRNH SHUFHQW OHVV OLNHO\ WR HQJDJH cidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-
LQ YLJRURXV H[HUFLVH ZHUH OHVV ZHOO HGXFDWHG KDG ORZHU ¿EHU term studies of major depressive disorder (MDD) and other
consumption and ate fewer fruits and vegetables. The authors psychiatric disorders.” If your child is depressed, Lexapro
did not explore the possibility that frequent meat eaters were could send him or her over the edge to suicide. If your doc-
more likely to eat processed vegetable oils and processed food tor recommends this dangerous drug for your child, walk
in general. Chris Masterjohn points out that the study was RXW RI KLV RI¿FH DQG ¿QG D QHZ GRFWRU LPPHGLDWHO\ ZZZ
not designed to determine cause and effect, and its ability to hsibaltimore.com/2009/03/23/fda_children/).
determine true meat intake was almost non-existent. “News
reports and editorials alike failed to discuss its embarrass- VITAMIN A VINDICATED
LQJ ¿QGLQJ WKDW PHDW LQWDNH ZDV DVVRFLDWHG ZLWK WKH ULVN RI 5HVHDUFKHUV DW 7XIWV 8QLYHUVLW\ KDYH FRQ¿UPHG D WKHRU\
dying from accidental injury, probably because the apparent ¿UVW SURSRVHG E\ &KULV 0DVWHUMRKQ Medical Hypotheses
lack of a plausible mechanism by which eating meat could December, 2007) that vitamin A protects against vitamin
cause someone to get into a car accident emphasizes the most ' LQGXFHG UHQDO FDOFL¿FDWLRQ NLGQH\ VWRQHV E\ QRUPDOL]LQJ
basic principle of science that they want us all to forget: that the production of vitamin K-dependent proteins (Journal of
correlation does not prove causation. There are thus two Nutrition 'HF 7KH UHVHDUFKHUV VKRZHG
important points we need to understand about this study to that without vitamin A, vitamin D produces an excess of
realize just how little it does to increase our knowledge: the defective vitamin K-dependent proteins that will not protect
study found a correlation between increased mortality and a DJDLQVW VRIW WLVVXH FDOFL¿FDWLRQ DQG PD\ HYHQ FDXVH VRIW WLVVXH
population’s propensity to report eating meat, not a correla- FDOFL¿FDWLRQ 7KH VWXG\ SURYLGHV DGGLWLRQDO VXSSRUW IRU WKH
tion between mortality and true meat intake. . . . these may premise that the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and K need to be
be two completely different things; and correlation does not concurrently present in the diet for optimal health. Vitamin
VKRZ FDXVDWLRQ 7KHUH LV DEVROXWHO\ QR VFLHQWL¿F EDVLV WR $ DORQH GRHV QRWKLQJ WR EHQH¿W WKH NLGQH\V RU WKH OXQJV 9L-
conclude from this study that eating meat increases mortal- tamin D alone causes a remarkable reduction in the ability of
ity” (www.cholesterol-and-health.com/cholesterol-blog.html). carcinogens associated with cigarette smoke to induce lung
Meanwhile, an analysis of two hundred studies found no cancer but by itself causes kidney stones. When vitamin A
GH¿QLWLYH DVVRFLDWLRQ RI PHDW DQG GDLU\ FRQVXPSWLRQ ZLWK is combined with vitamin D, lung cancer improves just as
heart health (USA Today, $SULO :KDW GLG HPHUJH PXFK DQG WKH NLGQH\ FDOFL¿FDWLRQ LV FRPSOHWHO\ HOLPLQDWHG
from the review was a strong association with consumption This may be because, as the research showed, the activation
of “starchy carbs like white bread and the trans fats in many of normal vitamin K-dependent proteins in the kidney is much
cookies and french fries.” stronger with both vitamins than with neither, suggesting that
10 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2009