Should Athletes Give Up On Eating Red Meat?

steak_cut_upYou may have heard from recent news outlets that, apparently, processed meats and red meats can cause cancer.

You may have also heard that these meats have now been classified as group-1 carcinogens, just like tobacco.

You may think that it’s time to give up on bacon, steak, and deli meats altogether.

Well, I’m here to tell you that there’s no need to do such a thing.

We’re going to look at a more balanced view of things, understand where the information is coming from, and what the real takeaway should be for all young athletes.

So turn off FOX news and other TV stations that have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s time to get to the bottom of things.

Quick Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or a scientist. The information presented here is simply for entertainment purposes, and should be considered one person’s opinion. Please consult with your physician before attempting to apply any of the recommendations listed on this website.

“Who Started All This?”

WHO-IARCThe IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) is a division of the WHO (World Health Organization), and they recently got 22 scientists together from ten different countries to go over a large amount of data and come to a verdict on processed and red meat.

It’s important to remember that they didn’t do any new research. Instead, they took all the studies that have been conducted in the past – 800 to be exact – to see if they can spot any trends or connections. It’s sort of like taking raw materials and making something out of it people can use and understand.

Well, mostly.

“So What Did They Find, Exactly?”

Well first, you have to understand that the research they reviewed was of the observational nature, which means that it’s difficult to know the exact cause. For example, let’s say that the day after Halloween, we observe 1000 kids eat some of their candy. And of all those kids, a bunch of them experience stomach aches.

observe_mag_glassWhat can we conclude from this observation?

If you said “candy causes stomach aches” then you’ve jumped to a very broad conclusion which may or may not be true. In fact, it’s just not practical, and here’s why:

How do you know the cause wasn’t a specific type of candy? Maybe it was just gummy bears that were the culprit.

How do you know it wasn’t a particular ingredient in candy? Maybe sugar wasn’t the enemy but a specific color dye such as yellow 5.

Or maybe it was a preservative.

Or maybe some of the kids were simply allergic to an ingredient they didn’t know about.

What about age? Do you know for certain if older kids are less likely to get stomach aches than younger ones?

As you can see, I could go on and on. And this is the problem with observational research – it’s hard to pin down an exact variable that was responsible for the change.

On the other hand, if you conducted an experiment where all those kids ate only a specific type of candy (like gummy bears), and they were of the same color, and the quantities were controlled, and the age of the kids wasn’t too varied, now you can know for sure if gummy bears are evil or not.

With that said, I’ll admit that it’s not that easy to do research on finding culprits of cancer where the variables are tightly controlled because cancer takes a long time to develop. It’s not like a pill where you ingest it today, and get to see if something happened by tomorrow.

Keeping all that in mind, here’s the conclusion they came to: Processed meats can cause colorectal cancer, while red meat can “probably” cause colorectal cancer.

What threw people off (especially the media) is when they placed processed meats into the Group 1 category of carcinogens, while they threw red meat into Group 2a.

What do these groupings mean? Well here’s how they work:

  • Group 1 – causes cancer
  • Group 2a – probably causes cancer
  • Group 2b – possibly causes cancer
  • Group 3 – Not classified as a cause of cancer
  • Group 4 – Probably not a cause of cancer

Curveball #1: The Dose Makes The Poison

green_poisonIt’s understandable if you’re feeling on edge, especially now that your favorite type of pepperoni is being grouped together in the same carcinogenic group as tobacco, diesel exhaust, coal, tar and ultraviolet radiation.

But you know what else is in that group? Alcohol, mineral oils, and salted fish.

So how can this be? I mean, I seriously hope you don’t believe that a can of beer or some salted fish is as harmful to your body as diesel exhaust!

The answer lies in the dose. The dose always makes the poison.

Did you know that with enough quantity, even water and oxygen can be highly toxic to your body?

This is a key factor that has gotten lost in translation. You’re not going to get cancer because you had a few slices of ham in your sandwich. Get real.

Curveball #2: Not All Cancers Are The Same

The other important note to remember is that the scientists were linking things to a very specific type of cancer – colorectal. This isn’t the same as say, a brain tumor, which is also very different than something like lung cancer.

So you can’t just paint a broad stroke and say: “hey, don’t eat that salami, you’ll get cancer.”

That’s just irresponsible. Yet the media is all over it, scaring everyone away from the deliciousness of bacon.

“Ok but where does general red meat come into all this?”

The reason they threw red meat into the Group 2a category has to do with how it’s digested. Because we’re dealing with colorectal cancer, we have to look into the intestines to see what’s going on.

Since we can’t do this literally, here’s a quick primer on red meat and why the WHO thinks it might be cancer-causing.

Quick Fact: Meat is classified as “red” based on the hemoglobin content. If you remember anything from science class, you’ll know hemoglobin is the pigment that gives your blood the red color in the first place. Most mammals, such as cows and pigs have meat that is high in hemoglobin, thus they are classified as red meat.

When you eat red meat, this pigment obviously gets ingested, and in your intestines it gets processed into something called NOCs (N-nitroso compounds). The problem with NOCs is that they can damage the walls of your intestines over a period of time.

The last part of that sentence is key – over a period time. See, the body tries its best to counteract this damage, and usually, it’s pretty good at it which is why you don’t drop dead of cancer a few days after enjoying some T-bone steak.

But sometimes DNA damage can occur that the body cannot deal with, leading to growth and multiplication of messed up cells at a rapid pace – or in other words, cancer.

Now, red meat (especially quality, unprocessed red meat) doesn’t do nearly as much damage (if any at all) compared to processed meats, which are sometimes loaded with certain chemicals that can exaggerate the NOCs problem. So because the risk is low, the WHO said regular ol’ red meat “probably” causes cancer.

Bottom Line: Here Are 6 Ways To Reduce Your (Already Low) Risk Of Cancer From Red Meat

1. Pick Quality Meat Sources:

Grass fed beef, like I recommend in The Cheer Diet  is a great option. Now some might say that you want to buy meats which are also antibiotic-free, but trust me, 9 out of 10 times this is a marketing gimmick. Allow me to explain…

  • Antibiotics are metabolized by the body (human or animal) very quickly. The “residue” that remains after an antibiotic treatment hardly ever lasts longer than 60 days at the most. What’s more, animals that are being treated by antibiotics for an illness cannot go into food production. It is illegal. So say a cow gets sick, and is treated with an antibiotic medication which has a withdrawal time of 30 days. This means that cow cannot be slaughtered until after the treatment is over, and the 30 days have passed. So the bottom line is that none of the beef you buy from grocery stores contains antibiotics – regardless if it’s from a grass fed cow or not. If it does, then congrats – you can now sue that company into oblivion (I’d still double check with a lawyer though ? )
  • The only valid concern is if the animal taking the antibiotics ends up with bacteria which becomes resistant to the drug, and then we end up ingesting all that bacteria because we didn’t cook the meat properly. The solution? Cook things properly, duh! A $10 meat thermometer can literally save your life.
  • But what if you’re a terrible cook? Well even then, there are guidelines in place to help you out. The antibiotics used in animals is usually very different from the stuff that doctors prescribe to us. Why? So that we don’t end up with any “superbugs” in our bodies that are resistant to drugs we may need to rely on in the future.
2. If You Must Have Them, Enjoy Your Processed Meats Responsibly:

As I mentioned earlier, it’s the dose that makes the poison. So if you’re eating salami, hotdogs, sausages and deli ham slices every single day then the intestinal damage we talked about could get out of hand. You’ll be outpacing your body’s natural speed of recovery and that’s when problems arise. The same is true for alcohol – a glass of wine a few times per week? Awesome. Drink two bottles every night? Now you’re asking for liver problems.

3. Don’t Barbecue All The Time:

When you grill your steak and burgers, the char that ends up on your meat from an open flame creates HCAs (heterocyclic amines), which is another chemical that can cause damage to your intestines. So the ideal way to cook your red meats would be pan-frying, baking, or maybe a stew in the slow cooker. Again, a few summer barbecue sessions isn’t something to be worried about. In fact, you can really reduce the impact of HCAs by following the next tip…

4. Eat Your Veggies:

Once again, mom was right on the money when she said you need to eat your veggies! Seriously, is there anything they don’t know? Green vegetables contain something called chlorophyll. This molecule can help prevent the pigment from being turned into NOCs and can lessen the damage from HCAs. Basically, chlorophyll acts as a bodyguard, preventing problems before they get out of hand. My favorite combination of all time? Steak and broccoli.

5. Take Your Calcium:

A simple calcium supplement (calcium carbonate, to be exact) has shown to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer. The study was done on mice, but the results do seem promising. What’s more, taking in calcium never hurts since as athletes we need it anyways. Combine this with tip #4, and now you’ve essentially bulletproofed yourself.

6 Stay Active:

This should go without saying, but almost any substance which might have the potential to do harm, will have more of a negative effect on those that are lazy, obese and sit on a couch all day. Give a donut to an inactive person, and they get fat. Give a donut to someone that trains 5-10 hours per week, and they only get more energy from the carbs. And you know what? Red meat (including processed) is no exception. Think about it, when you break your muscles down after a tough 2 or 3-hour training session, what does your body need to build those muscles back up bigger and stronger than before?

Protein… duh!

Specifically, a complete source of protein like you get from red meat (or any meat for that matter). So the bottom line is that if the meat you’re eating is actually going to be used up instead of just sitting there, it is less likely cause the amount of harm that is being touted in the media. Whenever research is released about how XYZ substance causes obesity, cancer, high blood pressure or anything else, one of the first questions on the minds of sports scientists and nutritionists is: “yeah but how does it affect trained individuals?”

Because they know that a body that’s healthy and constantly moving has a much higher tolerance to such negative effects.

Final Thoughts

I hope you learned a thing or two about how to make healthier meat choices and that you won’t give up on enjoying a delicious cut of steak once in a while. The WHO is actually made up of some pretty smart people, and they’re working with data that’s available to them. They come to conclusions in order to serve the general population. What’s more, they haven’t even finished doing their complete analysis yet – that will come later.

All that was released recently was a small report. A teaser of what’s to come.

But of course, the media had to jump all over it and cause a stir.

I strongly believe that performing like a champion and having the body you want, doesn’t have to come at the price of giving up foods that are enjoyable.

So go ahead, enjoy a slice of pepperoni pizza once in a while or a few slices of bacon with your eggs a few days a week. It ain’t gonna kill ya!

Enjoyed This Article? Then Why Not Go For The Full Experience?

Backed by the latest in nutrition research, everything about The Cheer Diet has been designed to help you stunt stronger, tumble harder and look absolutely fierce at competitions.

So while your competition is stuffing themselves with fast food and TV Dinners (which result in cramps, low energy and mental fatigue), you can get the edge by knowing which foods reduce muscle soreness, increase concentration and give you endless energy to bring home the gold!

Grab your copy of book today!

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– Coach Sahil M.
Certified Gymnastics Coach
Fitness & Nutrition Consultant
Author, The Cheer Diet
Former National Champion
National Deadlift Record
Founder of Addicted To Tumbling

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Article Sources

  • WHO.int
  • The Feeding Tube
  • Examine.com
  • Cancer Research UK
  • Calcium carbonate suppresses haem toxicity markers without calcium phosphate side effects on colon carcinogenesis

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