I recently received a cc email from my friend Bill Stanton of Bill Stanton Health in which he responded to the assertion that red meat is bad for everyone and to the recent PubMed study (Arch Intern Med 2009;169:562-71 [PubMed Abstract]) upon which this assertion was being made.  I share his comments below because they reflect the truth that there is no one diet that is right for all people.  We are all a product of our genetic ancestry and our environment which dictate our metabolic type, and the substantial variation of both in mankind demands that optimal diets vary accordingly. 

This message is to the person who wrote the following:  "Red meat is bad for you - and bad for everyone else."

Tell that to a vegetarian who is now desperate for red meat - AS LIFE-SAVING MEDICINE - who has developed any of the following vegetarian-induced, debilitating and deadly nutritional deficiency diseases, like:

  1) PERNICIOUS ANEMIA, - CAUSED by NOT eating red meat, THE source of vitamin B12 (and not found in vegetarian diets, which is why ONLY VEGETARIANS develop this severe and deadly nutritional deficiency disease.)

  2) IRON-DEFICIENCY ANEMIA - CAUSED by NOT eating red meat.

  3) ZINC DEFICIENCY (WHICH CAUSES SEVERE IMMUNE DEFICIENCIES, CANCER, IMPOTENCE AND LOW TESTOSTERONE, etc.,) - CAUSED by NOT eating red meat.

  4) CARNITINE DEFICIENCY (which CAUSES low energy, chronic fatigue, congestive heart failure, obesity, etc.) - CAUSED by NOT eating red meat.

  5) (Heretofore "untreatable") CHRONIC FATIGUE AMONG VEGETARIANS.

Here we necessarily state the case for the only "treatment" of the aforementioned diseases/syndromes with one specific medicine: 

RED MEAT!

Beware of epidemiological studies, which are scientifically weak and often are "designed" to yield a specific, foregone conclusion.  Scientific studies today - especially those funded/conducted by Big Pharma - are ALL DESIGNED to yield a specific desired result - or else they DO NOT get published and you never hear about that particular study and its FAILURE.

The current study is part of the long-term allopathic "attack" on red meat, since red meat contains cholesterol, and 'ALLOPATHY' is "phobic" about dietary/blood levels of serum cholesterol, even though current world published science/most of the rest of the world of "intelligent medicine" has essentially refuted the "cholesterol theory (read "The Cholesterol Hoax" by Dr. Sherry Rogers, M.D. - www. prestigepublishing.com).

The current study draws its "modest" conclusions on the basis of a scientific "ruse" that UNINFORMED READERS - ESPECIALLY VEGETARIANS and OTHERS DOWN ON RED MEAT... have failed to recognize, and as per the "ulterior motives" of those WHO FUNDED THIS STUDY; that there is nothing inherently "bad" or "toxic" concerning WILD RED MEAT.

This study conclusion, even its weak/modest "finding" (and remember, one study  rarely establishes FACT(S), especially with more controversial issues such as red meat consumption); FAILS to note that the red meat consumed by the study participants was/is... COMMERCIAL RED MEAT! :

   1) NOT ORGANIC

   2) NOT WILD

   3) LACED WITH ALL MANNER OF CHEMICAL or PHARMACEUTICAL GROWTH STIMULANTS, such as SYNTHETIC HORMONES, SYNTHETIC ESTROGENS, ANTIBIOTICS, other mish-mash of DRUGS.

   4) ANIMALS FED GENETICALLY-MODIFIED CORN (for the entire life of the animal), LOADED WITH PESTICIDE/HERBICIDE RESIDUES.

   5) THEREFORE EXTREMELY TOXIC MEAT CONTAMINATED WITH THE "BIOACCUMULATION" OF KNOWN MUTAGENIC AND CARCINOGENIC CHEMICALS THAT ALSO THEN "BIOACCUMULATE" IN THE BODIES OF THOSE WHO EAT MEAT FOR A LIFETIME.

   6) HOW the meat was cooked also can dramatically influence ( in ways NOT associated with the chemical/drug/synthetic hormone contamination of the red meat) the toxicity of the red meat, particularly CHAR-BROILING and HIGH-HEAT FRYING, which yields extremely dangerous, mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds known as "PAH'S (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and "BENZOPYRINES".

Most importantly, however, is the current LACK OF UNDERSTANDING IN ALL SCIENTIFIC CIRCLES; AND IN THE GENERAL PUBLIC AT LARGE; that when it comes down to the individual dietary requirements of...INDIVIDUALS... i.e., "BIOCHEMICAL INDIVIDUALITY" - that NO ONE (i.e., 99.9%, including 99.9% of M.D.s) ...UNDERSTANDS... the dietary/nutritional/macronutrient/micronutrient "needs" of people.

And that, as has been known in select "circles" for some decades now, people are born with specific "metabolic genotypes" which do REQUIRE... specific differing levels of nutrients; differing levels of specific ratios of protein/ to fat/to carbohydrates ( and even then, to differing "tolerance" levels and needs  of the various "glycemic index" carbohydrates). Such that some are actually born with the specific "vegetarian" "genotype"; while others, with the "carnivorous" genotype.  Knowing ancestral "origins" is critical to the deeper "understanding" of individual macronutrient "requirements".

The general rule is as follows:

 The further north or south of the equator one's ancestors originated/lived, the more likely that "offspring" ...REQUIRE...

   1) RED MEAT/ANIMAL PROTEIN ( particularly the "purine nucleotide" content, DNA components of animal food, especially red meat, that is critical for normal metabolic functioning/ENERGY)

   2) Higher protein/less carbohydrate

   3) More SATURATED FAT/CHOLESTEROL

   4) Less FRUIT

   5) More COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATE/less SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATES

The closer to the equator, the more likely the dietary "reverse" is true. So Do not make the common and uninformed mistake of "dictating" to another person their "dietary requirements" (like here, or as per the medical establishment's "one shoe fits all" LOW-FAT DIET).

Instead, understand that, as per the above, dietary requirements are based upon genetic inheritance and ancestral origins; as well as the "accumulation" of "EPIGENETIC" "INFLUENCES" that may have genetically "altered" even the original phenotypic ( i.e., born with) that may have "changed" your current dietary  "requirements".  Just because you may believe/in fact may have found... the "right diet" for you; is NOT... a reason to assume that it is the right diet for everyone else.

"One man's meat is another man's poison".