Blogfinger

The Blogfinger cow says, “Eat more chicken.”

Blogfinger team of investigative reporters and fact checkers says that reports of methane gas from American cows poisoning the environment are fake news. Blame the Chinese cows.   Blogfinger photograph. ©

The AP (1/17, Choi) says a new report from nutrition, agriculture and environmental experts “recommends a plant-based diet, based on previously published studies that have linked red meat to increased risk of health problems.” The recommendation also “comes amid recent studies of how eating habits affect the environment,” as the production of red meat “takes up land and feed to raise cattle, which also emit the greenhouse gas methane.” The diet, organized by Stockholm-based nonprofit EAT, “says red meat consumption on average needs to be slashed by half globally” and “encourages whole grains, beans, fruits and most vegetables.”

Reuters (1/16, Kelland) reports that if the world followed the recommended diet, researchers said “more than 11 million premature deaths could be prevented each year, while greenhouse gas emissions would be cut and more land, water and biodiversity would be preserved.” Tim Lang, a professor at Britain’s University of London who co-led the research, said, “The food we eat and how we produce it determines the health of people and the planet, and we are currently getting this seriously wrong.”

Blogfinger medical report by Paul Goldfinger, MD, FACC, Dean of the Blogfinger Off-shore Medical School based in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

Overall, this recommended diet encourages whole grains, beans, fruits and most vegetables, and says to limit added sugars, refined grains such as white rice and starches like potatoes and cassava.  Click on links above for more details.

This article is just another in a long series of medical dietary news going back over 60 years advocating reducing red meats in our diets and increasing fruits and veggies.  A more recent, but also not very new, component is to reduce carbs and lose weight.

And, as for the food-fashion vocabulary, the following words are not found in these articles: “fiber, kale, gluten-free, or quinoa.”

Now we find “plant-based,” “food systems,” “whole grain,” “greenhouse gas methane,” “production of red meat,” and “legumes.”

Overall, the American public has already reduced its intake of saturated fats.

Eileen and I wrote about nutrition/prevention in our book which is actually still available on Amazon:  Prevention Does Work.

This book, like its authors, has aged a bit, but most of it still applies.  The science of prevention evolves slowly.  Eileen’s 36 recipes are still delicious, evidence-based,  easy to prepare, and healthy.  Just go to Amazon and type “Paul Goldfinger, MD.’

This current AMA report basically says the same things, quoting from the Lancet,  except it is much stricter with its dietary recommendations.  But the science behind this latest “news” is rather mushy.    The best bet is not to become a vegan, because then your diet becomes impossible to maintain as well as very boring.  Instead, the Mediterranean diet still seems the best choice.

The other “hook” in the current pronouncement is to link healthy diets to concerns about the environment.  It reminds me of the NY Times which, these days, finds it necessary to politicize everything including sports, sex, health, and food.

Here’s a related link from Blogfinger:

Diet resolve for New Year on Blogfinger

And don’t forget exercise as we try to prevent heart disease:

SHE AND HIM:  Take a walk; something good will come from that: