PCRM round-up
The PCRM is asking for people to sign its petition to ask the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the true cause of the recent salmonella outbreaks, the meat industry: “Contaminated produce is only the last link in a chain that begins with the meat industry. It is essential for consumers to know that burgeoning meat consumption has caused a massive overproduction of chickens, cows, pigs, and other animals, leading to unprecedented production of feces that end up in rivers, streams, and irrigation water, and contaminate otherwise healthful produce. Salmonella are intestinal organisms. Needless to say, tomatoes and peppers do not have an intestinal tract. When feces end up in irrigation water, salmonella can contaminate the surfaces of plants and can apparently pass into their rootlets, ending up inside produce. Infectious bacteria from animal feces also contaminate agricultural fields, workers’ hands, retail shelves, and kitchen surfaces.”
New study predicts that almost 90 Percent of Americans will be overweight or obese by 2030: “A new study in Obesity shows that if the steady increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity continue through the year 2030, 86.3 percent of adults will be overweight or obese, the prevalence of childhood overweight will double, and 1 of every 6 health care dollars will be used to pay for overweight and obesity-related costs. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health based these projections on trends from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Study (NHANES) data collected over the past three decades. By 2030, the prevalence among African American women and Mexican American men will be 96.9 percent and 91.1 percent, respectively. If trends continue unchecked, 100 percent of American adults will be classified as overweight or obese by 2048.” (Source: PCRM)
And the verdict is still in on the link between diet and Type-2 diabetes: “Three long-term studies published in Archives of Internal Medicine show how food choices lead to type 2 diabetes. Researchers at Boston University followed 43,960 African American women over 10 years, and found that type 2 diabetes developed more often among those who consumed more sweetened beverages. Researchers at Addenbrook’s Hospital in Cambridge, England, found that higher plasma vitamin C levels and greater consumption of fruits and vegetables were associated with a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes among 21,831 adults followed over 12 years. A third article, from Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, Seattle, found that among 48,835 Women’s Health Initiative participants, women assigned to a low-fat diet trended toward a reduced disease incidence, which authors attributed to weight loss.” (Source: PCRM)
