Is Beef Nutritional or Carcinogen? Tell you the answer, keep your mouth shut and eat healthy
Xiaojing, a 33-year-old woman, is usually very busy with work and has a lot of pressure in her life, so she always has to order takeout. One day, she noticed a change in her bowel habits and sometimes blood in her stool.
At first, she thought it was hemorrhoids, so she didn't care. Later, she became seriously unwell and went to the hospital to find out that she had advanced bowel cancer.
The doctor said that her bowel cancer was related to her eating habit of ordering takeaways, especially beef takeout cooked in a certain way.
1. Is beef a good source of nutrition?
Beef has high nutritional value. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that beef can nourish the spleen and stomach, nourish the qi and nourish the middle, strengthen the muscles and bones, etc. It is suitable for people with depression of the qi, shortness of breath, chronic illness, anemia, and yellow skin and thin muscles.
Modern medicine believes that beef is rich in protein. Every 100 grams of fat and lean beef contains 19.9% protein, which is higher than 13.2% of fat and lean pork, and the amino acid composition of beef is closer to the needs of the human body.
Beef is also rich in heme iron. The iron content of 100 grams of fat and lean beef is 3.3 mg. Compared with pork, beef has a stronger ability to improve the body's disease resistance.
People who are in the period of growth and development and need to be nursed back to health after surgery and illness can appropriately consume beef, which is of great help in supplementing blood loss and repairing tissue.
Second, beef can cause cancer?
Beef is red meat, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) under the World Health Organization does list red meat as a Group 2A carcinogen.
Excessive consumption of red meat (beef, pork, lamb) increases the risk of colorectal cancer. Improper cooking methods of beef are prone to produce heterocyclic amine carcinogens and increase the risk of bowel cancer.
The production of heterocyclic amines is closely related to the cooking temperature, and a large amount of heterocyclic amines is easily produced when the cooking temperature exceeds 200 °C .
Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the hidden dangers of various cooking methods. The maximum temperature of stewed beef, fried beef, fried steak, and barbecued beef is about 100 °C, 187 °C, 107 °C, and 400 °C, respectively. People who often eat roast beef should be especially vigilant.
3. Can you eat beef?
Although many claims that red meat such as beef can cause cancer, it is not impossible to eat beef.
1. The carcinogen level is not equal to the carcinogenic intensity
The carcinogenic grading basis of IARC has no necessary relationship with the carcinogenic intensity of a certain substance. Class 2A carcinogens are substances with high carcinogenic potential, but the mechanism of action on the human body is currently unclear.
Although beef is classified as a Class 2A carcinogen, this classification indicates that it is carcinogenic, but there is currently no conclusive evidence, so there is no need to worry too much.
2. The World Health Organization's carcinogenicity classification and toxicity are two different things
Although arsenic has a strong carcinogenicity, what is more worrying is its acute toxicity. Beef is not so toxic. You don't need to worry too much about its carcinogenicity. Carcinogens may increase the risk of cancer, but they may not cause cancer.
Cancer is the result of many factors, such as heredity, living habits, eating habits, etc.
3. A balanced diet, it’s okay to eat in moderation
Red meat is high in fat and saturated fat, so eating too much is unhealthy, and you need to control your food intake. According to the recommended consumption of the Chinese Diet Pagoda, an average person can eat 40-75 grams of livestock and poultry meat per day, which is about one or two, so eating beef in moderation is not too risky.
Try to choose fresh, non-smoked, non-cured meats, and eat more vegetables and fruits to maintain a balanced diet.
Although beef is a red meat with high risk factors for colorectal cancer, the benefits to the human body outweigh the harm if eaten in moderation. I hope you don’t miss out on foods with high nutritional value because of rumors.
references:
[1] "[Popular Science Nutrition] Pork is so expensive, but beef is more cost-effective? 》. Clinical Nutrition Network. 2019-11-03
[2] "Beef eating like this may induce bowel cancer? Many people don't know yet! Please accept this "Healthy Cooking Recipe". I am the official WeChat account of a big doctor. 2021-12-13
[3] "Pig, beef and mutton become carcinogens? What the hell is going on?". The whole people are more honest - Tencent News. 2018-02-04
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