Heart Disease Factor

As a Naturopathic doctor I caution my clients in regards to their nutrition. The foods you eat play a very important role in your health and healing process.

For years I have told my clients to reduce their red meat consumtion. It takes a lot of digestive energy to digest red meat. I was also concerned that those animals the meat came from had been exposed to unhealthy chemicals, hormone and living conditions.

Through the years I noticed that people who ate red meat daily seem to have more aches and pain of various kinds and locations. My suggestion to them was to limit the red meat to 6 oz. no more than twice weekly and to increase their veggie and water intake.Their aches and pains started to decreased within two weeks.

When this study came out I was not surprized. Your first step to better health is better nutrition.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

A type of iron found only in red meat is associated with an increase in the risk of heart disease, a new review finds.

Researchers analyzed 21 studies that included more than 292,000 people who were followed for an average of 10 years. They found a link between consuming heme iron  which is only in red meat -- and a 57 percent increased risk of heart disease.

In contrast, consuming non-heme iron -- found in vegetables, other non-meat sources and iron supplements -- was not associated with the risk of heart disease, according to the researchers at the Indiana University School of Public Health at Bloomington.

"Heme iron is absorbed at a much greater rate in comparison to non-heme iron [37 percent vs. 5 percent]," the researchers said in a university news release. "Once absorbed, it may contribute as a catalyst in the oxidation of [bad cholesterol], causing tissue-damaging inflammation." This inflammation is a potential risk factor for heart disease.

The study was recently published online ahead of print in the Journal of Nutrition.

So, with this information in mind, think about what your put in your body, how much of it you put in your body, and why you are putting it in your body.