red meat

Lone Star Tick Bite Can Make You Allergic to Red Meat

August 13, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 19 Comments

Lone star tick causes allergy to red meat

If you love your red meat, you want to be sure to avoid a tick found in the US south and east (see map above). It seems like a truly strange reaction to a tick bite, but more and more people are finding they can no longer eat red meat after being bitten by the lone star tick. The allergic reaction can be so severe that a person may need to go to the hospital emergency room.

Typically what happens is a person who has been bitten has an allergic reaction 3 to 6 hours after eating red meat. The reaction can vary in severity, and can include developing hives, swelling and issues with breathing. With those who have a severe reaction, the person can even go into anaphylactic shock and their airway can close. Many people have trouble diagnosing why they are having the allergic reaction since most people won’t think the reaction is caused by eating red meat, since this is something they have done their entire life without any problems.

The allergy develops from the alpha-gal sugar, which the lone star tick injects into their victims when they are bitten. Researchers believe that when the alpha-gal sugar gets into the blood stream, the immune system flags it as an invader, and antibodies form to destroy it.

The reason people are getting allergies to red meat after being bitten is that beef, pork and venison all contain alpha-gal sugar in their meat. When people normally eat alpha-gal, the digestive system simply breaks it down as it would other sugars. Once it’s been flagged by the immune system, however, the body won’t ignore the alpha-gal in the meat being consumed, and the antibodies attack that as well. This is why the allergy reactions are occurring.

It’s not known at this time if the allergy to red meats is permanent, or whether it will lessen over time. There have been some cases where the allergy dissipates after a time for some, but no comprehensive study has been done to determine how likely or unlikely this is for those who develop the allergy.

If this was the only consequence of a lone star tick bite, vegetarians and animal rights activists might be encouraging more people to get bitten by the tick. Unfortunately, that’s not the only issue the lone star tick can cause. In addition, they can spread the bacterial infections ehrlichiosis and tularemia. Tularemia has the potential to be a deadly infection.

As with most insect-born diseases, the best way to prevent getting them is to not get bitten in the first place. Here are some tips on making it less likely to be bitten by the lone star tick:

Stay out of areas with high grass and brush.
Stay on trails when hiking.
Use insect repellent when outside in areas where they are known to be.
Cover up as much as possible with long sleeved shirts and long pants.
Wear light colored clothes, making them easier to spot if they do land on you.
Check yourself after being outside for ticks.
Have someone else check you as well since it’s hard to see all parts of your body.
Know the common places ticks go: under your arms, in and around your ears, inside and around your belly button, behind your knees, between your legs, around your waist and anyplace where you have hair.
Shower immediately after being in tick territory.
Remove ticks immediately if you do find one.
Keep the tick, once removed, to have it tested for disease.
Watch the spot for redness, which can indicate you were infected by the tick.

(Image courtesy of the CDC)

Regularly Eating Processed Red Meat May Be Killing You

June 13, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 1 Comment

Study: processed red meat increases heart disease risks

If you love processed meat, a new study doesn’t deliver very good news for you. A Swedish study published online in Circulation: Heart Failure followed 37,000 men ages 47 to 79 over a 12 year period who ate processed meat on a regular basis. The results were they found eating processed red meat significantly increased their risk of having a heart attack. All men who participated in the study had no previous history of heart disease, heart failure or cancer. Approximately 2,900 men in the study ended up being diagnosed with some type of heart failure, and over 250 (266) died from the condition during the study.

Men who consumed 2.6 ounces (74 grams) of processed meat each day had a 28% greater risk of suffering a heart attack, and double the chance of dying from a heart attack as those men who only consumed 1 ounce (28 grams) or less of processed meat each day. 2.6 ounces of processed meat is equivalent to approximately 2 to 3 slices of ham or bacon. The research also found for every additional 1.7 ounces (48 grams) of processed red meat men consumed each day, they increased their risk of a heart attack by an additional 8%.

While this study only followed men, the researchers expect to find similar results with women. Another recent study indicated consumption of red meat can increase the chance of breast cancer in women, although a new book claims saturated fat isn’t nearly as bad as it has been made out to be. This can be a good time to cut red meat from your diet for financial reasons since beef is at a 27 year high.

There was a bit of good news for meat-lovers in the study. While the research indicated a link between eating processed meat and heart attack risk, they failed to find a connection between unprocessed red meat and heart attack risk. That means that while the ham and bacon shouldn’t be consumed except in small quantities, it’s okay to partake in a steak dinner once or twice a week without the same concern.

The study makes a case that there’s an association between eating process red meat and heart failure, but it doesn’t prove that a steady diet of bacon or ham will cause heart failure. Still, the researchers recommend eliminating all processed red meat from one’s diet, and only eating one to two servings of unprocessed red meat each week based on their findings.

As with all food consumption, a healthy diet consists of not consuming an over abundance of one type of food over all others. It’s important to learn to eat all foods in moderation, and get a wide variety of them in your diet.

(Photo courtesy of edkohler)

Women Should Substitute Poultry for Red Meat to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

June 12, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain Leave a Comment

Study: eating red meat increases the risks of breast cancer

Women who thought it might be okay to begin eating red meat again might want to take a moment to reconsider. It seems women who want to reduce their risk of breast cancer should substitute a meal consisting of red meat with one of poultry or fish. In a new study spanning a 20 year period which included 89,000 women, the findings suggested women who ate the most red meat increased their risk of contracting breast cancer by approximately 25%. If, however, they replaced the daily serving of red meat with some combination of poultry, fish, nuts and legumes, the study indicated women would lower their risk of breast cancer by 14%. The study was published online in the journal BMJ.

The lead researcher of the study, Maryam Farvid, who works at the Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Nutrition, noted women who ate 1.5 servings of red meat each day had a 22% higher risk of breast cancer than those who only had a serving of red meat once a week. The risk increased substantially for those who had even more red meat on a daily basis. Women who ate red meat more than 1.5 times a day increased their chances of getting breast cancer by 13% for each additional serving they had on a daily basis.

Those women who ate more poultry ended up lowering their risk of getting breast cancer. The study found substituting a single serving the day of red meat with poultry ended up reducing the risk of breast cancer by 17% for all women, and by 24% among women who were postmenopausal.

The study is considered observational, so it doesn’t prove directly that consuming more red meat will have the direct result in increasing a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer. There could be a number of different reasons for the findings. For example, since red meat is often cooked at high temperatures, there may have been cancer-causing byproducts from the cooking process which raise the risk.

Another possibility for the larger risk could be due to hormones used to increase the growth of beef cattle. The results may also have been due to nitrates, which are often found in processed meat, and which have been associated in other studies with an elevated risk of breast cancer. Or it could be that women who eat less red meat simply live healthier lifestyles than those who consume it on a regular basis, and this healthier lifestyle is what reduces the risk of cancer.

Eating less red meat also has a huge positive financial consequence. Beef prices are currently at a 27 year high, so switching to poultry or fish also makes financial sense beyond the health benefits.

(Photo courtesy of Ernesto Andrade)