What Is Really in Hot Dogs?
What percentage of a hot dog is actually muscle tissue?
Topics
Supplementary Info
What Is Really in Hot Dogs?,
Sources Cited
Report Offers “Bad Advice” about Red Meat and Cancer Another Scientific Review Finds No Link Mary K. Young, M.S., R.D., Vice President, Nutrition, October 31, 2007
The Assessment of Red Meat and Cancer Risk: A summary of findings from an independent research assessment
Acknowledgements
Transcript
It’s funny, there was actually a forensic study of hot dogs earlier this year in the annals of diagnostic pathology to answer the age-old question, what the heck is in them? It was like a CSI episode! They found… bone, blood vessels, nerves, cartilage, skin. But the kicker, the amount of actual meat was less then 10 percent.
Anyways, how did the meat industry respond to the devastating new cancer report? Well, the beef industry spin , was that the report was “bad advice” and that “another scientific study finds no link between meat and cancer” A study that was, in their words, “independent,” “comprehensive.” “How the WCRF report could come to a different conclusion is perplexing.” Well, I found the “study” to which they refer, and be perplexed no more!
I was onto this study like brown on rice. Here, evidently, were the “facts.” So let’s compare: The WCRF report looked at 7,000 studies, this beef board’s looked at 500. This report has 537 pages; this one has 4. This report that was written by nine independent teams of scientists, hundreds of peer reviewers, and 21 of the top cancer researchers in the world. This one written by these two guys. You can’t see but the picture cuts off their cowboy hats.
Time spent to produce: This one took over 5 years; this one, literally it says “last Summer.” And finally, the report that found a link between meat and cancer was overseen by the World Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and funded by a leading cancer charity. This was one overseen by a scientists-for-hire for-profit firm which has come out with similar reports downplaying the risk of pesticides, asbestos, and, of course, cigarette smoke. This “independent” study bought and paid for by… the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, of course. Perplexing that they had a different conclusion.
But you think that takes gall, wait ‘til you see what the pork industry did. Smithfield, the largest pork producer in the world, launched “Deli for the Cure,” donating 5 cents to early detection for every pound sold of exactly the type of meat the WCRF report says causes the most cancer. It’s the least they could do. If they’re going to give you cancer early, might as well detect it early too.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.
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Doctor's Note
Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the Hot Dogs and Leukemia video. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos--please feel free to explore them as well!
For some context, please check out my associated blog post: Breast Cancer and Diet.
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Jeanmaclay
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Michael Greger M.D.
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