# how unhealthy is pork



## scouse2010 (Mar 17, 2010)

Are pork steaks,bacon ribs,pork belly unhealthy in the long run ?Would it be bad to have any of these 4x a week ?

Also how bad to your health are the chemicals in bacon and cheap asda sausage ?


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## CoffeeFiend (Aug 31, 2010)

scouse2010 said:


> Are pork steaks,bacon ribs,pork belly unhealthy in the long run ?Would it be bad to have any of these 4x a week ?
> 
> Also how bad to your health are the chemicals in bacon and cheap asda sausage ?


Cheap sausages have a lot of carbs in them from corn fillers etc, not sure how that affects you personally. I think out of beef, pork and chicken, pork is the most unhealthy in terms of fat content BUT!!! If it fits your macros then i guess its alright...


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

No Pork isnt unhealthy and is a good source of Protein as long as the fat is trimmed off. Treated Pork however should be eaten in moderation due to the high saturated fat and sodium content, not to mention the sulphites used to preserve the meat.

Lean pork steaks, chops with fat trimmed, quality pork mince with fat drained after cooking are all fine. The saturated fat mostly can be trimmed but the remainder, the intramuscular fat, can be drained off after cooking. 4x per week is absolutely fine and gives plenty of room to put some oily fish, chicken and beef in that diet.

Interestingly Pork is the only meat both Jews and Muslims wont eat! and also it is the only cloven hoof that doesn't 'chew the cud' look it up : ) It is considered a filthy animal by many too.

SD


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## aka (Jun 25, 2010)

looking forward to see posts in here, hope that pork is ok I love ham, gammon and ribs and I will be expecting sausage and pork pies being really bad


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## CoffeeFiend (Aug 31, 2010)

akalatengo said:


> looking forward to see posts in here, hope that pork is ok I love ham, gammon and ribs and I will be expecting sausage and pork pies being really bad


I think in general its not brilliant but there are very healthy versions like extra lean pork mince and steaks and and 90% pork sausages, they have all the carbs taken out and only a bit of fat in.. bloody expensive though >_>


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## dalboy (Sep 16, 2009)

SD said:


> No Pork isnt unhealthy and is a good source of Protein as long as the fat is trimmed off. Treated Pork however should be eaten in moderation due to the high saturated fat and sodium content, not to mention the sulphites used to preserve the meat.
> 
> Lean pork steaks, chops with fat trimmed, quality pork mince with fat drained after cooking are all fine. The saturated fat mostly can be trimmed but the remainder, the intramuscular fat, can be drained off after cooking. 4x per week is absolutely fine and gives plenty of room to put some oily fish, chicken and beef in that diet.
> 
> ...


I thought that saturated fat has never been proven to be as bad as people think?

Also pig isnt the only animal jews cant eat - Hares, and camels also are forbidden.

In terms of pork sausages, look at the percentage content of meat on the ingredients. By law it has to be minimum 40% meat from what I can remember...


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## aka (Jun 25, 2010)

CoffeeFiend said:


> I think in general its not brilliant but there are very healthy versions like extra lean pork mince and steaks and and 90% pork sausages, they have all the carbs taken out and only a bit of fat in.. bloody expensive though >_>


I love the Cumberland sausage from tescos....... have to look away but most times I end up chewing one on the way home lol


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

dalboy said:


> I thought that saturated fat has never been proven to be as bad as people think?
> 
> Also *pig isnt the only animal jews cant ea*t - Hares, and camels also are forbidden.
> 
> In terms of pork sausages, look at the percentage content of meat on the ingredients. By law it has to be minimum 40% meat from what I can remember...


Saturated fat is bad for you but there are differnt types of saturated fat. For example the saturated fat found in coconut oil is 'long chain' meaning that it is of the 'good' kind, but anything in moderation is ok.

Please read my post, I said Jews AND Muslims cant eat Pork.

SD


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## scouse2010 (Mar 17, 2010)

SD said:


> No Pork isnt unhealthy and is a good source of Protein as long as the fat is trimmed off. Treated Pork however should be eaten in moderation due to the high saturated fat and sodium content, not to mention the sulphites used to preserve the meat.
> 
> Lean pork steaks, chops with fat trimmed, quality pork mince with fat drained after cooking are all fine. The saturated fat mostly can be trimmed but the remainder, the intramuscular fat, can be drained off after cooking. 4x per week is absolutely fine and gives plenty of room to put some oily fish, chicken and beef in that diet.
> 
> ...


what about I leave all the fat on and put it on the forman ?Fats the best part when it comes to pork.

and from what I have read there is 2 reason they dont eat it.1 because its a dirty animal 2.because its supposed to resemble human meat.


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## sakso (Mar 14, 2011)

is eating human a good source of protein?


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

scouse2010 said:


> what about I leave all the fat on and put it on the forman ?Fats the best part when it comes to pork.


You can eat all the fat you like mate but in the case of pig fat, it would be unhealthy to do it in quantity and that was your original question.

SD


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## bayman (Feb 27, 2010)

SD I think you're a bit misguided here. Any animal based saturated fat is fine. What's inherently unhealthy about saturates from Pork in particular? They're the same as those from any other meat.


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## scouse2010 (Mar 17, 2010)

sakso said:


> is eating human a good source of protein?


ive always wonder what the nutritional value human meat would contain


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## Milky (Nov 30, 2008)

dalboy said:


> I thought that saturated fat has never been proven to be as bad as people think?
> 
> Also pig isnt the only animal jews cant eat - Hares, and camels also are forbidden.
> 
> In terms of pork sausages, look at the percentage content of meat on the ingredients. By law it has to be minimum 40% meat from what I can remember...


Have you ever eaten Hare mate ?


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## stow (Jun 5, 2007)

Pork has been shows to be more significant to the occurrence of colon cancer than any other meats.

But this tends to be a slight misnomer as its more the fact that a lot of pork products are processed or 'cured' which increases the risk they pose.

Not heard of pork saturated fats being different from for instance beef.

Stow


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## madmuscles (Mar 10, 2011)

gemilky69 said:


> Have you ever eaten Hare mate ?


 Hare pie......GOOOOOOOOD!

Hair pie......BETTER!


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## aka (Jun 25, 2010)

all I can think right now is BBQ pork chops.... love them


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## Milky (Nov 30, 2008)

madmuscles said:


> Hare pie......GOOOOOOOOD!
> 
> Hair pie......BETTER!


Never had it in a pie but used to eat it regularly when l was into hare coursing...


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

Saturated fats are necessary in the diet.

Pork is not bad, pork fat is not bad, lard is not bad, but free range is way better than corn and soy fed pigs.

Nitrates and nitrites and salted pork isnt the best for you, but other than that, eat up.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

I don;t think pork is that bad as part of a mixed diet... as said, a minimal amount of sat fat is required for good health, and the amino acid content of pork isn't too bad.

Nitrates and also tyramine in smoked, salted, and cured pork can cause problems but even these are only a significant issue with a large regular [edit - large doses of tyramine, not the nitrates... tyramine can equal headaches and disturbed sleep] intake - pork as part of a varied protein intake is fine IMO.


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## mal (Dec 31, 2009)

pork scratchings and bacons


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## aka (Jun 25, 2010)

mal said:


> pork scratchings


That can't be good for you, can it?


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## J55TTC (Nov 2, 2009)

Gram for gram pork fillet has less saturated fat than beef fillet - fact!

Sent from my iPhone


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## bayman (Feb 27, 2010)

Plus you're likely to get more nitrites/nitrates from the Veg you eat than any cured meat products you consume.


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

bayman said:


> Plus you're likely to get more nitrites/nitrates from the Veg you eat than any cured meat products you consume.


Really?

Is that from the fertilizer or something?

I will have to check that out.


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## bayman (Feb 27, 2010)

hackskii said:


> Really?
> 
> Is that from the fertilizer or something?
> 
> I will have to check that out.


Fertilizer, plus Nitrates are naturally occurring in soils, as are Nitrites which convert to Nitrates.



> Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig. 1994;45(3):167-80.
> 
> *The content of nitrates and nitrites in fruits, vegetables and other foodstuffs*
> 
> ...


Also in the UK we have legislation covering the use of Nitrates in food:



> In Great Britain the use of nitrite and nitrate in meat products is currently controlled by the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995, as amended (parallel legislation exists for Northern Ireland). These Regulations limit the maximum residual concentration of nitrite in cured bacon to 175 mg/kg and to 100 mg/kg in other cured meat products (in both cases as sodium nitrite). The maximum permitted residual concentration of nitrate in all cured meat products is 250 mg/kg (as sodium nitrate).


Back to the Veg issue and the toxicity of Nitrates in general:



> The following information on nitrite toxicity is from "GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) Food Ingredients: Nitrates and Nitrites (Including Nitrosamines)," 1972. This report was prepared for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by Battele-Columbus Laboratories and Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22151.
> 
> According to this source, the fatal dose of potassium nitrate for adult humans is in the range of 30 to 35 grams consumed as a single dose; the fatal dose of sodium nitrite is in the range of 22 to 23 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Lower doses of sodium or potassium nitrate or sodium nitrite have caused acute methemoglobinemia (when hemoglobin loses its ability to carry oxygen), particularly in infants, resulting from conversion of nitrate to nitrite after consumption. There is no confirmable evidence in the literature on the carcinogenicity (cancer-causing capacity) of nitrate as such.
> 
> ...


From: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/nutrition/DJ0974.html


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## Ninja (Apr 28, 2010)

pork is fine.

That is all.

Ninja


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

bayman said:


> Fertilizer, plus Nitrates are naturally occurring in soils, as are Nitrites which convert to Nitrates.
> 
> Also in the UK we have legislation covering the use of Nitrates in food:
> 
> ...


I am dumbfounded.

Wow, blown away actually.

I just learned something today, my wife pushes salads on me and says I eat too much meat. :lol:

She says meat is bad for you........lol

Wow


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## gerg (Aug 17, 2008)

as i understand it pork doesn't have as good an omega-3 to omega-6 ratio as other meats, probably as mentioned above due to it's diet.

that said, i eat a couple of rashers every day with my breakfast, but i try not to go overboard on what is essentially a processed form of meat


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## engllishboy (Nov 1, 2007)

Asda do a lean cuts range now, and they have a nice selection of pork.


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

I cook my eggs in the bacon grease......


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## bayman (Feb 27, 2010)

hackskii said:


> I am dumbfounded.
> 
> Wow, blown away actually.
> 
> ...


As ever with diet and nutrition NEVER listen to rubbish the mainstream media spout. They latch onto isolated studies and anything that can be dramatized in order to sell newspapers and create headlines.

"Bacon causes Cancer!" certainly is more dramatic than the truth that Veg contain more nitrates than their meat counterparts.


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## bayman (Feb 27, 2010)

engllishboy said:


> Asda do a lean cuts range now, and they have a nice selection of pork.


Fat has extra calories and is important for the correct absorption of key nutrients and minerals. Also, if you're concerned about Omega 3 - 6 ratio in the fat, just take some fish oils with it too. Job done.


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## gerg (Aug 17, 2008)

i fry my eggs and bacon in grassfed butter


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## hackskii (Jul 27, 2003)

bayman said:


> As ever with diet and nutrition NEVER listen to rubbish the mainstream media spout. They latch onto isolated studies and anything that can be dramatized in order to sell newspapers and create headlines.
> 
> "Bacon causes Cancer!" certainly is more dramatic than the truth that Veg contain more nitrates than their meat counterparts.


Yah, its like someone is trying to deceive on purpose.

Here is an interesting one that goes against everything yet fits here nicely.

"In Framingham, Mass, the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person's serum cholesterol. . . we found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat, ate the most calories, weighed the least and were the most physically active."3 The study did show that those who weighed more and had abnormally high blood cholesterol levels were slightly more at risk for future heart disease; but weight gain and cholesterol levels had an inverse correlation with fat and cholesterol intake in the diet.4


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

Well it's not the natural nitrate content of meat (or veg) thats problematic - in both untreated meats and vegetables it's of a low enough level not to cause any issues at all... its when sodium nitrate is added in large quanitities as a preserving agent against the boltulism bacteria to meat products (especially pork as pork is a high risk for this) and as a colouring to redden meat that it creates a very high a dose, hence the warnings against meat and not vegetables.

In fact vegetables that are fertiliser grown are often lower in nitrate concentrations than unfertiliser cultivated veg of the same type (depends on the fertiliser used and the specific type of veg).

Here's the kicker though - nitrates aren't that unhealthy anyway, even in those elevated doses! The links to cancer are due to the chemistry of what happens when you chuck your nitrates into a low pH acid like stomach acid... the reaction creates nitrosamines which are potentially carcinogenic.

The fear has always been that this reaction makes nitrate foods a cancer risk... but nitrosamine formation in the stomach is largely prevented by there being vitamin c there at the same time - hence why nitrates from veg are no problem. Likewise where nitrates are added to meat, food regulations state that vit c has to be added too, and the limits are always safe... so again, no health issues!

On health issues the media seem to like to focus on one aspect of a process and not look at it in context, and this is where a lot of the misinformation comes in. Is an easy mistake to make, and I've had to back track with my opinions on things many times in the past after being caught up on one thing and not looking at the whole picture... unfortunately none of us are omnipotent.

The difference between me and the media though is I'm not looking to sell papers, attract viewers or followers, and if I get something wrong it's usually only me who has to deal with it... and where I've posted stuff on forums before that I've later realised was inaccurate, I'll always come back and correct. Often the media however aren't interested in doing that as a shocking story is always more sensational than a meek appology.


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## stow (Jun 5, 2007)

loving this thread. Credit to Mayman, Hacks and Dtlv


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