Is Eating Pork can be Hazardous to your Health ?
This article was plagiarized by that blinkered small minded entity from another source,
see here Eating Pork can be Hazardous to your Health
It reminds me of a friend who, in religious classes when young, was taught the same as that claimed in that porky article. And years later a Chinese convert friend told me the same pork-free poorly reasoned excuses for his newly found prejudices against our famous and treasured Chinese culinary favorites, char-siu and siew yoke. These are part of our Chinese identity and I dare say we make the best roast pork in the world, better than the German, Brits, French, Spanish and irrespective of what some ancient middle-eastern low-minded sheep headers might have said during stone-bronze twilight era.
The claims made in the article are skewed and misleading. This is more so when the hoaxer added ancient tribal dietary superstitions to his bias. I say his claim on pork is skewed because Trichinella spiralis is also found in many other animals including wild boar, deer, bears, horses, cattle, camels, sheep, goats, rats with one report stating that “More than 100 species of mammals are susceptible to the infection.”
There is better chance of you being infected with T. spiralis from eating inadequately cooked or raw meat than char-siu or siew yoke, and more likely from beef steaks cooked rare or raw beef as in steak tartar.
The fact is there are also many cases of tape worm infection but why was it omitted by that danger-man with a mission to insult ardent pork lovers as in majority of the more intelligent human population.
I quote from this 2000 study from Ulster University, Coleraine, County Londonderry, UK,
Parasites
The cosmopolitan distribution of Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm, is due to the practice of eating beef which is raw or under-cooked and there are an estimated 45 million cases world-wide.
The cosmopolitan distribution of Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm, is due to the practice of eating beef which is raw or under-cooked and there are an estimated 45 million cases world-wide.
Taenia solium is the pork tapeworm and is less widely distributed than T. saginata with an estimated 3 million cases.
Even in Britain there has been an increase in T. saginata cases recently, although T. solium (pork tapeworm) does not appear to be a problem. There is little risk if meat is thoroughly cooked or subject to prolonged deep freeze storage, at -10°C or below, which kills the cysticercus larvae of both tapeworms. In Europe, eating steak tartare or rare steak means tapeworm infection is an affliction of the affluent, as they are more likely to afford the raw material. In developing countries, it is the poor who cannot afford the cost of the fuel to cook their meat who are most at risk!
Contamination of meat with tissue nematodes –Trichinellosis
Trichinellosis, caused by Trichinella spiraris, is a cosmopolitan disease, which has a very low vertebrate host specificity.
Human infection is contracted by eating raw or under-cooked pork or pork products containing encysted larvae. Domestic pigs provide the main source of human infections in all areas except Africa where the wild boar, bears, bushpigs or warthogs transmit the disease and in the far north among the Eskimos where polar bears are most important. In the recent International Commission on Trichinellosis Country Status Report (1995-97), 10,000 cases of trichinellosis were reported world-wide, of which 167 were in Western Europe and 7213 were in Eastern Europe. In addition, Switzerland and Norway revealed Trichinella infections in foxes (1.3% and 7.5%, respectively) but no infections in domestic pigs.
The study shows:-
1) tapeworm infection is reportedly more prevalent than that caused by Trichinella spiraris.
2) there are an estimated 45 million cases world-wide (2000 report)
3) 10,000 cases of trichinellosis report worldwide (1995-97 report)
4) no Trichinelle infection in domestic pigs reported in Switzerland and Norway.
What I see in these figures is that pig when farmed in a hygienic way will preclude dangers associated with any diseases parasitic or otherwise, and that tapeworm infection is more prevalent than that of T. spirasis.
More throwaway quotes from dangerman:
“Pork should be considered a homotoxin (human poison) and the probable cause of many common sicknesses and degenerative diseases.”
Such nonsensical quote betrays this guy is himself homotoxic.
We only have to ask 3 questions - even assuming his harebrained ranting on pork being homotoxic is true:
A. Has eating pork through human history been shown to be harmful to human health?
The fact is, people with longest life expectancy is reportedly the Japanese, and amongst Japanese, those with the highest life-expectancy are the Okinawan and they eat more pork than mainland Japanese. Consider also the Germans, Scandinavians, Spanish, French etc who love their pork.
B. Does eating pork affect human intellect?
To answer this, we have to look at the annual list of Nobel Prize winners and see how many of them are non-pork eaters. You can start by checking the past Nobel Prize laureates for some indications……..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
C. Does eating pork affect stamina.
We will find out soon enough when the Olympic Game gets into full swing. You can watch and tally the answer as the games unfold and I dare say a good majority of the participants will salivate at seeing a big plate of char-siu or roast pork.
Just to make my point, the fastest man in the world Usain Bolt has comfort food cravings for none other than pork –
“Bolt, who frequently talks about his diet and his comfort food cravings, said he was looking forward to some pork on this trip home.
"Since I landed here I told my helper (housekeeper) to make sure that she cooks some pork for me," he said. "I am anxious to enjoy some really good pork."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/
So eating pork, despite unwarranted ludicrously odd claims made by the small-minded and unthinking, is evidently good for health, and may even enhance human intelligence and stamina.
In : Food News