May 2005

GREETINGS

According to FARM (the group that began and organizes the Great American Meat-Out), this year was the biggest and best Meat-Out ever, with the most activities nationwide and the most people contacted. And we at MARV can take our share of the credit, since we certainly did more activities for it this year than ever before, and they all went particularly well.

Again, whichever snail-mail recipient didn’t get your March MARV Times should let me know so that I can straighten things up with you. Phone (414) 962-2703 or email chuckgyver@aol.com.

Also again, if you met us through the Meat-Out and are now taking this newsletter on the internet, we do hope you will come to our potlucks – it’s always a great meal and great friendly company.

OCCASIONAL HUMOROUS BIT

Someone sent us this as an email:

“A dietician was addressing a large audience in Chicago:

M.A.R.V. ACTIVITIES

Sunday, May 1, regular potluck, 5 PM, at the Friends’ Meeting House, 3224 N. Gordon Pl., in Riverwest (from Humboldt, go east on Auer a few short blocks to the parking lot). Theme will be African foods: as always, bring either an African-type vegetarian dish or whatever else you choose.

Subsequent regular potlucks will be at the same time and place on June 5, Aug. 7, and ?Sept. 4?, and there will be a regular potluck at the Quigley home in Shorewood on July 10.

Other veg-friendly potlucks

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“My fellow researchers and I determined that plant-based diets are the main reason there are such low rates of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer in certain areas of rural China. In contrast, even small amounts of animal protein-based foods increase the risk of many diseases.”

NEWS

As usual, there are various ways in which animal foods are worrisome. No less than three Florida State Fairs have now been linked to deadly or potentially deadly e. coli outbreaks – and whether the culprit was meat, or wash water contaminated by cow feces, or petting zoo contacts at all three fairs, the ultimate problem is animal husbandry and the way we do it in this country.

On a different note, a researcher at the University of Connecticut has announced that the meat and milk from cloned animals is essentially the same as that from normally-engendered animals, which may take these products one step closer to grocery stores. If you have any doubts about this particular aspect of our brave new animal food world, this will just be another reason not to participate. The PCRM publication Good Medicine informs us of a new Harvard study finding that a Western-style diet high in red and processed meats (as well as refined grains and sugars) increases the risk for type 2 diabetes (but is this news any more?) And a European study found that the more meat one eats, the higher one’s risk of a form of arthritis that attacks multiple joints at once. Then there was a study of older Iowan women which found that heart disease mortality was increased by eating lots of meat and dairy, but that replacing animal protein with plant protein foods decreased the heart disease risk. A Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine study put mice on a high-animal-protein-low-carb diet and found that it lowered their fertility, although it was not clear whether the protein-carb ratio or the weight loss aspect of the diet was responsible, nor whether humans would respond the same way. And eating more animal products has now been linked to an in-creased risk of ovarian cancer by a Canadian study, and (again) to colon cancer by a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Then there are the Diet Wars, which continue hot and heavy. This month’s chapter focuses on obesity as well as the foods that cause it. For a new government study concluded that the number of deaths caused each year by obesity is less than previously reported, though there is some confusion as to whether the reason for this is better treatment for obesity-caused heart disease or just different methods of massaging the available statistics. Also, another new and careful study found that people who are over-weight without being obese actually have a lower risk of death (other factors being equal) than those of normal weight. This study did not convince a spokesman for the National Institute on Aging, where there is ongoing research on caloric restriction and intentional underweight as a means of life extension. At the same time, obesity is being reported as a real and growing problem among rural children. And to top the whole thing off, the food guide pyramid has been updated with a new version that uses vertical rather than horizontal divisions; the relative widths of the various stripes indicate relative amounts of each kind of food you should eat. It also encourages exercise and suggests that people use the USDA website to figure out how to tailor it to one’s personal needs. It does not indicate how one should learn to like exercise and eating right, which is probably the pyramid’s worst and consistent failing. In any case, this is all much more confusing and difficult to use, and far less clear than the original version. And it ditches the one really useful aspect of the graphic by no longer putting good foods on the big solid base and nutritionally worse ones at the tiny top.

Meanwhile, happily, plant foods at least continue to be good for you. A new study at U. of California-Berkeley found that young children who ate bananas and oranges at least 4 to 6 times per week had lower risk of leukemia. Avocado extract inhibited prostate cancer cell growth in a test tube study at UC -Los Angeles. Israeli researchers found that smelling citrus peels eased asthma symptoms in rats, and hope this might work for people. And 5 of the 6 foods listed by an AARP article as heart-protective were plant foods: almonds, garlic, red wine (in moderation), bright-colored produce, and dark chocolate. The only animal food mentioned was, predictably, fish for the omega-3 fatty acids, which you can get from ground flax seed, flax seed and hemp seed oils, and dark green leafy vegetables instead.

Prevention listed the best foods for preventing diabetes: orange and leafy green vegetables, whole grains, nuts in moderation, and a little bit of wine while limiting/avoiding sodas, red and processed meats, and trans-fats. Broccoli and its cousins (cauliflower, kale, cabbage) are touted as helping prevent a variety of disease from cancer to heart disease. Cranberry juice is confirmed as helping prevent and treat bladder infections. Prevention also ran a lengthy article on the rampant lack of essential vitamins and minerals in many Americans’ diets, including vitamin A/ beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, fiber, magnesium, potassium, and calcium, and suggesting how one can get them. And what a surprise: supplements are increasingly recognized not to work as well as eating food, while the main dietary sources of these disease-fighting nutrients are plants: fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts. For vitamin A, the suggested foods were orange and dark green veggies such as carrots, spinach, kale and winter squash; for vitamin C almost any fresh fruit but especially oranges; nuts and seeds for vitamin E; whole grains for fiber; pumpkin seeds, spinach, and bran/whole grains for magnesium; potatoes, sweet potatoes, white beans and bananas for potassium. Prevention of course suggested dairy foods as the calcium source, but admitted that calcium-fortified orange juice could work too (as could calcium-fortified soymilk, dark green leafies, and whole grains).

A second big article in Prevention this month focused on whole grains as Good Carbohydrates. Explaining that whole grains offer all the bran and extra protein and vitamins and minerals and fiber that are removed when grains are refined, the article even offered a sidebar mentioning some of the less-known tasty whole grains, such as barley, brown rice, millet, and quinoa, as well as wheat berries and bulgur. Some of the recipes that followed were even vegan.

CONNECTIONS

There will be an Animal Rights 2005 convention in Los Angeles on July 7-11, put on by FARM. If you’re interested, phone 888-ASK-FARM or check the website: www.AR2005.org.

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The 2005 Vegetarian Summerfest, put on by North American Vegetarian Society, is scheduled for June 29 – July 3, in Pitt-Johnstown, PA. For further information, phone 518-568-7970, or email vegfest@telenet.net

or see their website at vegetariansummerfest.org

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DIALOG

So the controversy continues about diet: what one should weigh, what kind of weight is good or bad, safe or dangerous, what one should eat…One news report I saw predicted that in future, your personal genetic makeup could be used to create a dietary regimen specifically aimed at what foods you personally should eat and avoid. “Cake or kale? Let your DNA decide” the article was entitled. And the article on rural childhood obesity quoted a plaintive rural resident who admitted that folks drive over to the local fast-food joint to hang out (and pig out) because there’s not much else to do. And a “Good Morning” column complained about the dietary nosy parkers who make pronouncements about what other people ought to eat. And the Outpost Exchange nutritionist’s column listed an entire page of “simple” guidelines for healthy eating.