Doctor Has a Beef With Health Claims in Food Ads

One of the more interesting blogs I've discovered recently is Weighty Matters, a weight-loss and wellness blog by Yoni Freedhoff, a Canadian doctor who exposes efforts to make unhealthy food sound like it's good for you.

Freedhoff began his career as a family physician, but switched gears and started the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, Canada, because he "quickly became frustrated prescribing medications for conditions that could be controlled with lifestyle changes. ... It's much more fun to stop drugs than to start them."

He recently spotted the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada recommending red meat as a healthy food:

I'm not aware of any study that has demonstrated any significant health benefits with red meat consumption.
On the contrary, I'm aware of many studies that have demonstrated the dangers of red meat consumption -- from breast cancer (in post-menopausal women, intake of just 60 grams per day increased their risk of breast cancer by 57 percent), to colon cancer (people who ate the most red meat were almost 40 percent more likely to develop colon cancer), and diabetes (for every increase in the number of daily servings of red meat there was a 26 percent increase in the risk of developing diabetes).

Health · 2007/04/23 · 2 COMMENTS · Link

Comments

I have a cousin who had red meat once. We had to tie his hands down at bedtime.

#1 · Uncle Mikey · 2007/04/24

I wish they would address these milk commercials talking about being healthy and losing wieght with milk! Umm, okay.. I do not think so.. The shady advertising that corporations are getting away with is ridiculous, and I do not see it changing anytime in the near future unfortuntaley.

#2 · Denise · 2007/04/25