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Many health risks associated with meat consumption are a result
of the catastrophic practices carried out in factory farming (or
to be more correct: intensive farming). These risks include salmonella
as well as the bovine epidemic BSE, bird flu and antibiotic resistance.
Resistance to antibiotics occurs when, through their over use
in farming, bacteria are able to adapt and become immune to the
effect of the antibiotics. Antibiotics are used routinely and
in massive amounts in factory farmed animals. Many experts see
an acute risk to human health through this over use.
For people working in or living near to livestock farms there
exist other, more direct risks to their health, such as particulate
matter emissions.
The consumption of meat its self is associated with over one hundred
different human diseases. Among them are the two leading causes
of death in the western world: heart disease and cancer (primarily
cancer of the colon). Scientists are increasingly making the connection
between consumption of animal products and diseases such as diabetes,
obesity, high blood pressure and allergies.
Apart from this, consumption of animal products can not only harm
the well being of the individual, but also the economy.
Animal-free foods avoid many of these risks and in addition offer
many health advantages. Cultured meat is still a dream for the
future, but it is anticipated that it would also have many health
advantages over animal derived foodstuffs. This is because the
nutrients in which the cultured meat grows can be combined to
influence the end product. This means, for example, that it would
be possible to replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats.
Both vegetarian meat and cultured meat would eliminate the risk
of animal epidemics.
For a balanced information it should be noted that an overconsumption
of soy isoflavones can potentially trigger a thyroid condition.
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