







Does Meat Cause Diabetes?

Continuing my series in which I evaluate the validity of various anti-meat arguments, we look next to diabetes. It has been suggested that meat, especially red meat, might contribute to diabetes by worsening insulin resistance, which prevents the body from clearing glucose from the blood stream. Since there isn’t a widely agreed upon mechanism for how meat might do this, let’s look at it from different possible angles. Continue reading

Does Meat Increase Homocysteine?

Meat, especially red meat, is often the target of criticism in some nutrition circles. Not always for the same reasons–most seem to appreciate its protein but lambast its fat as “artery clogging”. However, there also exists a number of noted nutritionists, particularly those recommending a “plant based diet”, who claim meat protein itself is unhealthy for a various reasons. One of their claims is that animal protein is acidic and causes bone loss as a result. I already this claim in a previous posts, concluding that it was completely untrue. But what about some of the other claims leveed against meat protein, do they have merit?

One claim I sometimes hear relates to homocysteine. Homocysteine is a compound found in the blood that appears to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (1,2). Homocysteine is derived primarily from the amino acid methionine, which meat protein is particularly rich in. This generally serves as the bases for the argument that meat should increase homocysteine levels. This makes some sense in theory, but do studies actually support it? Let’s find out. Continue reading

Monounsaturated Fat Versus Saturated Fat: Nutrition Cage Match


Monounsaturated Fat Versus Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fat: Nutrition Cage Match

To my knowledge there exist no controlled dietary trials lasting long enough for us to know how replacing monounsaturated fats (e.g. olive oil, canola oil) with omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (e.g. corn oil, sunflower oil) affects death from and incidence of various diseases. C’mon researchers, get on that!

In the meantime, if we want to try and figure out which types of fat is healthier, we need to look at controlled trials which measured various health markers suggestive of disease risk. I went on a mad search for controlled trials on humans comparing the effects of monounsaturated fat and omega-6 (or n6) polyunsaturated fat on such markers. Here’s what I found:

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