Pork in the form of ham, bacon, ribs and feet is a common part of many people's diet. It has been a controversial food for thousands of years, with warnings against eating it appearing in the Bible. Many Jews and Muslims avoid pork for sanitary and religious reasons. Many health authorities warn against eating too much pork because of digestive problems, toxicity and parasite infection.
Pork and Toxins
The quality of an animal's flesh is directly related to what it eats. The common pig will eat virtually anything, including dirt, decaying animal meat and vegetables, maggots and even its own waste products. According to "Nutritional Sciences," the meat and fat of a pig absorbs toxins like a sponge and can be 30 times more toxic than beef or venison. A main reason why beef has far fewer toxins is because of cows' vegetarian diet and their lengthy digestive process, which breaks down toxic substances. Further, a pig does not perspire like other mammals, so toxins stay within its flesh. According to "Nutrition and Public Health," consumption of fresh pork products can cause acute responses, such as inflammations of the appendix, gall bladder, stomach and intestines, as well as acute eczema, carbuncles and abscesses. These symptoms have also been linked with consuming cured and sausage meats.
Pork and Parasites
Pigs usually have over a dozen parasites infecting them, such as tapeworms, flukes, worms and trichinae, according to the "Professional Guide to Diseases." Without completely incinerating the flesh, there is no safe temperature at which pork can be cooked to ensure that all parasites, including their cysts and eggs, are killed. For this reason, it is estimated that pigs can transmit about 30 diseases to people, including being vectors for swine flu, according to "Human Biochemistry and Disease." The trichinae worm from the pig is especially harmful and can become lodged in your intestines, muscles, spinal cord or brain, resulting in the disease trichinosis. Trichinosis causes stomach and intestinal upset, gall bladder problems, rheumatism and meningitis.
Digestion Times
Of all the meat that people consume, pork is one of the most difficult to digest. According to "Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism," pork takes about five hours to digest, compared to 3.5 hours for beef, two hours for turkey, 1.5 hours for chicken and about 45 minutes for fish. The longer digestive time for pork suggests that the body has difficulty breaking down its flesh, fat and toxins. Further, if pork is eaten with fast-digesting foods, such as vegetables and fruit, then they are also held in the stomach for five hours, which can cause them to ferment and cause indigestion and flatulence.
Pork and Nitrites
According to "Contemporary Nutrition," cured and preserved pork products, such as sandwich meats, hot dogs and sausages, are packed with nitrites, which are associated with high levels of urea in the blood, gout, intestinal upset, brain tumors and leukemia.
References
- "Nutritional Sciences"; Michelle McGuire; 2007
- "Nutrition and Public Health"; Sari Edelstein; 2006
- "Professional Guide to Diseases: Ninth Edition"; Springhouse Publishing; 2009
- "Human Biochemistry and Disease"; Gerald Litwack; 2008
- "Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism: Fifth Edition"; Sareen S. Gropper and Jack L. Smith; 2009
- "Contemporary Nutrition"; Gordon M. Wardlaw; 2010
