School cafeterias across the country routinely serve meals laden with saturated fat, cholesterol, excess protein, hormones, drugs, and salt. It is a diet that diefies Dietary Guidelines For Americans and promotes chronic killer diseases, bacterial infections, and learning disorders. Moreover, children's early dietary habits become lifelong addictions.
Consider the following:
• School lunches contain 33% of calories from fat, including 12% from saturated fat, while U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend 30% and 10%, respectively.
• 90% of children consume amounts of fat above the recommended level.
• 15% of children ages 6 to 19 are overweight, and the Surgeon General has reported that obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, particularly among children.
• 25% of children ages 5 to 10 have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or other early warning signs for heart disease.
• Less than 15% of children eat the minimum daily recommended servings of fruit, and 35% eat no fruit on a given day.
• Only 17% of children consume the minimum daily recommended servings of vegetables, and 20% eat no vegetables on a given day
• As many as 30,000 children have Type II diabetes, once limited largely to adults.
• The past decade has had 300 outbreaks of school food poisoning affecting 16,000 students.
Diets high in animal fat and protein increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, several forms of cancer, and other chronic diseases that cripple and kill nearly 1.4 million Americans annually. Obesity, hypertension, and atherosclerosis, key precursors to these diseases, begin during childhood years.
Moreover, a number of children who are diagnosed with flu symptoms are actually suffering from food poisoning by E. coli, Listeria, Salmonella, or other pathogens contained in meat, egg, and dairy products. In October 2002, the U.S. Department of Agriculture disclosed that nearly 2 million pounds of turkey meat contaminated with Listeria was used for the School Lunch Program, prompting a controversial move to irradiate meat destined for schools.
Vascular diseases, including heart diseases and stroke, are caused by blockage of the arteries that supply oxygenated blood to the body's vital organs. The blockages are caused by a build-up of fatty plaque along the artery walls. This condition is called atherosclerosis. Total blockage of an artery leading to a portion of the heart or the brain brings on a heart attack or stroke. Nearly 860,000 Americans die each year of vascular diseases.
Diets laden with saturated fat, cholesterol, and salt are the key factors in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases. Cholesterol is the key component of the fatty plaques. Saturated fats raise blood cholesterol level more than any other factor. Salt consumption promotes water retention and blood volume, leading to hypertension, which contributes to the incidence of heart disease and stroke, as well as to rupture of blood vessels.
All animal foods contain cholesterol, but plant foods do not. In fact, antioxidants and folic acid in plant foods protect arteries from plaque formation. Plant foods are also naturally low in saturated fats and salt, and the potassium in plant foods reduces hypertension.
Cancer is actually a variety of diseases that occur when the cells grow out of control, spread through the body, and interfere with the function of a vital organ. Cancers of the lung, breast, prostate, and the digestive tract have all been linked with a diet high in animal foods. Nearly 260,000 Americans die of these types of cancer each year.
Several reasons have been noted. Consumption of animal fats raises blood testosterone and estrogen levels that promote prostate and breast cancers, respectively. Carcinogenic pesticides spread on animal feedcrops accumulate in animals' fatty tissues. In the digestive tract, animal fats interact with bile acids to release carcinogens. All animal fats heated to high temperatures, as in deep-fried foods, also form carcinogens. Nitrites in hot dogs and other 'cured' meat products are known carcinogens. The Insulin Growth Factor (IGF) in dairy products promotes malignant cell growth.
Conversely, plant foods contain fiber, which helps prevent cancer of the digestive tract by speeding food transit before formation of the carcinogens and reduces the risk of breast cancer, perhaps by lowering estrogen level. Plants also contain antioxidants and flavones that impede formation of cancer cells.
The cells of our body feed on glucose that is escorted by a hormone called insulin. Animal fat in the bloodstream blocks insulin from playing its vital role. This causes adult-onset or Type II diabetes. The incidence of this disease has been growing among children because of their faulty diet. In some children, cow's milk generates antibodies that destroy the pancreatic cells that produce insulin, leading to Type I diabetes. Diabetes is a serious disease which causes shortness of breath, vomiting, dehydration, and eventually contributes to heart and kidney diseases. Diabetes kills nearly 70,000 Americans each year.
Kidney stones and other kidney diseases are typically associated with excessive consumption of meat, dairy, and other proteins that these organs convert into fat and waste products. Kidney diseases kill nearly 40,000 Americans each year.
Dairy products are responsible for a number of serious digestive and allergic reactions. Nearly 50 million Americans, including 75% of African Americans and 90% of Asian Americans suffer from severe cramps caused by lactose intolerance (inability to digest the lactose sugar in dairy products). Common allergic reactions include asthma, skin rashes, and ear infections.
Pathogens that thrive in animal foods are among the primary causes of food poisoning. The biggest culprits are Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis, Campylobacter jejuni, and Listeria monocytogenes. These diseases cause several days of misery and occasional deaths. The Centers for Disease Control estimate that 9 million cases occur annually, though most are not reported.
Because the USDA has been unable to vouch for their safety, all meat and poultry products are now required to carry warning labels. In 2002, following repeted incidents of school food poisoning, the Department decided to irradiate meat destined for the school lunch program.
Meat products also contain antibiotic residues, which build up resistance in pathogens, and render antibiotics less effective in treating infectious diseases.
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