A couple of weeks ago, I read an article here on Associated Content that talked about how, in the author’s opinion, fat people were destroying America. The author presented only one solution or reason for why people in America are becoming overweight or obese. That article prompted me to do my own research into the subject of obesity in America, and as a result, I wrote the rebuttal piece that you can read by clicking HERE.
I have written on the topic of obesity and overweight before, and I have even written articles about how to lose weight, without dieting and strenuous exercise, and I’ve also written about a medical condition known to cause weight gain. One of my articles about obesity and overweight dealt directly with childhood obesity and overweight. You can review that article by clicking HERE.
I’ve also written two other articles on Associated Content about how to lose weight. One is entitled How To Lose Weight By Shopping Smart, and the other is entitled How to Lose Weight Without Dieting. You can read either or both articles by clicking the links on the title.
After my rebuttal article was published, I received a plethora of comments on the article and the views. I loved reading all the remarks about what other people think pertaining to obesity and overweight in America. However, there were a couple of comments that brought up a side of the topic of obesity and overweight in America that my rebuttal piece did not take into consideration: hormones in our food.
I would like to thank to those who pointed this out to me, as it prompted me to perform a bit of research into this issue of using growth hormones, better known as rBST, recombinant bovine somatotropin, an artificial Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), that is similar to the growth hormone bST that is produced by the pituitary gland in normal and healthy cows.
The product was approved for use in America in 1993, and it is now sold and used in all 50 states, though not by all dairies and cattle raisers. The EU actually has banned the use of artificial hormones to fatten cattle and bring them to maturity faster.
BGH is one of the main factors that controls the quantity of milk produced by cows. Therefore, when a cow is injected with this growth hormone, she produces more milk, and this keeps costs down for dairies and consumers alike.
But at what cost?
Well, the scientific research is underwhelming, in that there isn’t all that much of it, and most of the scientific research that can be found was performed by the man and his team who invented the drug and who profits from the use and sale of it.
Many experts believe that a child in America who is raised on a diet that consists of milk, cheese, dairy products, and meat that comes from cattle injected with synthetic human growth hormones can: weigh more, develop earlier, start puberty early, and for girls, early onset of menses and for boys possible genital deformity – for both genders, sterility might be a side effect too.
What I found, though, was more interesting to me than just focusing on weight loss. The author who wrote the original commentary about obesity in America cited statistics about rising health care costs and how Americans are sicker than their British counterparts.
I found this interesting quote in an article on the internet today: “…there is evidence of higher breast and prostate cancer rates in the U.S., where most consumers regularly eat beef from cattle injected with growth hormones.
The rate of breast cancer among women in the U.S. is put at 97 per 100,000 against 67 in Europe.
Similarly the rate of prostate cancer in men is 96 in America and only 37 in Europe.” (retrieved December 6, 2006 from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk)
Well, this really set me to thinking. If the use of growth hormones is banned in the EU and is not approved for use in the UK, could it be that research is discovering that one possible link to many increases in health problems in the US, while coming from many different sources and reasons, might not also pertain to the use of
these synthetic growth hormones in all our foodstuff?
Think about it; if the growth hormone is used for dairy cows and cattle, that potentially affects just about everything we eat except fruits and vegetables, then it’s no wonder true vegetarians (read vegans) may be among the healthiest people on the planet – they don’t eat any foods that might contain synthetic or even natural growth hormone. Even if you don’t eat meat, there’s cheese, milk, sour cream, whipped cream, coffee creamer, baked goods (haven’t you ever added milk to a recipe?) – I mean, the list goes on and on.
One study on the effects of bovine growth hormone, when injected into mice, discovered: “…increased body mass, insulin resistance, and altered lipoprotein metabolism when fed a normal diet...” and then went on to say, “The HFD [high fat diet] led to diabetes only in the bGH mice.”
In other words, mice injected with growth hormone were found to have a higher instance of diabetes than those who were not injected with growth hormone when fed a high fat diet. Obviously, America does eat a higher fat diet than every before, and add to that eating cattle and dairy products containing synthetic growth hormone, do we now have a link to a possible cause for an increase in diabetes in the US other than obesity? I think the research clearly shows there is a link.
I’m not a medical doctor or a scientist and I never will be, but after reading the research, I found on the use of growth hormones in our cattle and poultry in order to save money and create bigger, fatter, and more producing food animals it is clear to me that animals injected with growth hormones do indeed provide one reason for why some serious health conditions that existed prior to the use of these growth hormones have increased in prevalence. After all, remember that growth hormone use in cattle didn’t begin until 1993 – and I see a direct correlation to that date and a MARKED increase in breast cancer, diabetes, and obesity between 1993 and today.
This is what happens when capitalism overrides safety – people want to make more money more than they want to ensure a product is safe to use. Growth hormone sales benefit the man who created the growth hormones, the company who researched and tested growth hormones, the companies who manufacture and distribute the growth hormones on the one side. On the other side, the cattle farmers and ranchers, the poultry raisers and the dairy farms want bigger meat and poultry and better producing cows, because that saves them money and provides more product to sell with less upkeep costs.
And lastly, there are consumers who want to save a buck too. When the farmers and dairies save money, that translates to money in our pockets too, because meat, cheeses, eggs, poultry and the like are all cheaper for use to buy.
Yet, while it may be less expensive to the pocketbook, I have to ask the question: What is the true COST of saving money by using growth hormones?
