Sausage, ham, sausages – all this is very helpful when you need a quick meal, but the refrigerator is empty. But how safe are prepared meat products?
“Sausage can hardly be called a meat product. There is only a fifth of meat in it, and the rest of the content remains on the conscience of the manufacturer,” says doctor and surgeon Alexander Umnov.
Here are just some of the consequences that can result from a love of ready-made meat delicacies.
Infections
“The meat component of the product is obtained from special feed breeds. These breeds are specifically limited in movement. They are fed in excess of the norm, and sometimes not with the highest quality feed, to which antibiotics are often added. Frequent use of such additives can cause resistance to antibiotics in animals. If in the animal’s body If a bacteria gets in that the antibiotic won’t take, it can cause serious illness in humans,” warns Umnov.
Cancer risk
“Virtually the entire animal is used in the production of sausages and frankfurters of various categories: meat, fats, horns with hooves, trans fats formed during processing, and much more. When proteins are processed, nitrosamines are formed, which are highly carcinogenic,” says the doctor.
And carcinogens are known to damage DNA and change cellular metabolism, increasing the risk of developing cancer.
Sodium nitrite poisoning
“Sodium nitrite is often added to further color the product, as well as to increase shelf life. Sodium nitrite is a preservative that slows down the rotting of meat. But just six grams of this substance means death for a person,” explains the expert.
Edema and high blood pressure
“Sausages, even doctor’s sausages, contain a lot of salt, which retains fluid in the body. Because of this, kidney function increases, blood pressure rises and the heartbeat is disrupted,” says the doctor.
Damages the gastrointestinal tract
“Sausages and sausages may contain elevated levels of omega-6, which can cause damage to the gastrointestinal tract and even increase the risk of colon cancer,” warns Alexander Umnov.
Risk of heart attack
Since sausage is made from sedentary animals, it is a very fatty product. Therefore, the love for sausage products significantly affects the figure. But that’s not the worst thing.
“With excessive consumption, such products can cause atherosclerosis of blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack of various organs, as well as fatty degeneration of organs (degeneration of healthy organ cells into adipose tissue – editor’s note), in which they cannot work fully,” says the doctor.
If you really want to, what kind of sausage can you eat?
“Regarding other products, turkey sausage is considered the safest, since the meat of this bird has little fat, which reduces the risk of atherosclerosis or the breakdown of fat into harmful components,” says Alexander Umnov.
But moderation is also needed here, because any sausage contains a lot of salt.
