Processed Meats

columok

This is a question directed more to the paleo/low carb people.

I'm interested in the continental processed meats (saucisson, chorizo, mortadella, salami, serrano etc.) and wondering about the pros/cons health wise with each. I'd be largely concerned about the fat content (quality wise). Would the saturated fat be good fat or bad fat? I'd be looking mainly at the gluten free high meat content options!

I know serrano ham for example is seems fantastic (processing wise) and aside from sodium can find little issue with it.

El_Dangeroso

My beef (geddit!) with processed meats is when they start adding in stuff like modified maize start and such.

Most studies do show an increased risk of disease with increased consumption of processed meats, the problem with those studies is how the foods are lumped together in the questionnaires so crappy hotdogs = gourmet cured parma ham. I think the majority of people tend to eat refined carbs with processed meat, think hotdog/hamburger buns, along with what they are cooking in (veg oil), never mind that the meat is probably going to be of dubious origin in the first place.

So I reckon some really good quality cured meats are ok, probably not best as a staple (as in most of your meat should be fresh) as the amount of salt drives up your requirement for potassium, which is hard to get enough of as it is. But if your eating otherwise clean, occasional cured meats can have a meaningful contribution to your diet, and pleasure is a nutrient after all.

columok

Yeah i had similar reservations with those studies. "Processed" meat is such a variable thing. I particularily like the Marks and Spencers black box sausages as they're gluten free, outdoor bred prok and 80-97% pork. This obviously has no relationship to Herza hotdogs healthwise. I also wonder if the studies are in american the likelihood is that the meats are even dodgier...

Regarding processed meats I wondered if you picked somethign with little or no additives then the quality of the fat would presumably be the main concern. (Whether the omega 3:6 balance tips towards the inflammatory) And presumably most pork is indoor grain fed so not great in this regard. Take your point about the sodium: potassium though!

El_Dangeroso

Pork could be a problem, you're never gonna find one that isn't fed on at least some grain rations, although pastured pork is still a million times better even though it's hard to source.

It will be higher in omega 6 than lamb or beef, but it remains to be seen whether the arachidonic acid omega 6 is as bad as the linoleic acid omega 6 counterpart that we see in vegetable oils. Eicosanoid biology is unbelievably complex and I'd say it will be another 20 years before we fully understand how it works.

All I know is that most of the the studies on rats and humans showing increased inflammation has been from linoleic acid, namely corn oil.

I think maybe it's best to not worry too much and eat whole foods as organic as is affordable, it's only when we start extracting and refining things too much that we start to see significant problems.

Sapsorrow

So are sausages generally bad then? I would have thought they were ok, just minced meat in a case

El_Dangeroso

Sapsorrow wrote: »

So are sausages generally bad then? I would have thought they were ok, just minced meat in a case

Not generally bad, just not great to base your entire meat intake around. Fresh meat is always best and you'll never get a sausage without a preservative, least I haven't found one.

I love clonakilty sausages but they have so much rubbishy crap in them.. used to eat a load of them when I was losing weight, sigh.. sometimes ignorance is bliss.:( Must try those M&S ones Colum suggested.

EileenG

Sapsorrow wrote: »

So are sausages generally bad then? I would have thought they were ok, just minced meat in a case

Totally depends on the sausages you pick. Some are excellent quality meat, and really are just meat in a case. Some are a mass of meat scraps, fat, sugar, salt and rusk sludged together and sold for half nothing.

columok

Temple_Grandin wrote: »

Must try those M&S ones Colum suggested.

Do it!!!!!! The cumberlands (85% pork) and the chipolatas (97% pork) are particularily amazing for breakfast with a few poached eggs!

corkcomp

I never eat sausages but I remember looking at the back of a denny pack a while ago and they only have 50 something % pork so that doesnt look good

Mellor

I eat kangaroo sausages (and meat) occasionally, the nutritional data is available on the packs and it really is ridiculously good quality. When I first seen the fat, I thought it was a typo. This isn't really the processing, its actually the quality of the meat that goes in, naturally less that 1g sat fat per 100g.