The MN State Fair promotes animal agriculture and encourages eating meat and dairy products. But meat and dairy products are filled with saturated fats, cholesterol, hormones, pathogens, and antibiotics that harm your health. Ask yourself: Why would the MN State Fair promote a diet that is harmful to human health?
Cows
Milk and other dairy products are the biggest source of saturated fat in Americans’ diets, contributing to heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. Dairy consumption is also linked to increased risk for prostate, breast, and ovarian cancers.
Dairy products contain cholesterol. Cholesterol is a wax-like substance produced by the liver that helps build cell membranes and produce hormones. Our bodies produce plenty of cholesterol naturally. We don’t need to consume extra cholesterol through our food.
Diets high in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol increase the risk of heart disease, America’s #1 killer. And it’s no surprise that cheese is the leading source of artery clogging saturated fat in the American diet. Cheese is especially dangerous because cheeses are typically 70 percent fat.
Research also shows that dairy products have little or no benefit for bone health. Most studies fail to show any link between consumption of dairy products and bone fractures.
Far from a health food, cow’s milk can also cause bloating, cramping, and diarrhea in many individuals. That’s because 65% of the global population, including a vast majority of people of color, are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance affects about 95 percent of Asian Americans, 74 percent of Native Americans, 70 percent of African Americans, 53 percent of Mexican Americans, and 15 percent of Caucasians.
Chickens
Carcinogens (a substance capable of causing cancer) occur naturally in chicken and are linked to breast, prostate, and other cancers. Chicken also raises cholesterol levels as much as red meat.
A typical serving of chicken is about 50% fat, and 30% of that is saturated (unhealthy) fat, which stimulates the body’s production of cholesterol.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every year about 1 million people get sick from eating poultry products contaminated with harmful germs like Campylobacter and Salmonella. E. coli found in chicken feces may also be a major cause of urinary tract infections.
Although the USDA implements a “zero tolerance” policy for fecal contamination, this policy only applies to visible fecal contamination. Chicken products pass inspection if feces are not visible to the naked eye. According to one federal inspector, “We often see birds going down the line with intestines still attached, which are full of fecal contamination. If there is no fecal contamination on the bird’s skin, however, we can do nothing to stop that bird from going down that line… once the bird gets into the chill tank (a large vat of cold water), that contamination will enter the water and contaminate all the other carcasses in the chiller. That’s why it is sometimes called ‘fecal soup.’”
In fact, “Poultry Slaughter Procedures,” a USDA training video, reveals that the chicken slaughtering process ends with carcasses soaking in cold water – ‘fecal soup’ — for up to one hour before being packaged for consumers.
Eggs
Eggs are marketed as natural, harmless, and inexpensive, but the fat and cholesterol found in eggs can harm heart health and lead to diabetes as well as prostate and colorectal cancers. About 60 percent of the calories in eggs are from fat, much of which is saturated fat. Eggs are also loaded with cholesterol, about 200 milligrams, and that’s double the amount in a Big Mac! Moreover, consuming one or more eggs per day may increase the risk of diabetes by 60 percent.