More about this pesky meat business

So wait — are we supposed to eat piles of meat or not?

That’s the question I’m asking myself four weeks into eating a modified version of the paleo diet. Because here we’ve been reading for years that the diet-heart hypothesis was essentially bullshit (take this 2007 article from Men’s Health, for example). Many a paleo eating journey was launched (or at least partially pushed aloft) by that line of research.

Meats ahoy! Right everybody?

But then, well … shit. Along came a recent study by researchers at the Harvard Medical School has been getting a lot of attention for stating that: “a higher intake of red meat was associated with a significantly elevated risk of total, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality.”

Red meat bad?

According to the BBC:

A diet high in red meat can shorten life expectancy, according to researchers at Harvard Medical School. The study of more than 120,000 people suggested red meat increased the risk of death from cancer and heart problems. …The British Heart Foundation said red meat could still be eaten as part of a balanced diet. The researchers analysed data from 37,698 men between 1986 and 2008 and 83,644 women between 1980 and 2008.

Surely bad news for cave-folk, if the research holds up under scrutiny.

Photo: Oven cooked pork side ribs with a dry rub, with side of sauteed yu choi.

New Scientist: Neanderthals were ancient mariners

Ah, but were their language capabilities sufficient for the mastery of nautical jargon?

According to New Scientist:

Strasser agrees Neanderthals were seafaring long before modern humans, in the Mediterranean at least. He thinks early hominins made much more use of the sea than anyone suspects, and may have used the seas as a highway, rather than seeing them as a barrier. But the details remain lost in history. Any craft were presumably made from wood, so rotted away long ago.

LINK: Neanderthals were ancient mariners – life – 29 February 2012 – New Scientist.