Marinate that pork chop first?

[Rabelais]

Since a great many of us are incorporating more pork into our diets, as per the Paleo diet, This small study, in part funded by the Weston Price organization might be of interest. Granted, the small sample group who participated do not represent a statistically significant study, but the findings are interesting.

_http://www.westonaprice.org/cardiovascular-disease/how-does-pork-prepared-in-various-ways-affect-the-blood

SUBJECTS AND STUDY PROCEDURES

Inclusion criteria for subjects were normal healthy adults eating the traditional diet recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) for over two years, and having a clean healthy biological terrain as observed in live blood analysis.

Three adults, including two females aged thirty-seven and sixty, and one male aged fiftytwo, participated in the study. The average length of time they had consumed the WAPF diet was forty-five months. Subjects each came to the laboratory once weekly for five weeks at the same time of day by individual appointment. On the days in which they participated, subjects were required to fast for at least five hours. A baseline blood test was first done. Each subject was then given a measured amount of meat to consume, at least three ounces.

All of the meats used were of the highest quality from sustainable small farms raising pastured livestock. Five preparations of meat were used:

1. Unmarinated pastured center-cut pork chop;

2. Apple cider vinegar-marinated (twenty-four hours while refrigerated) pastured center-cut pork chop;

3. Uncured pastured prosciutto;

4. Uncured pastured bacon;

5. Unmarinated pastured lamb chop.

The meats (1), (2) and (5) were cooked over low heat in a cast iron skillet for up to one hour, with a little water but no added fat, and salted to taste. The cooked meats were prepared well done. The bacon was cooked until slightly stiff, but not crisp or dry. The prosciutto was consumed from the package without any preparation.

After consuming the pork, subjects were allowed to leave the laboratory, instructed to drink only water as needed, and to refrain from eating anything else. Five hours later, each subject returned to the laboratory for a post-meat blood test.

Microphotographs of the blood samples were recorded and scored. The data for the three subjects were also averaged for each condition and plotted in tables and graphs.

PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPARISON OF BLOOD BEFORE AND AFTER EATING MEAT

The results show unequivocally that consuming unmarinated cooked pork shows a significant negative effect on the blood. Five hours after consumption, subjects showed extremely coagulated blood, with extensive red blood cell (RBC) rouleaux (cells in the formation of stacked coins), RBC aggregates, and the presence of clotting factors, especially fibrin, which is seen as white threads in dark-field microscopy.

To condense the information in this article, it appears that the bacon, prosciutto and lamb chops had no negative effect on the red blood cells, but the unmarinated pork chops were problematic. Pre and post test live blood analysis is the focus of the study. Dark-field microscopic photography, charts and a great deal of information regarding the traditional methods of pork preparation, in pork consuming cultures, are considered in the report.

CONCLUSIONS

1. Consuming unmarinated cooked pastured pork produces blood coagulation and clotting in blood examined at five hours after eating; however, consuming marinated cooked pork does not produce any blood coagulation or clotting.

2. Consuming processed forms of pastured uncured pork, including bacon and prosciutto, does not produce any blood coagulation or other visible changes in the blood at five hours after eating.

3. Consuming unmarinated cooked pastured lamb does not produce any blood coagulation or other visible changes in the blood at five hours after eating.

4. No changes in white blood cell activity, white blood cell clumping, crystals, microbes, or spicules (indicating liver stress), were found before or after consumption of all five preparations of pork and lamb.

The results suggest that unmarinated cooked pastured pork may be unique in producing these coagulation effects on the blood, which also appeared quite rapidly, in less than ten minutes after blood draw, and did not clear up during an hour of observing the blood under the microscope.

The early blood coagulation and clotting observed after consuming cooked unmarinated pork are adverse changes in the blood. A shorter blood coagulation time is associated with increased systemic biochemical inflammation as well as the possible formation of blood clots in the body, as in heart attack or stroke. This condition in the blood, if chronic, is associated with increased risk of chronic degenerative disease, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, autoimmune disorders and others.2

As I write this there is a nice fat laden pastured pork chop in my refrigerator marinating in organic apple cider vinegar. By this evening it will have been there 24 hours. It will be my dinner tonight. Perhaps this is a causal factor in the tightness over my heart that I have been experiencing since beginning the low carb/high saturated fat diet. I won't jump to that conclusion as there are many other factors involved in my current health status. It is worthy of consideration and observation though... OSIT.

 

[Laura]

This was already discussed at some length in the "Life Without Bread" thread.