When Spock said, "Live long and prosper," he might have added "only if you don't eat red meat." Red and processed meats (lunch meat, sausage, hot dogs, or bacon) are a straight shot to heart disease, some cancers, and memory loss. In addition to artery-clogging, inflammation-boosting saturated fats, they contain nitrates, heme iron, and certain carcinogens that form as a result of high-temp cooking (broiling, pan frying, or grilling). The stuff is old age on a fork!

So guys, listen up! Here's another reason to say "humbug" to hamburger. Men who eat one and a half servings (about a 5-ounce burger) of fried meat a week increase the risk of advanced prostate cancers by 30 percent. Chow down 8 ounces of the stuff and your risk jumps to 40 percent.

That's why smart guys — and gals (red meat fires up her risk for disease, including breast cancer) — switch to fish and skinless chicken; a veggie-rich diet (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, watercress, arugula, cauliflower); and protein from 100 percent whole grains and beans. If you do grill, reduce carcinogens by marinating food in canola or olive oil and balsamic vinegar for 15 minutes or more before cooking over medium heat.

Worried that years of eating red meat have already done damage? Take at least 1,000 IU a day of vitamin D-3. (Get your blood level measured; you want a reading of 50-80 ng/dL.) Also take algal supplements that deliver 900 milligrams of omega-3 a day, and consider taking purified omega-7 and omega-9 (found in olive oil).


© 2012 Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.