requirements for day-to-day good health Most people in the West had plenty of food, and life expectancy had risen to seven or eight decades Medical research then began to concentrate on the role of nutrition in the diseases that cut the good life short, mainly heart disease and cancer And here meat and its strong appeal turned out to have a significant disadvantage: a diet high in meat is associated with a higher risk of developing heart disease and cancer In our postindustrial life of physical inactivity and essentially unlimited ability to indulge our taste for meat, meat’s otherwise valuable endowment of energy contributes to obesity, which increases the risk of various diseases The saturated fats typical of meats raise blood cholesterol levels and can contribute to heart disease And to the extent that meat displaces from our diet the vegetables and fruits that help fight heart disease and cancer (p 255), it increases our vulnerability to both It’s prudent, then, to temper our species’ infatuation with meat It helped make us what we are, but now it can help unmake us We should eat meat in moderation, and accompany it with the vegetables and fruits that complement its nutritional strengths and limitations Minimizing Toxic By-Products in Cooked Meats We should also prepare meat with care Scientists have identified three families of chemicals created during meat preparation that damage DNA and cause cancers in laboratory animals, and that may increase our risk of developing cancer of the large intestine Heterocyclic Amines HCAs are formed at high temperatures by the reaction of minor meat components (creatine and creatinine) with amino acids HCA production is generally greatest at the meat surface where the temperature is highest and the meat juices ... temperatures by the reaction of minor meat components (creatine and creatinine) with amino acids HCA production is generally greatest at the meat surface where the temperature is highest and the meat juices... chemicals created during meat preparation that damage DNA and cause cancers in laboratory animals, and that may increase our risk of developing cancer of the large intestine Heterocyclic Amines...It’s prudent, then, to temper our species’ infatuation with meat It helped make us what we are, but now it can help unmake us We should eat meat in moderation, and accompany it with the vegetables and fruits