HEALTH A-L-E-R-T: Consume lean beef, protect your heart

 

While the greasy, charcoal-burned,barbeque or ‘suya’ is a bad idea, a nice bit of lean beef, stir-fried or added to stews may actually be healthy for you. Did I hear you say lean beef? Yes, lean beef is red meat devoid of all fat like the “pkomo and tendon”.
Foremost, lean beef is a very
good source of protein providing 64.1 per cent of the daily value for protein in just 4 ounces.   Contrary to the bad press that red meat has been getting for a while now, did you know that lean meat,beef also contains nutrients that protect your heart and prevent colon cancer?
In addition to being a very good source of protein, lean beef is a good source of vitamin B12. Vitamin B12, along with vitamin B6 and folic acid are nutrients needed by the body to convert the potentially dangerous chemical homocysteine into other, benign molecules.
Since high homocysteine levels are associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, getting plenty of these B vitamins in your diet is important. Homocysteine is also associated with osteoporosis. Recent studies has shown that osteoporosis occurred more frequently among women whose vitamin B12 status was deficient or marginal compared with those who had normal B12 status.
You can actually get 46 per cent of the daily value for vitamin B12 from a four-ounce serving of beef which is equivalent to about 112g! Lean beef is a good source of zinc, which increases bone mineral density. High bone mineral density helps to prevent hip and spine fracture in post menopausal women and older men.
Zinc is also helpful for preventing damage to blood vessel walls that can contribute to atherosclerosis and is also needed for the proper function of the immune system, making it a good nutrient for guard against recurrent infections. Four ounces of lean beef contains 42.2 per cent of the daily value for zinc.
Diets high in vitamin B12, especially if they are low in fat, are also associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer. More so, beef is also a good source of the trace mineral selenium. Selenium helps reduce the risk of colon cancer in the sense that it is needed for the proper function of glutathione peroxidase, an important internally produced antioxidant that has also been shown to reduce the severity of inflammatory conditions like asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.
For this and other reasons, foods rich in selenium are also associated with a reduced risk for colon cancer. Evidence from prospective studies and recent research has suggested a strong inverse correlation between selenium intake and cancer incidence.
Selenium has been shown to induce DNA repair and synthesis in damaged cells, to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells, and to induce their apoptosis, the self-destruct sequence the body uses to eliminate worn out or abnormal cells.
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