To the Editor:
Re “The Burger That Shattered Her Life” (front page, Oct. 4): As a dietitian, I agree that eating beef is still a gamble—but it always will be. As long as we produce and consume huge quantities of cheap meat, the risks of foodborne illnesses—and diet-related chronic diseases—are not going away.
The National Cancer Institute recently published a study of more than half a million people that found that those who ate 4 ounces of red meat a day—the size of a small hamburger—were more likely to die over the next 10 years, mostly from heart disease and cancer.
If more people dropped burgers and other animal products and moved toward a plant-based diet, we would have lower chronic disease rates, and the animal agribusiness industry would shrink, making the whole food supply safer.
Susan Levin
Director of Nutrition Education
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Washington, Oct. 5, 2009
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 