Every vegetarian has the portion of meat with which he "cheats" (@baligrilledcheese)
Meat is without a doubt one of the most maligned foods, and some would say that quite rightly.
A new decade-long study examined the relationship between it and a common infection and found that bacteria in meat may be responsible for more than half a million urinary tract infections in the United States each year.
E. coli is a bacteria that is usually harmless and is "part of the normal bacterial environment in the gut in humans and animals," Dr. Craig Comiter, an expert in urology and obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine, told CNN. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
strains Different, on the other hand, can be dangerous, causing diarrhea, respiratory diseases and pneumonia.
The source is meat
Researchers have long known about a link between E. coli and diseases and infections in any part of the urinary system, including the kidneys, urethra and bladder.
The bacterium causes 6 million to 8 million such cases in the U.S. each year. But the new study suggests that the chances of these infections being related to E. coli are lower and that the main culprit is actually the meat you eat. Infections can happen when meat with E. coli
bacteria .coli is not kept or done under proper hygienic conditions, passes through the digestive system and eventually exits the anus. Because of its proximity to the urinary system, these bacteria can easily enter it and cause infection, with symptoms such as a burning sensation during urination, cloudy urine and pelvic pain.
Beware of bacteria. A man eats meat (Photo: ShutterStock)
The George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health study analyzed data from retail meat samples collected between January 2012 and December 2012. The researchers tested chicken, turkey and pork samples from nine major grocery chains in Arizona, then took blood and urine samples from people who were hospitalized at the same time. Area due to urinary tract infections.
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A decade of research
It took 10 years to analyze the data, including tracing the sources of the E.
coli, said study author Dr. Lance Price, an environmental and occupational health expert at George Washington University. He added that the reliability of the study still exists because the dominant strains of E. coli present in 2012 are the same strains found now. With the findings and a predictive
model , the researchers estimated that 8% of E. coli urinary tract infections in the US each year—480,000 to 640,000 cases—may be caused by strains of bacteria found in meat.
Untreated urinary tract infections caused by E. coli can lead to problems such as permanent kidney damage, sepsis, and a narrow urethra.
"Some people think of these inflammations as a painful nuisance ... but they can actually cause serious infections because the bladder and urinary tract are actually a gateway to blood," Price said in a video released by George Washington University.
"Once there is an infection in the kidneys,
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