Phosphates in "Enhanced" Supermarket Meats

When we cut the carbs, a lot of use end up eating more meat. I have debunked quite a few poorly conducted studies that pretend to prove that eating meat raises mortality.

But a recent study raises an issue about meat that is important to people with diabetes.

Science Daily: Fresh Meats Often Contain Additives Harmful to Dialysis Patients

Supermarkets sell in the fresh meat department meats they label as "enhanced." These are meats that have been injected with solutions that are supposed to "enhance flavor" though of course, since they are mostly water, what they really do is enhance weight, allowing the supermarket to charge you more for the same piece of meat, since it has gained a couple ounces from being injected.

The study found that these enhanced meats contain levels of phosphate much higher than found in untreated meat which can be extremely harmful to people on dialysis.

What the study did not mention is that phosphates can also be harmful to everyone else. Lifetime phosphate intake has been linked to the likelihood of developing kidney disease in everyone, not just people with diabetes.

I blogged about this a while ago here:

Coke Adds Death

and more recently here:

Avoid Phosphates and Preserve Your Kidneys

This research also points out that the labels on treated meat do not reveal the ingredients. My guess is that besides the phosphates, which were identified via lab analysis, these "enhanced" meats are also filled with MSG which, among other things, dysregulates appetite and contributes to weight gain.

Let your supermarket manager know that the store is selling a product that contains a dangerous chemical that could kill people on dialysis and which is NOT labeled to indicate this. Fear of lawsuits is a strong motivator for change. It's time that meat labels contained the same level of disclosure we find on other supermarket foods. Without disclosure we cannot know that what we are eating is not adulterated.