And it could get worse... global public health officials have warned that the figure could climb to 10 MILLION per year by 2050 if we do not limit our use of antibiotics.
So, are you ingesting more antibiotics than you realize?
Doctors have been on a crusade for years to deny antibiotics for mundane things like the common cold. But when your waiting room if full of people with minor ailments begging for antibiotics as a quick solution to their problem, things can get problematic and more serious cases can go undetected.
However, your antibiotic ingestion is not just down to the medical prescription for a throat infection, for example. Our meat, chicken, pork, etc are full of antibiotics and every time you eat a steak, or a chicken breast your are ingesting tiny doses of antibiotics that gradually, day after day, contribute to the bacteria adapting to those medicines and becoming immune to it.
This means that the next time you have a throat infection - or what ever infection - the antibiotics you will be given will be useless and you could die from a minor infection.
According to those global officials, common infections such as gonorrhea and E.coli could soon be untreatable.
Right now, 70% of the antibiotics that are produced per year are used to fight infections in livestock that are reared in deplorable conditions where infections like E.coli are rife.
For the past 2 years, fast food chains have been promising to serve antibiotic-free meat, sensing their business could be in danger (and rightly so) if they don't.
But a recently published study has revealed that they have not stuck to their promise and only 2 companies managed to score an A grade (Panera Bread and Chipotle) this does not mean they are completely antibiotic-free, but that they are in the process of reducing the amount of antibiotics in their chicken.
The study: Chain Reaction II: How Top Restaurants Rate on Reducing Use of Antibiotics in Their Meat Supply. This report was compiled by Consumers Union, the Center for Food Safety, Friends of the Earth, Food Animal Concerns Trust, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The scores, as you can see are extremely low:
Four fast food chains (Chipotle, McDonald's, Panera Bread, and Subway) have implemented strategies to make their chicken 100% antibiotic-free by 2025 - that's a long way off when human health is concerned.
Also what about beef and pork? Why only Chicken?
It doesn't just apply to meat either. Milk farms use massive amounts of antibiotics as the cows are forced to produce milk at such a rate that they develop mastitis, an inflammation of the mammary gland which can result in infection. Those antibiotics and pus from the infection can be found in milk on sale in supermarkets.
The other big question is also... why only antibiotics?
Obviously you have to start somewhere and antibiotic resistance is a HUGE problem. However, livestock breeding farms where the cattle, pigs and chicken are kept in confined spaces and knee deep in excrement are not only using antibiotics in huge amounts. They are also using steroids and hormones to grow the animals as big as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Have you notice the increase in "man boobs"? They aren't just from being overweight, although that does contribute, but men are actually growing breasts from all the hormones in our food. Breast cancer in men DOES happen.
So think before you order your next McDonald's...
I can help you improve your health. If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com
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