Fact Snack: What Might a Cow’s Acid Reflux Have To Do With Your Health?

Most creatures’ digestive systems abound with bacteria.  There are good bacteria that aid us in digesting our food and there are bad bacteria that can give us a tummy ache or can kill us.

Bacteria – like most living things -- are very sensitive to small changes in PH.

When at work digesting, the human stomach is highly acidic with a low PH of 1 to 3 – even at rest it has a PH of 4 or 5.  The grass fed bovine stomach is more neutral, hovering around 7.  So any bacteria, good or bad, which survive a cow’s digestion and make their way into the beef supply should pose little threat to humans.

Most cows, however, are now fed corn (due to how cheaply it can be acquired through subsidy programs).  As a result, their stomachs have become much more acidic, and the bacteria that can survive there today are the kind that thrive rather than die in our stomach acid.  One such bacteria is a harmful strain of E. coli.

No problem, bacteria may survive acid, but they don’t survive grain fed cows’ regular doses of antibiotics… …until, through the drugs’ recurrent use, the bacteria become antibiotic resistant.  No problem, we can still treat people with fluoroquinolone class antibiotics… …with a high chance that they will develop long term nerve pain, numbness, joint swelling, tendon ruptures and/or disabling weakness (those are just the more common side effects).  No problem, it’s better than dying… …and rewriting prescriptions is so much easier than rewriting the farm bill.

QUOTE of the MOMENT:

By acidifying a cow’s gut with corn, we have broken down one of our food chain’s barriers to infections.

Michael Pollan

NOTE:

If you are prescribed Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, or other drugs for infection, consider reading the long warnings and side effects insert before you take the first dose.