When people ask if we avoid pork these days, I tell them we don’t. When people ask if we’re not scared of contracting swine flu by eating pork, I tell them to go and educate themselves. This swine flu pandemic is scary enough without people confusing what’s real and what’s not. People avoided chicken at the height of the bird flu scare; now, they’re ditching the pork in their diet because of the swine flu. Let me tell you this: We just spent the weekend in Balay Indang and one of the best dishes we were served was pork spare ribs. Did we avoid it? Hell, no, we left the platter clean.
The irony is that many of those quick to condemn pork don’t even know what swine flu is. If they have converted to soy products in lieu of pork, I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to again ditch all soy products just as fast as they ditched pork once they read that the American Heart Association is no longer as enamored with soy as it once was, that the Israeli Health Ministry has issued a warning way back in 2005 that soy shouldn’t be fed to children and infants and that the French Center for Cancer Research says children below three should eat no soy at all.
The truth is, there will never be a lull in food scares. In the highly competitive food industry, any food warning affecting one sector will be blown out of proportion if it can mean higher profits for another sector. We’ve seen so many instances of this phenomenon that it’s surprising the public still hasn’t caught on with the gimmickry.
When the coffee industry started taking a backseat with the rising popularity of green tea, it practically reinvented itself by playing up on the alleged anti-oxidant properties in coffee. The same thing happened with chocolates, coconut oil, butter and sugar. Chocolates used to be considered junk food. Today, dark chocolate is heart-friendly. Coconut oil, and just about any coconut-based food product, used to be a no-no among health buffs. Today, virgin coconut oil is touted to be some kind of miracle cure.
It wasn’t all that long ago when we were being warned against the ill effects of butter on our health and people were being swayed to switch to margarine. Then, the dangers posed by the artificial ingredients in margarines became the target. The same thing with the war between the sugar industry and the manufacturers of sugar substitutes. I can go on and on about the food wars that have come and gone and it will all boil down to the same thing: food is business and competition knows no bounds.
Am I saying that the swine flu is just a figment of the imagination? No, of course not. It is real. But before panicking and drawing illogical conclusions, the wise thing to do is to inform ourselves about what’s real and what isn’t. Swine flu has been around for a long time but new strains are discovered now and then. What is it about the current onslaught that we we should know so we can keep ourselves safe?
My friend and fellow blogger Emer, a licensed physician, wrote a very interesting summary of facts and myths about swine flu in his blog and says you cannot catch swine flu by eating pork. In “Thoughts on swine flu,” Emer wrote: “You might catch it if you spend your days in close contact with real pigs in hog farms. So, you might still find it enticing to follow the recommendations of celebrity TV chef Anthony Bourdain and TIME magazine, that the Philippines’ Cebu Lechon is the best pig in Asia. Just don’t eat too much, especially if your doctor is trying to bring your cholesterol down.”
Is there are cure and a prevention? The swine flu is caused by a virus. There are no vaccines against viruses. That is something I learned very early on from my children’s pediatrician. There are medicines that can arrest the symptoms of a viral flu but that’s not the same as actually annihilating the virus. You can spent tens of thousands on drugs and all you’ll really get are placebos. You’ll be padding the bank accounts of pharmaceutical companies but you won’t be deriving any additional nor real health benefits for yourself and your family.
Just like other flu viruses, swine flu spreads with contact especially through bodily fluids. Like the common cold, if a person infected with swine flu sneezes or coughs in a public and people congested place, the likelihood that he will be spreading the virus is high. In the summer heat, you bump into a sweaty person infected with the virus, his sweat gets into your skin and you can get infected.
If the government is serious about lowering the chances of widespread viral infection, it can start rounding up people who spit and urinate on the streets and sidewalks whether behind electric posts or under some tree, and whether or not they are drunk, high on drugs or totally sober and lucid. The legal justification? Because these uncouth morons put the public in mortal danger, of course.
Connie, it’s not true that there is no vaccine against virus. Maybe you meant the flu virus? For example, measles is caused by a virus and there’s a relative immunity given to those who are vaccinated (95-98%).
As for the flu virus, it’s a hit or miss. What is done (according to my Microbiology studies) is that the previous strain of flu is studied and examined. Viruses have markers for virulence and a vaccine is designed with that template in mind. BUT, a virus can mutate so quickly, it’s really amazing how quickly. Swine flue is one they didn’t see coming.
Yes, I meant flu virus. That came up when the pedia was discussing the nature of gastro-intestinal flu with us and why there is no real cure except to allow the body to develop its own immunities.
Okay, I whipped out my Microbiology textbook to see exactly how a virus work; summarization below:
Viruses have numerous projections of two types: H and N spikes. The H spikes attach to body cells before infecting them. Antibodies against the influenza virus are directed mainly at these spikes.
No flu vaccines exist for long-term immunity. although it is not difficult to make a vaccine for a particular strain of virus, each new strain of circulating virus must be identified usually by February for the useful development and distribution of a new vaccine later that year.
Strains of the virus are collected in about 100 centers world-wide and then analyzed in central labs. This information is used to decide the composition of vaccine for next season. They are usually multivalent, that is, directed at the three most important strains in circulation. They are usually 70-90% effective. Duration of protection is no more than 3 yrs.
LOL I love it that you checked the textbook. If every person would do that every time a new health scare comes around, panic would be so much less.
By the way, I agree with the no panic thing. Every microbiologist at school is telling us to ignore the news and use common sense. And most of all, to act like one normally would.
Hi Connie, sorry I’m blowing up your comments section but I feel it is absolutely essential to reiterate that there are vaccines against flu virus. I don’t take them myself because in all my adult years, I’ve only gotten the flu once. My dad, who is a health-care professional and must take the flu vaccine always gets sick, probably from the vaccine itself. (Although to be fair, my mom, also a RN, doesn’t get sick)
However, and this is the most important part I’ve learned, very young children and senior citizens whose immune system isn’t as robust, can die from a simple flu virus and would therefore most benefit from them. If they do get sick from a vaccine, it’s not as virulent as it would have been had it been from the actual flu virus itself.
Other ways people can protect themselves against the flu without getting vaccinated: avoid crowds, wash hands with soap, avoid close contact with infected persons. The first two is probably the most important prevention technique.
“The irony is that many of those quick to condemn pork don’t even know what swine flu is.”
Replace the words “pork” with “skeptics” and “swine flu” with “global warming”.
Sass, my apology if I sound OT, but my point is not really the global warming thing but in agreeing with you in saying that people tends to get carried away by the popularity of an issue without knowing what’s real and what’s not.
BTW, I’m also a pork lechon eater. Probably, our lechon is the best in the world as what Tony Bourdaine and Time magazine claimed (I also experienced eating lechon in other countries). I can eat a lot of it without worrying about its cholesterol. But I don’t use sarsa as it gravy. Instead, I use plain patis with sliced kamias as its dip.
Bon Apettit!
I agree about people riding on with whatever the current controversy is. Bandwagon mentality, mob mentality, whatever you want to call it.
I live and work 20 miles north of the mexican border. I asked one of our Infectology scientist here at work if people can get infected by eating pork. The answer was a resounding NO. Don’t overreact. Enjoy your pork.
I hope you get good lechon there.
Yes, enjoy pork… that’s why we are having pork steak tonight.
The papers reported in no unclear terms that it’s safe to eat pork. I still enjoy all that’s pork.
Sassy,
Try the Chinese Roasted Piglet dish when you visit Penang. IT’s different from the Pinoy version. The skin is the main attraction. Goes well with the spring onions and the sauce provided.
Hi there Sassy! You’re right about it food business is food business and all about competition. Sometimes, I’m left wondering what’s left for us to eat. Fruits and vegetables are always healthy, as what I’ve known but last month, I attended a forum on health and the environment, and the speaker pointed out the hazards of pesticides and the likes that being sprayed with our veggies. Noticed today’s tomatoes? Now they last for weeks inside the fridge. Now, unless our fruits and veggies are organic, others in the know declare, they are unsafe.
By the way, just wanted to tell you, I love your column. Keep ‘em coming. I so appreciate the brilliant in you.
One of the classic example of some conflicts with being natural. Let’s assume for a while that being green is an environmentalist. DDT is a pesticide and the environmentalist has succeeded in banning it’s use. Millions have died in Africa due to malaria because of the absence of DDT. I might be wrong, but the environmentalists have not released any rejoinder to justify their action on that issue.
Now we have this global warming issue that was renamed as climate change but seems to have no appeal and they were trying to rebrand it as “climate crisis”.
Where will they stop?
Jeez…