n the middle of the 90’s when the first American Chicken Legs (Bush Legs - this is how they call it now) flooded the food markets in Russia, one brainy Russian scientist took the "dead" chicken under his microscope. And here we go. Dramatic legends grew along with his discovery. One would say - they keep chickens in the public toilets without refrigerating them, since the chickens were full of growth hormones and preservatives. Others say - those legs were injected with embalming fluids such as formaldehyde, methanol, ethanol. Just like the body of Vladimir Lenin, who was embalmed and placed on permanent exhibition in the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow. This is how I was exposed to the American Dietary Culture or American “Don't-care-about-your-health” tough capitalism. Being extremely careful about the meat I buy, I suggest that you as well take a closer look at the reality of matter - meats full of growth hormones gives us an obesity and endanger our health and the health of our children due to the risk of cancer.

Here are the Facts:

• In the United States, every year approximately 36 million cattle are raised to provide beef for US consumers; 2/3 of these cattle (about 24 million cows) are given hormones to help make them grow faster.
• Steroid hormones, in fact, enhance the animals' production of muscle - that is, meat. Some cows get steroids in their feed; others receive one or more hormones via a controlled-release implant in their ears. Economically, these hormones offer a bonanza. It costs farmers about US$1 to 3 per head to treat their livestock with either procedure. Treatment increases animals' growth by 20%, so each cow in a feedlot typically gains 3 pounds (about Kg1.36) per day. Moreover, for each pound that it gains, it consumes 15% less feed than an untreated animal does. This feed efficiency works out to a cost savings of about US$40 per head;
• According to expert scientists appointed by the European Union, the use of growth hormones in food animals poses a potential risk to consumers' health. The scientists reported that hormone residues found in meat from these animals can disrupt the consumer's hormone balance, cause developmental problems, interfere with the reproductive system, and even lead to the development of cancer;
• Farmers use rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) to increase their cows' milk output by as much as 25 percent, and the drug is injected into anywhere from 5 percent to 30 percent of the cows in the U.S., according to its manufacturer, Monsanto. Though Monsanto contends that milk produced with rBGH is no less safe than non-rBGH milk, others disagree.
• Hormonal additives are entirely illegal in the European Union (EU), as well as in Canada, simply based on the biologic plausibility of health implications, alongside some scant laboratory and animal research. The EU has gone so far as to ban the import of US beef and dairy from treated animals, spurring a small tariff war between them and the US.

Just think about it for a second. If the growth hormone is used for dairy cows and cattle to speed lean muscle growth and create bigger, fatter animals, it is obivious that it will produce the same impact on people who consuming the cow's meat or milk. If a cow grows by 20% from hormone injections,  it makes sense that we'll gain 20% extra weight too!!!

One study on the effects of bovine growth hormone, when injected into mice, discovered: "...increased body mass, insulin resistance, and altered lipoprotein metabolism when fed a normal diet... The HFD [high fat diet] led to diabetes only in the bGH mice."

In other words, mice injected with growth hormone were found to have a higher instance of diabetes than those who were not injected with growth hormone when fed a high fat diet. Obviously, America does eat a higher fat diet than every before, and add to that eating cattle and dairy products containing synthetic growth hormone, do we now have a link to a possible cause for an increase in diabetes in the US other than obesity?

The adequate solution is - if you can't afford to buy the organic meat and Organic Milk from Whole Foods - be a vegetarian. There are many other sources of protein. As a fact it is highly recommended to eliminate meat from your diet and eat fish instead. Growth hormones not only lead you to obesity and diabetes they increase risk for cancer.

If you still want to save a buck or two on cheap milk, eggs or meat full of growth hormones, please remember the old saying - you can buy everything in the world except your own health.