LAHORE: Medical experts have appealed to citizens to exercise caution in eating meat during Eidul Azha for protection from illness.
They said that eating too much meat causes stomach acidity, and intestinal and other diseases. Health experts at the Lahore General Hospital (LGH), Associate Professor of Medicine Dr Israrul Haq Toor, Gynecologist Dr Laila Shafiq and Dr Muhammad Masood were shedding light on people’s meat eating habits during Eid days.
They warned citizens of heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, uric acid, and joints pain if they did not take special care in eating meat on Eid days. They said the use of red meat not only raised cholesterol and caused high blood pressure but also heart disease and diabetes.
“Meat should be used after it has been properly cooked so that it is easily digested,” they said.
They stated that avoiding hot chili spices would be beneficial for health. Dr Laila said that red meat was very good for pregnant women and people who suffered from iron deficiency, adding that red meat was essential for production of red blood cells and provides vitamin B12 to the body.
The experts said that meat would be available in large quantities to everyone on Eidul Azha; however, instead of eating it in large quantities, it should be cooked with vegetables and other items. Moreover, they said that instead of cooking immediately, the sacrificial meat should be left in the open air for a few hours before cooking it, adding that freezing meat for a long time produced germs, which were not good for health. Therefore, due to consumption of such meat, the chances of indigestion, gastroenteritis, heartburn and other diseases increase.
They said that cold drinks with red meat were also not good for health. “Old meat damages the gums and increases the risk of cancer,” they said. Medical experts told citizens to take a 6-hour break after each meal and eat more fruits and vegetables to maintain balance. “Meat is a blessing, eat it, but with caution,” they said.
