Is pork bad for you? Is swine unhealthy to eat? In a time where more and more people in the western world are getting conscious about what they eat, in the US alone, thousands are asking the question whether pork is a bad choice to eat.

What do pigs eat?

Before looking at whether pork is bad for you or not, let’s look at what pigs eat. Pigs are known for eating all sorts of things. A part from eating all kinds of edible foods, they even eat junk, garbage, spoiled foods and insects. They act as they were the vacuum cleaners of the earth, ingesting lots of trash. Keep this in mind, next time you consider to eat these creatures.

Pork and cholesterol

Looking at the nutritional content of pork, the first thing to notice is that it has high content of saturated fats. Saturated fats alone can lead to an increase in cholesterol. In addition, pork is high in cholesterol. This means that it is a bad idea to eat pork, only looking at the factor of cholesterol.

Pork – a red meat

Pork is classed as red meat, which was added to the list of carcinogens by WHO in 2015. So, pork is also a bad choice if you are concerned of cancer. The result of WHO’s evaluation of red meat shows strong mechanistic evidence supporting a carcinogenic effect.

“Pork is considered a red meat, and it is high levels of saturated fat, and all of the other animal protein compounds that are deleterious to health. Pork is not a “white meat”, and even if it were, white meat has also been demonstrated to be deleterious to health,” says Dana Hunnes, assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, to ZME Science.

This confirms a study in 2012 on 100 000 participants, where strong evidence was found that consumption of red meat is linked to a shorter and less healthy life.

“This study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, contributes substantially to premature death,” according to Dr. Frank Hu, one of the senior scientists involved in the study and a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Is pork bad for you?

The above studies are quite clear: Pork is bad for you. Here are a few more related studies:

• A 1985 study found a correlation between pork consumption and cirrhosis
• In a 2011 analysis they found that for each additional 100 grams of red meat per day (which includes both pork and beef), the risk of colorectal cancer increases by 17%
• A study in 2019 found that there is an increased bowel cancer risk of 20%, with each extra slice of ham or rasher of bacon per day.
• Eating red meat, like pork, is linked to obesity, which in turn can lead to many different diseases.

In conclusion:

”Multiple conditions have been associated with pork consumption, including but not limited to diabetes, MS, cardiovascular disease, obesity, cirrhosis, and multiple types of cancer. The exact nature of this risk is still a matter of active research, but if you want to be on the safe side, no amount of pork is safe.” – ZME Science.

The Bible and pork eating

I think you are aware by now how pork eating is bad for you. Having seen many warnings now from the scientists, let’s look at another interesting source.

The Bible has some things to say specifically about eating swine. It gives very strong warnings. What we have seen in the scientific evidence, are probably some reasons why. The Bible lists pigs as unclean and unfit for food (See Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14).

The following Bible text may be shocking, but it is serious:

“Behold, the Lord will come with fire … and by His sword the Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many. Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves … eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall be consumed together” (Isaiah 66:15–17)

The diet that God gave man to eat was a plant based one (See Genesis 1-2). This is also what the big scientific studies are showing.