Ted's Rant: The Truth About Health & Grassfed Beef

April 22, 2020 , Ted Slanker

Ted's Rant

Column #244

A lot of folks are nuts out there. We have these political leaders telling us they are following science, yet what they “don’t know” about science would fill all of the science books in print. Then we have the media which is more interested in spreading terror and taking statements out of context to make sensible people look stupid and themselves look holier than thou. What about social media censorship, over zealous cops, busybodies who call the authorities to stop their neighbors from walking in a park, a tech industry that wants to track our every movement, and crybabies who expect immediate gratification of a brand-new need from a very huge, complicated, diverse production system?

For certain I’m not being politically correct when I point out that there’s even some politicians and mega billionaires out there who are trying to make things worse in order to make themselves look more caring. These out-of-touch, manipulative, moronic elitists are so disgusting it’s sickening. Yes, and that includes Bill Gates who thinks meat is not a fit food for mankind. He believes that highly processed vegan meats are best.¹

But the craziest thing going is the tactic to shut down the biggest economic engine on earth. That’s a one-size-fits-all approach to a disease that’s not yet fully understood. Instead of insisting on the most vulnerable and those who test positive to be proactive in their own defense and the defense of others, the gendarmes closed down major sectors of the nation. That tossed 17% of what were gainfully employed workers out of work and forced many others to work from home. The four-week total of new applications for unemployment benefits is now 26.5 million. That’s more than 10 times worse than any other five-week period. In the process major industries, consisting of small businesses and large, have been totally decimated and now millions of people are lining up in bread lines! The layoffs occurred so fast, the unemployment applications overwhelmed the registration systems which were geared for processing thousands—not millions. All this for what?

Amazingly over half of the population still doesn’t want to let the 26.5 million laid-off workers go back to work even though deaths attributed to COVID-19 are only just now approaching 50,000. They would rather crush those 26.5 million unemployed folks and their families, put them on welfare, stress them out to the max, bankrupt their employers and all Federal, State, County, and City governments. All because of what? Because they want every American to be tested for the virus, they want to know there are enough hospital beds, enough ventilators, enough masks, enough care givers, and more. They want a perfectly safe world without risk handed to them by the nanny state instead of being held responsible for their own actions.

As for the so-called science, let me point out that there are peer-reviewed scientific facts and also scientific theories. Unfortunately they are miles apart in meaning. For the most part, a lot of the strategy for dealing with COVID-19 is based on theory. The drugs, the vaccines, the best methods of treatment, the genetics of the virus, the origin of the virus, and its many other aspects are theories. We do not even know how deadly it is!

There’s a homeless shelter in Boston that has the CDC in a twist. The shelter tested 397 residents and 146 of them tested positive. Only one showed any symptoms. “The Los Angeles Times” just reported that “The initial results from the first large-scale study tracking the spread of the coronavirus in the county found that 4.1% of adults have antibodies to the virus in their blood, an indication of past exposure.” If Los Angeles County is comparable to the entire country, that means out of the 329.5 million Americans, maybe 13.5 million of them already have antibodies for the virus in their systems. The 50,000 deaths are 0.37% of the 13.5 million. That’s 3.7 deaths per thousand while the long-term natural death rate is about nine deaths per thousand. At 0.37% the COVID-19 death rate is one tenth of what the “science-based experts” were predicting. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci has estimated that 25% to 50% of cases may be asymptomatic.^{2 3 4}

“The New York Times” reported that, “Determining death rates is especially challenging in the midst of a pandemic, while figures are necessarily fluid. Fatality rates based on comparing deaths, which are relatively easy to count, to infections, which are not, almost certainly overestimate the true lethality of the virus, epidemiologists say. Health officials and epidemiologists have estimated there are five to 10 people with undetected infections for every confirmed case in some communities . . .”⁵

But even those estimates are being overshadowed by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announcement that a screening of 3,000 residents found that 13.9% tested positive for antibodies for COVID-19, suggesting that some 2.7 million people in the New York City Region may have been infected. The study indicated that in the City alone roughly 21.2% tested positive. If that rate is confirmed via further testing, it would suggest that roughly two million City residents have been exposed to the virus. Let’s see . . . , 13.9% of 329.5 million Americans would be 45.8 million people. With 50,000 deaths that’s 1.1 per 1,000.⁶

Most COVID-19 deaths involve the weakest amongst us. Smokers and people with an impaired immune system, major illness, pathology, or comorbidity like heart disease, diabetes, a history of cancer, obesity, or asthma are least likely to survive if they contract COVID-19. Deaths of nursing home residents represent over one-fifth of all deaths. Over half of all adults have one or more chronic diseases. Nearly all adults over 70 have a chronic disease. The question then is, how many of the COVID-19 victims would have died if they had gotten the flu instead? How many COVID-19 victims were already on their deathbed from their chronic diseases? Just how many COVID-19 deaths were actually caused by something else and the patient merely tested positive for COVID-19?

Sweden left its schools, gyms, cafes, bars, and restaurants open throughout the spread of the pandemic. Instead of closing down, the government urged citizens to act responsibly and follow social distancing guidelines. To date the country has suffered 2,152 COVID-19 deaths, and has only confirmed 17,567 cases. Its deaths per million is 200 which is higher than America’s 152. But its COVID-19 confirmed cases per million is 1,739 which is lower than America’s 2,682. The Swedes are very happy that they didn’t crush their economy, disrupt their supply chains, send their school age children home, and greatly stress out their people.⁷

“But, but, but,” many say, “What about our overwhelmed hospital system?” Well, nationally it’s not overwhelmed. It’s been basically shut down and now most hospitals are underutilized and losing money because of the shutdown. In the process many elective surgeries have been postponed to the consternation of many. And the two very critically needed hospital ships are . . . mostly empty!^{8 9 10}

And what about the ventilator shortage that was supposed to save lives? Remember when Governor Cuomo said if he didn’t get “40,000 ventilators right away” the state was facing a major disaster. Now the “Washington Post” reports that new data from New York’s largest hospital system shows that a staggering 88% of COVID-19 patients who were placed on ventilators in the state's hospitals didn’t survive. Also, doctors are reporting more strange complications from the disease involving blood clots and the cardiovascular system. A doctor in China who barely survived COVIUD-19 experienced an extremely strange shift in skin pigmentation.

According to the Census Bureau there are 329.5 million people in America. Fulfilling their needs is very complex. In simplest terms it means that production, manufacturing, packaging, and distribution have to be very finely tuned across every region of all 50 states. There is no way a government entity can manage it. It takes millions of responsible, independent participants in every phase of the operation. All goods are constantly flowing toward consumers on a daily basis based on historical consumptive trends. In every field there are numerous contracts in place that specify all of the critical relationships. They state that “if you do X I’ll do Y.”

Manufacturing businesses aren’t set up to manufacture just anything at anytime. All processes are specialized and often mechanized for high speed output. So if every American wants a COVID-19 test or a mask, that’s a lot of product to produce and distribute. Just getting the necessary quantity of raw materials can be a challenge. Then additional space, machines, and skilled workers are also required. Contracts have to be drawn up with the appropriate assurances of performance. This doesn’t happen because a politician says we must do it. It takes willing people.

Many consumers are frustrated with the food system. They are appalled that vegetables are being wasted, milk discarded, and you can’t even find eggs anymore. They are basically clueless about how it is that one billion meals were being served every single day a couple of months ago with no problems, but today there are shortages. Well, they can look no further than the government mandated shutdown for their answer. It was a HUGE WRENCH that was thrown into the works.

Farmers have contracts on both sides of their enterprises. On one side they contract for supplies such as seeds, fuel, fertilizer, machinery, employees, land, etc. On the other they have contracts to deliver their crops to specific distribution centers. There are different distribution centers for different crops and for servicing grocers, food service, or the military. Everything is highly specialized which is why the distribution system works so smoothly when it’s wrench free.

Let’s examine eggs for example. Jayson Lusk, head of the Purdue University Department of Agricultural Economics, said during a recent webinar, “that eggs destined for restaurants are shipped ‘on big pallets,’ and are not in the typical cartons people are used to seeing in the grocery store.” Even if the distributors are allowed to shift their production to retail, they need proper cartons to move those eggs. Unfortunately their warehouses are stocked with flats with more flats being delivered to them. They never had a need for storing a bunch of empty, consumer-friendly cartons which is why they didn’t have a warehouse stocked with them. Compounding their problems is that carton manufacturers aren’t set up to produce 30% more small cartons and no more flats.

Lusk said this is just one example of how complex the food system is and how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the supply chain. He added that most companies “can accommodate a gradual shift, but when you try to shift the entire system overnight, it becomes almost impossible.” And if egg producers do make the investment to change their systems for retail sales, then if the demand shift from foodservice to retail only lasts a few more weeks, it may not have been worth it.¹¹

Another major issue that will be difficult to overcome is the overgenerous nanny state welfare system. CNBC reported that it was the Democrats who pushed for a provision to be in the CARES Act which added “a flat $600 a week to the typical weekly benefits paid by one’s state.” Here again the Federal Government created a one-size-fits-all program. Politicians, in an effort to please everyone, wanted benefits for all to be comparable to the needs of those in the most expensive metropolitan areas. So, until the end of July, the unemployed benefits in most states are higher than the average incomes in those states!

The immediate result of this is that some workers are refusing to return to their former small business employers who got Federal loans to pay their workers. Why? Because the former employees are “making” more being unemployed. Two months ago more Americans were working than ever before in history. Now most of the unemployed have just been introduced to an overly generous welfare state that pays them more to do nothing than what they earned by working. How can this be a good thing? There are many low-cost regions of the country where in the next three months small businesses will have a very difficult time luring workers back to their former jobs.¹²

The consequences of the shutdown, welfare payments, more than $4 trillion in “stimulus” printed money, frightened consumers, stressed out citizens, business dislocations, and the big increases in debt for State and local governments will take years if not decades to sort out.

There is some real science that we should heed. First and foremost refers to our personal immunity which is our primary defense against pathogens, bacteria, and injuries. Our immunity, or autoimmunity, is highly associated with major illnesses or comorbidities like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, or asthma. Yep, that means your vulnerability to COVID-19 is directly related to the strength of your immune system.

In her 2008 report titled “The Importance of the Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio in Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Diseases” Artemis P. Simopoulos said, “Excessive amounts of Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and a very high Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio, as is found in today’s Western diets, promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of Omega-3 PUFA (a lower Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio), exert suppressive effects. In the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, a ratio of 4:1 was associated with a 70% decrease in total mortality. A ratio of 2.5:1 reduced rectal cell proliferation in patients with colorectal cancer, whereas a ratio of 4:1 with the same amount of Omega-3 PUFA had no effect. The lower Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio in women with breast cancer was associated with decreased risk. A ratio of 2:1 to 3:1 suppressed inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and a ratio of 5:1 had a beneficial effect on patients with asthma, whereas a ratio of 10:1 had adverse consequences.”¹³

Artemis Simopoulos, M.D., is a world authority on essential fatty acids (EFAs) and was nutritional adviser to the Office of Consumer Affairs at the White House. She is the author of The Healing Diet and the editor in chief of World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics. She knows what she is talking about.

There are literally thousands of scientific reports underscoring the importance of low ratios of Omega-6 to Omega-3 EFAs in the diet and in the membranes of cells for suppressing disease. For certain you can’t wait on the government to “force” you and everyone to eat a proper diet to prevent disease. Controlling what you eat is something you have to do on your own.

If you lower your EFA ratio to 2:1 or less, it may add many healthy years to your life compared to what most Americans experience these days. So what have you got to lose in following her advice? Yeah, maybe it’s heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity, asthma, arthritis, and a whole host of other debilitating chronic diseases caused by a messed up immune system.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

Don’t miss these links for additional reading:

1. Bill Gates Says Eat More Vegan Meat to Save the Planet by Liam Pritchett from livekindly.co

2. CDC Reviewing 'Stunning' COVID-19 Test Results At Boston Homeless Shelter by Bill Galluccio from iHeartMedia, Inc.

3. Hundreds of Thousands in L.A. County May Have Been Infected with Coronavirus, Study Finds by Melanie Mason at the Los Angeles Times

4. How Many People With the Coronavirus Are Asymptomatic? by Amanda Arnold from TheCut.com

5. Why We Don’t Know the True Death Rate for Covid-19 by Amy Harmon from The New York Times

6. New York Test of 3,000 People Finds 14% With Coronavirus Antibodies by Reuter from U.S. News

7. ‘Closing Borders Is Ridiculous’: The Epidemiologist Behind Sweden’s Controversial Coronavirus Strategy by Marta Paterlini from Springer Nature

8. The Economic Fallout of COVID-19: A Rural Hospital in Mountain Home Struggles to Survive by David Ramsey from Arkansas Nonprofit News Network

9. Hospitals Sit Idle amid Pandemic, Plead with Inslee to Let Them Reopen Fully by Keith Eldridge from KOMO News

10. Navy Hospital Ship Sent to NYC for Outbreak No Longer Needed, Says Cuomo by Jennifer Peltz from Navy Times

11. AGRICULTURE: COVID-19's Impacts on U.S. Food and Agriculture Webinar Recording by Sarah Zahn from Purdue University