Once levels exceeded 150, risks climbed. Reducing the cholesterol level by 1 percent decreases the danger of heart disease by 2 percent . These occur when part of the brain dies because of constricted blood flow. As with heart disease, stroke is associated with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking. NCI calculates that at least 35 percent of cancer cases are diet-linked.
Chicken contains sizable quantities of heterocyclic amines, carcinogens that form as meat cooks.
These same chemicals are found in tobacco smoke and are 15 times more concentrated in chicken than in beef. Most folks picking up plastic-wrapped packages of chicken from the local supermarket little realize the unappetizing origins of their Sunday dinner entree. Of the 8 billion U.S. chickens slaughtered annually, more than 98 percent live on huge factory farms. Becoming obese and arthritic, the chickens constantly breathe fumes of toxic excretory ammonia arising from the fast-accumulating waste. Microorganisms contaminate at least 60 percent of U.S. poultry, resulting in more than 6.5 million Americans getting sick and 1,000 or more dying annually.