Health Benefits of Cell Based Meat

Cell based meat provides tremendous health benefits. These benefits affect humans directly and indirectly. The direct benefits have to do with the elimination of food borne diseases, and infusion of additional nutrients, while the indirect benefits relate to the reduction of antibiotic resistance which is a major problem with conventional animal farming methods. 

Direct Health benefits

The traditional animal farming methods encourage the spread of diseases among animals. When consumed, meat from such animals may consequently lead to food-borne diseases. Farmers who care for these animals can also be exposed to diseases that can be transmitted from animals to man. Asides from food-borne diseases, influenzas that threaten the lives of animals have also swept across different nations, both in the past and in recent times. For instance, many avian influenza outbreaks have been recorded in previous years. Cell based meat completely eliminates this possibility, providing meat without the associated risk of disease transmission.

Lab-cultured meat also gives room for the infusion of additional nutrient supplements like vitamins and minerals, which are lacking in natural meat. Producers of cell-based meat can even determine and regulate the appropriate amounts of fat and cholesterol to be incorporated into the meat. Omega-3 fatty acids, which are healthier alternatives, can also be adopted in place of saturated fatty acids, and cholesterol levels are greatly decreased.

In some countries, the growth, weight gain and milk production of cows are hastened by giving them growth hormones. These hormones are risky to human health as some private research works have identified them as being causal agents of cancer. Cell-based meat eliminates the possibility of the consumption of these hormones and rules out the associated risks since their production does not require any growth hormones.

Indirect Health Benefits

The environment used in cell-based meat production is usually clean. The same cannot be said of slaughterhouses which are mostly found in the filthiest of conditions. Consumption of meat products obtained from the animals killed in these slaughterhouses has led to different kinds of food-borne diseases ranging from mild to severe. To combat this and still maintain the supply of meat in response to the global demand, the use of antibiotics has become a necessity. 

Unfortunately, this use of antibiotics has been abused to a large extent, and experts have warned that very soon, disease-causing bacteria would become resistant to antibiotics, and these drugs will not be as effective in clearing infections as they should. In the end, we are eating meat at the expense of our health and Traditional farming methods would continue to strengthen bacteria against our drugs!

Cell-based meats also require antibiotics to combat bacterial contamination at the moment – since the cells do not possess antibodies that can combat germs. However, they are used in far lesser amounts in cell-based meat production than in traditional livestock farming. In fact, the amounts are not significant enough to cause large scale antibiotic resistance, a risk which traditional animal farming continues to pose. 

Therefore, we can still eat meat and enjoy food without indirectly strengthening bacteria to gain resistance to our drugs!