The Trouble With Turkey

Nov. 22, 2007— -- Majestic and courageous aren't words people normally associate with turkeys. But Benjamin Franklin respected these birds so much that he not only used these words of admiration but wanted the turkey -- not the bald eagle -- to be America's national symbol.

Franklin would be shocked by today's turkey farms. More than 255 million turkeys were slaughtered in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service. That means the average American consumes about 17 pounds of turkey meat each year.

Of course, these modern, industry-bred turkeys are a far cry from the wild turkeys admired by Franklin in his day.

Most of today's turkeys are intensively confined in crowded, dirty sheds with no natural sunlight, let alone fresh grass or woods to forage in or trees to roost in. Millions of tons of waste from these farms pollute nearby waterways and cause other environmental damage.

Selective breeding and growth hormones have been a boon to the meat industry, causing turkeys to grow very large over a very short period of time. But the birds, unable to withstand this unnatural size, suffer numerous chronic health problems.

If that's not enough to inspire a vegetarian Thanksgiving this year, consider this:

Turkey is hardly health food. Six ounces of a roasted turkey breast with the skin derives 48 percent of its calories from fat and has 124 milligrams of cholesterol. That's before you add the gravy.

Even one fatty meal -- say, a Thanksgiving dinner -- can increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The study showed that a single high-fat meal can prevent a person's HDL, or "good" cholesterol, from safeguarding the body against clogged arteries.

Within three hours of a fatty meal, the lining of the arteries can lose elasticity, impeding blood flow. After six hours, the anti-inflammatory properties of HDL are significantly compromised. Saturated fat, found mostly in animal meat and products, has long been linked to plaque buildup in the arteries, which can lead to heart attack and stroke.