Burgers May Feed Kids' Asthma Risk

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Ha! Hamnurgers

J of ME 3:41PM June 03, 2010

This is just another stupid "finding". I am sick of this kind of crap. Give us something scientific or shut the hell up.

Greg of IN 3:24PM June 03, 2010

Take a breath Dave and read the article.
"But the burger finding could be a marker for other lifestyle factors that could boost a child's for asthma, the researchers note. Meat in general was not seen to increase the risk of wheeze, the study found."
"All the study is saying is that one of the explanations for asthma is probably related to diet"
"If these results can be confirmed by further research..."
I think the author of this article and the authors of the study made it pretty clear that this is not a strict cause and effect scenario. Clearly more research needs to be done, but bringing this correlation to light could make parents think twice about how their child's diet may be affecting their health. That's a good thing.

R of CA 3:20PM June 03, 2010

It seems logical that kids who eat hamburgers 3+ times a week would be more prone to other diseases. But, it is not the prevelance of hamburgers themselves that the researchers need to be looking into: it is the rest of the diet. When I was a child, I ate healthily most of the time (actually preferred brocolli over most other foods but candy), but we did have fast food once or so a week. In middle school, we stopped with fast food almost entirely (now in college, I have fast food maybe once a month if i'm out somewhere), but I still eat more than my share of hamburgers. Homemade or campus-food (note: the food in our dining centers is second to none in the country [Virginia Tech]). Anyway, do I have asthma? No.. Even if I did it would be second-hand smoke from my parents. Do I think that kids should be eating fast food all the time? Definately not. It is the fast food and the other garbage that they eat that gives them health problems, not the meat in hamnurgers.
And, you know why hamburgers in particular were chosen for this article. It's ingenious, really... This allows the writer to 'attack' the fast food industry without pointing fingers, while still appeasing the growing notion that vegetarian diets are automatically better (which they are not). And, to appease the meat-eaters, they noted that meat by itself is non-important in this... just hamburgers.
I suppose if vegetables were prepared in the same way they prepare meat in fast food restaurants (including all of the meat-only bacteria magically being present, of course), the writer could have made an argument that -vegetables- were causing these problems... Perhaps not (I think the vegetarians and vegans of the world would revolt)

Mary of MD 3:18PM June 03, 2010

oh my god if this is true is bad because i have asthma and i'm obsessed with burger king whoppers like 8 times a month i really don't feel bad so i think its a myth

miguel of MO 2:13PM June 03, 2010

I am so sick to death of the callous disregard held by the media for proper use of statistics.
This is yet another demonstration of causation implied by correlation, which any first-year statistics student can explain to you is one of the principal *abuses* of statistics. Correlation *never* demonstrates causation. Example? 100% of the people who lived 200 years ago drank water. All of those people are dead. Therefore, there's a 100% correlation between water and death - therefore, the water killed them, right? Patently absurd. Yet that's precisely what this is story is trying to sell us, knowing that most of us don't critically analyze these kinds of articles.
Burgers cause asthma? There hasn't *begun* to be research to make that claim without simultaneously laughing out loud at the notion. This article, and those who publish it, should be embarassed and ashamed for their abject journalistic and statistical malpractice.

Dave of OK 2:01PM June 03, 2010

Most fastfood burgers have MSG, which is linked to increased asthma, as a flavor inhancer. And chances are if a parent would let their child have 3 burgers/wk, they probably have more processed junk food as well - like fries cooked in hydrogenated oils, which is also linked to increases asthma. Wonder if they would find a link with three grass-fed beef burgers/wk, though I would guess not.

Kerry Alanna of NC 1:46PM June 03, 2010

What BS?

Hester of CA 1:43PM June 03, 2010

Food will never be harmful to health. This not food at all. It is manufactured from chemicals and pesticides, genetically modified, looking like food.

Niranjan Desai of OK 1:39PM June 03, 2010