Is a Kosher Diet healthier? or Is there any Scientific benefit to following Old Testament dietary laws?

Question

Just curious. A Christian friend of mine just mentioned something about Sam Harris' "Letter to a Christian Nation" about how in God's OT laws, there is nothing relavent to helping people today, such as a cure for cancer. She suggested that perhaps if we followed OT dietary laws, we would not get cancer. I said that Orthodox Jews have the same cancer rate as everyone else. If they didn't, it would be all over the news. Can anyone confirm or refute? Thanks.

Answer 1

Kosher isn't exactly the ticket. For instance there are a lot of things that are kosher that are just gross.

Milk found in the stomache of slaughtered calves is kosher. Who'd drink that?

ugh.

However, I read this book. I'm trying to find it on Amazon. It's by a Christian doctor. He researched biblical food restrictions and found many of them to be valid.

Such as pork being one of the biggest reasons people get sick. Shell fish and cat fish being biblical no-nos and what all three things are - are cleaners. They cleanse the environment. If we eat them, we're eating the toxins they cleaned up.

As for it being all over the news, not in America. Curing cancer is illegal in America. Anyone who says they have a cure must leave the country. There are many great ways to avoid cancer. Talking about it gets squashed quick.

Answer 2

This has come under scientific scrutiny lately, not about keeping cancer away, but the health benefits. Apparently, its not kosher to eat meat and cheese together (cheeseburgers, etc.), and its now been decided that it really isn't healthy, though I can't remember what about it is bad, cholesterol maybe? Pork is a no-no for kosher, and honestly, at that time, with no refrigeration, and the need to cook pork throughly, it makes sense. Shellfish are bottom feeders, and if you think about it, there's an awful lot of people deathly allergic to shellfish. So maybe there's something to it. Like I said, I'd have to draw the line at keeping us from getting cancer. Actually, I would try it, except crab legs are my fave, and shrimp comes in a pretty close second.

I saw a documentary last week about the Exodus, and there was a possible explanation for the oldest egyptian son of every family dying. Apparently, when times were hard, which they were at that time, the eldest son got double helpings, just to make sure the family line would continue. Also, at that time, Egyptian grain warehouses were not cleaned after a season, and the new stuff was just dumped on top of it, along with moisture, which could cause a particular bacteria to infect the grain. Since the oldest son got double helpings, its just natural they'd be the ones who had more of the bacteria in them. The Jews, on the other hand, were directed in the bible to always clean out their grain warehouse before new grain was added. Just something that I remembered, seemed relevant.

Answer 3

A girl in one of my classes just asked this question, and another one who is a Biology major had the answer.

She said that pork carries a disease that people in ancient Biblical times used to contract from eating it. Shellfish are also excluded, and most shellfish are scavengers (meaning that they'll eat anything off the ocean floor...eww). The dietary laws also have to do with cleaning dishes appropriately, which can certainly prevent the spread of disease.

So maybe today there isn't much benefit, but back when people had no dishwashers and no Mr. Clean, there sure was an advantage!!

Answer 4

Humans are filthy by nature. Blessings and procedures are compromised by human nature. If the boss is telling you to hurry up you will cut corners. How many times do you think people pick at their noses, not wash their hands, drop things, etc.? Do you think Kosher places do everything to a perfect standard everytime since the beginning of Judaism? I know better. What you heard about Kosher diets being a solution to cancer. I know better. I have worked in a facility where all kinds of Jewish people were dying of every disease everyone else was dying of. My cousin is a grave digger in a Jewish cemetary. No shortage of corpses.

Answer 5

Well, any "diet" is probably healthier than what the general American public consumes. Kosher or not. But is touching a pig going to affect your life expectancy? No.

Besides, at the moment, we need commandments like Do Not Eat Transfats... Why aren't those in Leviticus? :)

Answer 6

The whole benefit of the Kosher diet was that food was prepared in such a way as to discourage contamination and bacterias etc... from growing. So, before the days of refrigeration and meat thermometers, expiration dates, etc... it was healthier. But nowadays we have so much that helps us keep our food from making us sick, that Kosher laws no longer apply.

Answer 7

I can confirm that followers of the Jewish religion who consume kosher foods do not have a lower cancer rate. However, vegetarians and people who specifically do not consume red meat have a lower cancer rate as well. I can get into the specifics as of why, but its purely biological and not really interesting.

Answer 8

Today's diet is loaded with alot of manmade chemicals which cause cancers, and other modern deseases. Our meats are loaded with growth hormones and our plant foods are grown with chemicals that were unheard of even 100 yrs ago, that are causing alot of health problems.
The purer/natural grown foods are better for you.

Answer 9

All I can say is look what is in hotdogs, an American Staple (I love'm too!).

On Homer Simpson, that foreign dude was agonna commit suicide by eating a bunch of them in the convience store he ran.

What a Horrible Way to Go!
Ditto............

Answer 10

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This is the decision of the Church at Jerusalem concerning Gentile believers and the law of Moses, including the dietary laws............ 22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23 With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. 24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. " Acts 15:22-29 Now the restriction on eating blood, things strangled (because they contain blood), and things offered to idols still holds today. these were first instituted in the Noahic Covenant with all mankind, as stated in Genesis chapter 9. Otherwise, Christians are under no obligation to observe the dietary restrictions of the Law of Moses. 16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. 19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. 20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2:16-23