Do you understand the reason for the use of hormones in chicken?
Well, here’s a break down for you; in countries like America and The UK, the daily consumption of chicken shot up so high that the demand for chicken became much higher than the supply.
In an effort to produce more chickens to satisfy this demand, hormones were brought into play.
These synthetic estrogens and progesterone speeds up the development of hens and this aids poultry businesses to meet up the demand for meat in the market.
However, after much research and with the clear adverse effects that resulted from this move, the Federal regulations prohibited the use of added hormones in poultry.
Now, what were these side effects?
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Side Effects of Eating Chicken with Hormones
- Synthetic steroids and hormones like gestagens and androgens cause serious medical issues like weak bones and infertility.
- Poultry injected with antibiotics can ruin the health of your immune system. Imagine your immune system exposed to steroids. This will obviously make you sick. In extreme cases, it can cause eczema, asthma, immune deficiencies, allergic rhinitis, and so much more. Wouldn’t it be ironic to eat a chicken salad because it’s healthy, only for the hormone-induced chicken in the salad to cause more harm?
- It could impair or cause an imbalance in your hormone levels. In females, you could suffer from estrogen and progesterone imbalance. In males, it could cause low testosterone levels and testicular atrophy. Liver tumours and heart disease are also a possibility.
- These chickens can contain harmful bacteria such as salmonella, enterococcus, and campylobacter. Salmonella can cause issues like bloody diarrhoea, stomach cramps and fever. In fact, any of these could get you hospitalized.
- Steroid-induced chickens can cause a lot more effects than the few mentioned above. You must also consider the hygiene conditions of these hormone-friendly poultry farms. Chickens raised in poor conditions could have fowl pox, avian influenza and fowl cholera.
In summary, it’s always best to go for hormone-free organic chickens.
They are healthier and save you a lot of health insurance money, wouldn’t you agree?
Disclaimer:
This article was not written by a nutritionist.
If you want more information on the side effects of hormone-induced chickens, please visit a doctor.
