# Cook your pork...



## JM (Feb 5, 2009)

Brain Worms and Brain Amoebas: They Do Exist

Tapeworm: From Pork Chops to the Brain

The pork tapeworm is one of the most common disease-causing brain parasites. This parasite infects over 50 million people worldwide, and is the leading cause of brain seizures. It is usually contracted from eating undercooked pork, and once in the gut, it attaches to the intestine, and then grows to be several feet long. Under certain circumstances, these worms can also invade the brain, where thankfully they don’t grow to be quite so large.

Why does the worm sometimes attach to the intestine but at other times travel to the brain? It all depends on what stage of its life cycle the worm is in when it is swallowed. In its larval stage, the worm will hook onto the intestine; however, if eggs are swallowed, they hatch in the stomach. From there the larvae can enter the bloodstream and eventually travel to the brain. But in order to reach the brain from the bloodstream, the larvae must traverse the blood-brain barrier. Unfortunately, researchers still don’t know exactly how this happens. Many scientists think that the larvae can release enzymes that are able to dissolve a small portion of the blood-brain barrier to allow the parasite to get through into the brain.

Once the larvae reach the brain, they cause a disease called neurocysticercosis, by attaching to either the brain tissue itself, or to cavities through which brain fluid flows. (Brain fluid carries nutrients and waste to and from the brain, and acts as a cushion to protect the brain against physical impact.) Once attached, the larvae develop into cyst-like structures. The location of the cysts determines the symptoms exhibited by the host. If the larvae attach to the brain tissue, then the host often experiences seizures. This occurs partly because the presence of the larvae causes the activity of the brain to become wild and uncontrolled, thereby causing a seizure. On the other hand, if the larvae attach to the brain-fluid cavities, the host experiences headaches, nausea, dizziness, and altered mental states in addition to seizures. These additional symptoms occur because the flow of the brain fluid is blocked by the larvae. Often, the presence of the larvae also causes the lining of the brain-fluid cavities to become inflamed, further constricting the flow of the brain fluid. Since the cavities are a closed system, blockage of the cavities exerts pressure on the brain. This increased cranial pressure forces the heart to pump harder in order to deliver blood to the brain area, increasing the pressure on the brain even more. If the condition is not treated, the heart eventually cannot pump enough blood to the brain, neurons begin to die off, and major brain damage occurs.​


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## turmeric (Feb 6, 2009)

Guess we could just eat kosher.


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## kvanlaan (Feb 6, 2009)

Zentel, at least once a year.

Also, this is less of a problem, now that pigs are no longer fed swill as a general rule, but I still make sure that my pork is not pink before I sink my teeth into it!


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## LawrenceU (Feb 6, 2009)

Feed your hogs grain, food leftovers, and let them forage the mast; but, never slop (in the old technical sense of the word).


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## Pergamum (Feb 6, 2009)

These icons all ate too much pork.


Yikes....gotta cut down on the pig feasts.


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## Leslie (Feb 6, 2009)

Amen to all of the above. Just "not pink" isn't good enough. The temperature inside the meat has to be high enough for a long enough time. Another good rule is to NEVER eat pork near the Mexican border or anywhere out of the USA, Canada, and western Europe. Order meat that you can recognize as non-pork--such as shrimp or fish. We cut our pork into very small pieces in the States, even, and then use it in slow-cooker recipes.


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## turmeric (Feb 6, 2009)

What about ham? It's always pink.


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## LawrenceU (Feb 6, 2009)

Ham is cured. That is what makes it pink. Real curing also kills the bugs.


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## JM (Feb 28, 2009)

How safe is pork?

If we eat the cooked worms that live in pork, is that safe? 

I've read that MS and arthritis have been linked to eating pork...?

-----Added 2/28/2009 at 04:46:40 EST-----

What does it mean to cure pork? What is it being cured from?


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## Theognome (Feb 28, 2009)

Pigs are yummy. Barbequed (notice the proper non-Yankee spelling) piggies are particularly yummy. Even the buggies that squirm inside piggies are yummy. Cook them and eat them and say, "yummy"!

Theognome


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## JohnGill (Feb 28, 2009)

Theognome said:


> Pigs are yummy. Barbequed (notice the proper non-Yankee spelling) piggies are particularly yummy. Even the buggies that squirm inside piggies are yummy. Cook them and eat them and say, "yummy"!
> 
> Theognome



If you still can, you should read the linked article in the OP. I think the worms are doing a number on you and they're not the worms in the sandwich from Futurama.


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## Theognome (Feb 28, 2009)

JohnGill said:


> Theognome said:
> 
> 
> > Pigs are yummy. Barbequed (notice the proper non-Yankee spelling) piggies are particularly yummy. Even the buggies that squirm inside piggies are yummy. Cook them and eat them and say, "yummy"!
> ...



Sorry, no time. I'm busy barbequing some yummy piggy. In a snowstorm. Yes, I'm drooling, too.

Theognome


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## JohnGill (Feb 28, 2009)

Theognome said:


> JohnGill said:
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> > Theognome said:
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I hope your wife has a rope around your waist attached to the house so you can find your way back.


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## Skyler (Feb 28, 2009)

JM said:


> How safe is pork?



As far as I know, pork is quite safe. It's the worms that live in it you have to worry about.



> If we eat the cooked worms that live in pork, is that safe?



As long as you cook them until they're dead...



> I've read that MS and arthritis have been linked to eating pork...?



I don't know, but I'll bet cancer has been linked to pork, in CA if nowhere else.



> -----Added 2/28/2009 at 04:46:40 EST-----
> 
> What does it mean to cure pork? What is it being cured from?



Original sin.


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## Theognome (Feb 28, 2009)

JohnGill said:


> Theognome said:
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> 
> > JohnGill said:
> ...



The way I cook, she'll need a longer stretch of rope just to get around my waist.

Theognome


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## JohnGill (Feb 28, 2009)

*News at 11*

Local man found wandering around aimlessly in snowstorm. The drooling man when asked his name responded, Have you seen my piggy? Yummy, yummy! He was armed with barbeque cutlery and was taken to a local hospital and then police custody.

Al Gore was heard to comment that this is yet another example of global warming and pushed for carbon credits against pig farmers.


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## Theognome (Feb 28, 2009)

JohnGill said:


> Local man found wandering around aimlessly in snowstorm. The drooling man when asked his name responded, Have you seen my piggy? Yummy, yummy! He was armed with barbeque cutlery and was taken to a local hospital and then police custody.
> 
> Al Gore was heard to comment that this is yet another example of global warming and pushed for carbon credits against pig farmers.



That was good! If I wasn't so anti-smiley, I'd put one of me rolling on the floor laughing!

Theognome


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## gene_mingo (Feb 28, 2009)

When I was in Germany we ate this delicious ground raw spiced pork. It was really good. I love to eat the piggies.


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## puritanpilgrim (Mar 6, 2009)

In the U.S. all pork is frozen for three days before it is sold. That keeps the numbers down in this country. Freezing the meat for three days kills the eggs and larvae.


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## jwithnell (Mar 6, 2009)

Ewwwwwwwww! And this hits at a time when I've had a lot of headaches!


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## kvanlaan (Mar 6, 2009)

Just butcher your own and check for worms in the liver. It's fun for Dad and the kids! Joseph will actually get elbows-deep in guts without too much prodding.

Think about it: A creature that will grow to 200lbs in 5-6 months, eat leftovers, and will quiver and fall over from the simplest belly-rub. This is a God-given treat, my friends. When the sheet came down from heaven, there was a pig sitting right in the middle of it, fat, happy, and ready to barbeque.

Yum.


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## Laura (Mar 6, 2009)

kvanlaan said:


> When the sheet came down from heaven, there was a pig sitting right in the middle of it, fat, happy, and ready to barbeque.
> 
> Yum.



Like this?







My husband's former pastor (a dyed-in-the-wool Southerner) advised him on the matter of finding good authentic barbecue: look for a logo with an anthropomorphic pig. Such logos tend to correspond to the excellence of the establishment, for some reason or other.


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## Solus Christus (Mar 6, 2009)

When I first saw this thread I thought it was a tongue-in-cheek response to Bobbi Clark's thread to the "pork" added to the stimulus package. I should have known that it wasn't since it's posted under "The Iron Chef".

At least it's informative, though now I'm going to have second thoughts eating any pork.


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## kvanlaan (Mar 6, 2009)

Um, Laura, he'd be on the 'team' only until dinnertime.


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## LawrenceU (Mar 6, 2009)

If you are in a position to have to buy barbecue, never trust a barbecue restaurant. Proper barbecue comes from a joint. If it is cooked outside that is even a better sign of proper barbecue. The backdoor to the kitchen should have a screen door. There should also be a wood pile around back. If you see a gas line . . . run. Barbecue is NEVER cooked over gas.


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## Laura (Mar 6, 2009)

LawrenceU said:


> If you are in a position to have to buy barbecue, never trust a barbecue restaurant. Proper barbecue comes from a joint. If it is cooked outside that is even a better sign of proper barbecue. The backdoor to the kitchen should have a screen door. There should also be a wood pile around back. If you see a gas line . . . run. Barbecue is NEVER cooked over gas.



LOL. I remember a place back in Texas, in the Temple area I think it was, that fit this description perfectly. There was a tiny building that they just used for taking orders, I suppose, and then you went and sat at a "vintage" (or half-rotting, we could say) picnic table, trying not to suffocate in the smoke, and waited for them to cook it up in front of you on these huge grills. The men of the party were in heaven and my teenage friends and I were SO, like, NOT getting it.


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