Behind the Myth: Pork

Does eating pork protect you from pollution?

With lead-laced fog continuing to roll into South Korea from China in 2014, some people are hoping so. According to a story published in The Korea Times on March 2nd (“Pork sales jump on concern over fine dust”), E-Mart alone sold 48.3 percent more pork from Feb. 14th to Feb. 27th.

The idea of eating pork to purify the body is a uniquely Korean home remedy, an idea born of tradition rather than science. The Korea Times’ story suggests that the belief became popular when Korean miners – frequent inhalers of unhealthy dust – supposedly started eating pork after they emerged from their tunnels.

Proponents of the cure have attempted to explain in scientific language why they think pork works. One livestock supplier has suggested to The Seoul Economic Daily that unsaturated heavy acids, of which pork has many, help to expel the heavy metal particles that make Chinese air so concerning. In a December 2013 story, The South China Morning Post wrote that many Koreans believe samgyeopsal is a “health food rich in vitamin B that can lower cholesterol, detoxify the lungs and cleanse the skin.”

Respectable nutritionists unanimously agree, though, that the opposite is true: eating pork introduces more toxins into the system, can block already-present toxins from escaping, and is certainly not good for people’s skin. Really, not eating pork at all is healthier than eating the amount of pork consumed by the average Korean.

The main reason has to do with the source of pork, the pig. Unlike many other animals (and people), pigs do not spend much time digesting their food, so there is no chance for the pigs’ bodies to remove the toxins they have ingested. Moreover, there is no place for the toxins to go; pigs do not sweat, so everything they absorb goes into their tissues – which we eat.

And while a grill full of samgyeopsal will not create new acne, it may worsen any preexisting skin conditions. Like all meat, pork raises a body’s insulin levels and its acidity, both of which cause inflammation, which of course aggravates acne.

You are better off eating a pear, another Korean home remedy against pollution. It will not help against the Chinese dust either, but it will be healthier for you.