While most U.S. colleges have healthy-eating initiatives in place, one Texan university is taking their program a step further by banning pork from the cafeteria.
The Paul Quinn College – a historically black college - has instituted the ban arguing that eating the meat can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems and obesity.
The school’s president, Michael Sorrel, told The Dallas Observer that his students are especially susceptible to these sorts of health problems.
'The reality is that our student population comes from demographic that struggles with the type of health concerns that you see in underresourced community,' he said.
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Creating a pork-free cafeteria is the latest move to ‘improve the lives and health of our students’, according to a statement from the college.
‘We know there are many negative health consequences of consuming pork (eating pork can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer, sodium retention and heart problems, not to mention weight gain and obesity),’ the statement reads.
‘From this semester forward PQC will no longer serve dishes containing pork. That applause you hear in the background is the blood pressure of our students, faculty and staff,’ the statement concludes.
The decision to ban the white meat will likely raise questions around campus of how unhealthy pork actually is.
Bacon and fatty cuts of pork, such as chops and pork belly, are high in saturated fat and cholesterol.
Ham and lunch meat are also typically high in both fat and calories.
Furthermore, cured pork, such as ham and bacon, can also contain nitrates and nitrites as preservatives, which have been linked to cancer.
However, lean cuts of pork, such as the tenderloin, are high in protein and B-vitamins and low in fat.
Indeed, pork tenderloin has less calories and cholesterol than chicken breast and the same amount of fat.
The pork ban is not the first time the college has hit the headlines with its unusual health initiatives.
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