tedkerwin / CC by 2.0

This one's scarier than that shower scene from Carrie: It's been shown before, but there's more news that researchers in the U.K. have found a link between high meat consumption and early periods in girls.

Using data from a group of children who were studied from birth, researchers determined that 7-year-olds who regularly chow down on meat face a 75 percent chance of prematurely getting their periods by age 12. The curse of earlier puberty for youngsters also sets the stage for their increased risk of breast cancer later on, thanks to extended exposure to higher levels of estrogen.

OTR tweens, IBD, UTI—it's easy to crack the code: Stop eating animals. Period.

Written by Karin Bennett

Jarlhelm / CC by 2.0

Eating meat can be a real pain in the behind—literally. A new study from France found that women who consumed the most protein—particularly animal flesh—had nearly three times the risk of being diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD includes ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, and other nasty conditions that cause severe inflammation in the digestive system and often abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and rectal bleeding. Researchers think that meat could contribute to IBD because digesting animal flesh produces hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and other potentially toxic "end products."

I have a gut feeling that IBS sufferers—and everyone else—would be better off switching to a diet that's kind to our digestive systems and to animals!

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post