I'll confess that I haven't researched this and am only speaking from
short-term experience.
However:
I have always been very paranoid about handling raw meat. Always very
careful to keep it separated from everything else in the shopping cart
and
grocery bags. Kept it in a different area of my fridge so it couldn't
'contaminate' anything else. Regularly bleached out the meat drawer
before
adding new raw meat.
Don't get me wrong; I have always loved to eat cooked meat. I wasn't
against meat. I had just heard too many wives' tales at home about the
DANGERS of raw meat.
Last May I began feeding my dogs a raw food diet. Gradually I stopped
bleaching and scrubbing everything in my house that might have been
touched
by a bit of raw meat.
Now when I feed my buddies I use soap and water to clean up the mess
and
then get on with life.
Here's how it affects me.
I have been sickly my whole life; always the first to catch a cold or
flu.
It's just something I accepted about myself.
But since I began handling raw meat on a daily basis [and (horrors)
even
trying a bite or two of it on occasion] I find that I am no longer
using up
my sick days at work. I didn't catch the stomach virus that went
around at
work last week. I don't feel bad all the time.
I'd like to say it is related to eating Paleo, but I can't. I'm still
struggling with cutting sugar and starch out of my diet. So I'm not
eating
right yet.
But I believe that being exposed to the 'extras' in the meat may be
building up my immune system.
As I said earlier, no research or science to back myself up. Just
personal
opinion.