Lately when you go to a movie it's sometimes hard to tell what is real life and what is animation. The life-like scenery, talking animals, near human robots all make up a fantasy world that sparks our imagination and senses. How often have we seen futuristic books, television shows or movies foretell of things that actually became reality?</p><p>Imagine then, a time when we can grow meat in a laboratory instead of a farm. Well, the time is now -- welcome cultured meat, otherwise known as "in-vitro" meat. Researchers have been able to use techniques learned through tissue engineering. They can get stem cells to grow into heart muscle, bone, skin and other specified tissues. Meat is just another kind of tissue that can be grown in much the same way.</p><p>Myoblasts genetically programmed to grow into meat are bathed in a nutrient solution and then spread out on sheets with thin grooves. These cells are prodded to grow by electrical stimulus in a bioreactor. The result is a solid sheet of boneless meat that can be made into ground meat.</p><p>The question then is: Will people eat it? A survey of the carnivores reveals an instinctive revulsion from most. The idea of cultured meat has been called "perverted," "disgusting" and "freakish." As a vegetarian I find the reaction rather odd since the method of raising, slaughtering and processing chickens, beef and pork seems pretty gross. It would make sense to grow just the edible protion of the animal and forget about all of the structural parts that get discarded like the bones, connective tissue and intestines (unless we are talking processed meats like hot dogs or bologna that might use some of that stuff). Waste is very high with 75 to 95 percent of what we feed to an animal being lost in metabolism or non-edible parts and structure.</p><p>The price of food has shot up 75 percent from 2005. There are even food riots breaking out in parts of the world. The demand for meat has gone up remarkably due to factors such as the increasing Chinese middle class. Per capita consumption of meat in China increased to 100 pounds, up from 44 pounds in 1985. Global meat consumption is expected to double by 2050. Cultured meat would result in less harm to environment. Livestock contributes about 18 percent of greenhouse gases - more than the entire transportation industry.</p><p>It takes 16 pounds of grain (and lots of water) to produce 1 pound of meat. The cost of corn has increased dramatically with 25 percent of the crop now dedicated to producing ethanol. Bad weather and flooding in planting season has caused shortages of corn and the price has tripled in the past 30 months. Expect meat prices to go through the roof.</p><p>In-vitro meat may also be healthier to eat than traditional animals. There are no steroids or antibiotics to make meats juicier and plumper. Since the meat does not have all of the saturated fat producers can substitute omega-3 to make it as healthy as salmon. In the sterile environment where the meat is produced it is less prone to contamination by foodborne illness like salmonella and e-coli that cause 76 million illness and 5000 deaths in the US annually.</p><p><i>Chuck Newcomb, MS, RD, CDE is a consulting Registered Dietitian currently providing medical nutrition therapy services for Memorial Hospital Los Ba&#241;os. He has a Masters of Science in Clinical Nutrition from New York University. E-mail questions to the Attention of ChuckRD at: MHALosBanos@SutterHealth.org.</i>