Red Meat Can Be Unhealthy, Study Suggests

MONDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) — Eating a lot of red meat may
shorten your life, while consuming more fish and poultry may extend it, a
new study suggests.

Red meat is associated with a higher risk of dying from heart disease,
cancer and any other cause, the researchers reported.

For many people, red meat is a primary source of protein and fat. But
meat has been associated with increased risk for diabetes, cardiovascular
disease and some cancers in other studies, the researchers noted.

“We should move to a more plant-based diet,” said lead researcher Dr.
Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School
of Public Health. “This can substantially reduce the risk of chronic
disease and the risk of premature death.”

For the study, Hu’s team collected data on more than 37,600 men who
took part in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and more than 83,600
women in the Nurses’ Health Study.

Over 28 years, almost 24,000 of the study participants died. Nearly
6,000 of the deaths were from cardiovascular disease and more than 9,000
were from cancer, the researchers found.

Hu’s group calculated that for every daily serving of red meat, the
risk of dying increased 12 percent. Broken down further, the researchers
found the risk was 13 percent for a serving of unprocessed red meat and 20
percent for processed red meat.

A single serving is about the size of a deck of cards, Hu noted.

By replacing a daily serving of red meat with a serving of fish,
poultry, nuts, legumes, low-fat dairy products or whole grains, however,
the risk of dying was lowered, the researchers said.

The risk of death decreased by 7 percent for fish, 14 percent for
poultry, 19 percent for nuts, 10 percent for legumes, 10 percent for
low-fat dairy products and 14 percent for whole grains, the researchers
found.

If people ate less than half a serving of red meat a day, deaths during
the 28 years of follow-up could have been reduced by 9.3 percent for men
and 7.6 percent for women, the researchers noted.

The report was published online March 12 in the Archives of Internal
Medicine
.

A representative from the beef industry took issue with the
findings.

“The scientific evidence to support the role of lean beef in a healthy,
balanced diet is strong and there is nothing in this study that changes
that fact,” said Shalene McNeill, a registered dietitian and executive
director of nutrition research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association.

“Research clearly shows that choosing lean beef as part of a healthful
diet is associated with improved overall nutrient intake, overall diet
quality and positive health outcomes,” she added. “Overall, lifestyle
patterns including a healthy diet and physical activity, not consumption
of any individual food, have been shown to affect mortality.”

“This was an observational study,” McNeill also noted. “Observational
studies cannot be used to determine cause and effect.”

Another dietary expert said cutting back on red meat might not be a bad
idea.

Samantha Heller, a dietitian, nutritionist, exercise physiologist and
clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin
Hospital in Derby, Conn., took issue with the notion that meat is somehow
intrinsic to the human diet.

“‘But we are born carnivores,’ is the cry I hear when I suggest that my
patients and students reduce their intake of red and processed meat,”
Heller said.

What most people do not realize, Heller said, is that humans are not
designed to handle the huge amount of saturated fat, iron and other
compounds in red and processed meats that they consume.

“A diet high in red and processed meats deluges the body with
inflammatory compounds like saturated fat and nitrites,” she said. Over
time, the body’s best efforts to cope with the influx of unhealthy
compounds are overwhelmed.

“We get heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases,”
Heller said. “There are numerous studies showing a link between eating red
and processed meat and chronic diseases and death.”

Research suggests that going meatless even a few days a week can
significantly reduce the risk of these devastating diseases, she said.

“Cut back to eating red or processed meat once or twice a week to
start,” Heller said. “On other days, substitute chicken, fish, beans, soy,
nuts, whole grains like quinoa, and low or nonfat organic dairy for your
protein sources.”

More information

For more on a healthy diet, visit the U.S. Department of
Agriculture
.

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