RSS
Home
Red meat: Friend or foe?
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
If you’ve picked up the newspapers recently, you have no doubt seen the headlines suggesting that red meat can increase mortality risk. So, should we chalk this up as a groundbreaking study that should forever change the course of our dietary habits or (yet) another smear campaign against red meat?
Published in a recent issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, the study was based on the results of a “Food Frequency Questionnaire” administered to half a million people between the ages of 50 and 71 who were participating in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. The questionnaire included 124 questions regarding specific food and drink intake as well as portion size in the previous twelve months.
After 10 years, the researchers report that 47,976 men and 23,276 women had died. After reviewing the mortality rates against the food questionnaire, the researchers concluded that “Red and processed meat intakes were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular disease mortality.” Specifically, study participants who consumed the most red meat (median = 62.5 grams per 1000 daily calories) showed slightly greater risk for overall, cardiovascular and cancer death than the 20% who consumed the least (median = 9.8 grams per 1000 daily calories) red meat. The inverse trend was found for white meats such as turkey, chicken and fish, with those who ate the most white meat showing less risk for overall, cardiovascular and cancer death than those who ate the least white meat.
While the study is certainly interesting, there are a few problems. First of all, how many of us can honestly recall everything we’ve eaten across the last 12 months? In addition, it seems that the study fails to take into account the health dangers associated with other foods. For example, we know from previous studies that even a moderate amount of carbohydrates in the diet can drive insulin production, which in turn increases fat production, fat storage, inflammation and coronary heart disease. Maybe all those meat eaters were actually taking in a higher volume of carbs by pairing their burgers with a bun and eating deli meat in a sandwich. Moreover, the authors even note that “subjects who consumed more red meat tended to be married, more likely of non-Hispanic white ethnicity, more likely a current smoker, have a higher body mass index, and have a higher daily intake of energy, total fat, and saturated fat, and they tended to have lower education and physical activity levels and lower fruit, vegetable, fiber, and vitamin supplement intakes.”
Essentially, all the holes in this study only confirm one thing: If you want to avoid an early death, don’t be obese, do exercise, don’t smoke, eat plenty of vegetables and fruit, avoid processed meats – opting instead for meat sources that are as clean as possible – and eat from a variety of animal food sources. The potential pitfalls about red meat itself, however, appear to be little more than a red herring.
