Study: Red meat raises risk of dying, risk higher with processed meats

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(CBS News) Eating a diet heavy in red meat has been tied to added risk for cancer, diabetes and heart disease. It shouldn't be surprising then that a new study found eating red meat every day appears to increase a person's chances of dying from a chronic disease by 12 percent.

PICTURES: 10 Ways Meat Can Make You Sick

For the study, published online in the March 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, Harvard researchers analyzed data from two dietary studies that tracked nearly 37,700 men and 83,600 women for 28 years.

The researchers found overall that there were 23,900 deaths, including 5,900 from heart disease and nearly 9,500 from cancer. When the researchers looked closely at dietary habits, red meat took the cake when it came to raising death risk.

A daily serving of processed meat increased death risk by 20 percent, the study found, while a once-per-day serving of unprocessed red meat was tied to a 13 percent increase in overall mortality risk. According to the study authors, nearly 9 percent of deaths in men and 8 percent of deaths in women from the study could have been prevented if participants ate less than half a serving of red meat per day.

"We found that a higher intake of red meat was associated with a significantly elevated risk of total, CVD and cancer mortality, and this association was observed for unprocessed and processed red meat, with a relatively greater risk for processed red meat," the authors wrote in the study.

When it comes to red meat research, the findings are not in the carnivore's favor.

Previous research by study author Dr. An Pan, a nutrition researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, found eating red meat - particularly when its processed - raised a person's risk for type 2 diabetes by 19 percent. A January study found that for every 50 grams of processed meat a person eats per day - which can be as little as one sausage link - raised a person's risk for pancreatic cancer by 19 percent.

A 2010 study showed that people who ate the most red meat among study participants were 79 percent more likely to develop cancer of the stomach and esophagus. Another study that year found processed red meats were tied to a 30 percent increased risk for bladder cancer.

The bottom line?

"We should move to a more plant-based diet," study co-author Dr. Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, told HealthDay. "This can substantially reduce the risk of chronic disease and the risk of premature death."

In fact, the study found replacing red meat with healthier alternatives reduced a person's risk of dying.

Replacing one serving of red meat with one serving of fish was tied to a 7 percent death risk reduction, with poultry the risk fell 14 percent, nuts 19 percent, legumes 10 percent, low-fat dairy products 10 percent or whole grains daily was associated with a 14 percent lower risk of dying.

Since meat is a big protein component of many Americans' diets, what can be done to reduce death risk?

In an accompanying commentary published in the same journal issue, Dr. Dean Ornish, clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisico, said way for Americans to eat is with a diet that contains little or no red meat and is high in "good carbs" - which include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and natural soy products - and low in "bad carbs" - such as simple and refined carbohydrates, sugars, white flour, and high fructose corn syrup, and high in "good fats" found in fish oil.

"We have a spectrum of choices, it's not all or nothing," Ornish wrote.

Ornish is the namesake behind the "Ornish diet," which limits fat intake to 10 percent of daily caloric intake, compared with the government's recommended 20 to 35 percent of caloric intake. It was ranked by U.S. News as the top diet for heart health, but experts said it might be somewhat difficult to follow and tough for some dieters to give up fatty animal foods.

Other experts suggest simply following the U.S. Department of Agriculture's new MyPlate nutrition icon, which offers dietary guidelines for healthy eating.

"The message is simple," Dr. Robert Graham, internist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told HealthPop in an email. "In concordance with the "choose my plate campaign" eat less meat and more fruits and vegetables (half of your plate).

To track food consumption and for health tips, visit the USDA's SuperTracker.

11 Photos

10 Ways Meat Can Make You Sick

[jennyanydots608]

I call foul on the way the results of this study are being publicized. Doesn't anyone at CBS go back to the original study? I checked out the women's angle of the survey, which is based on the Nurses' Health Study. All questionnaires are online on the study website. "Red meat" in the study refers to beef, pork and lamb. Apparently, there was confusion among participants on where to categorize ham, although it should be properly placed in the category of "processed meats." There was no way to separate leaner cuts of red meat from the fattier ones. Nor was there a question looking at how much meat in the diet came from fast food sources, where the meat is surrounded by a bun and condiments loaded with a chemical feast of additives and preservatives. I have a healthy diet with lots of variety, religiously stay clear of fast food, eat grass-fed beef and tend to eat fresh food in-season. The measurement categories for food intake in the survey did not accurately portray my diet. So where is Sharyl Attisson when we need her to debunk the nonsense put out on this study?

[redplasticbox]

I swear it's once a day an article appears here or another major news site about something causing cancer/increase of dyeing. What the Hell! This year it's red meat, next year it'll be about people not getting enough red meat. Enough to drive a person mad. Yes too much is never a good thing, but tone it down a notch, mr. scientist. I guarantee most of the cancers / early deaths in the last 40-60 years are mostly environmental. How many of us breath exhaust fumes in 10x a week or more 5 days a week. Or the "safe" coal plant a few miles away. I may sound paranoid, but the envioronment has to be something to do with it.

[Lerianis4]

Big deal. Doing nearly ANYTHING raises your chance of dying by that much, so it really doesn't matter.

[mylilelar]

OMG........the million dollar question>>>>>What the heck does ONE SERVING comprise of? One ounce,2 ounces......6? Cmon!!

[A_Canadian_Opinion]

Before reading the article, I already believed the risk of dying was pretty high, maybe even as high as 100%. Hmmm, I wonder why there is a time to be born, a time to plant, and a time to die. I might need to pause and ponder on that one. But no need to pause and ponder whether or not a well seasoned rare steak tastes good and satisfies the belly, or whether the protein therein builds strong muscles.

[thatchmo62]

Playing with statistics, you could probably prove that your life is shortened more by just walking out the front door every day than it is eating red meat. I do believe though that eating the quick-serve processed foods over just plain meat and veggies is worse for a person.

[amerilatino]

Whenever I go to the supermarket I see dozens of wheezing, waddling people who sneak their SUVs into the expecting mother courtesy spaces, many of them too unfit to stand up for two hours straight, so they have to commandeer the electric handicap wheelchairs. The appalling thing is that they are about my age, 53, and they have to hire somebody to do their yardwork or paint their house in the summer, because they run the risk of getting a stroke if they do it themselves. Many schools will not let the kids go outside for P.E. if the temperature goes above 90 degrees, I recall playing baseball and 3 on 3 basketball for hours in the tropical heat and cutting elephant grass with a machete all afternoon in weather hotter than that when I was a teenager without skipping a beat. Meat was eaten only sparsely, only fish on Friday and our diet was primarily rice, beans, tomatoes, avocados, squash, greens, breadfruit and yams, green bananas and plantains, home-grown peppers, garlic and onions, plantation-ground coffee, free-range chicken and eggs, stuff like that because it was cheap. My father lived like that all his life, is 90 years old and he dances salsa like a champ. Perhaps, if I get to live that long in the shape he's in (I doubt it, living in Georgia) I'll recall the past and be grateful for the good that growing up poor did me.

[RealiteBites]

This article makes me angry, but for a different reason.

You know what? I had anemia for TWO YEARS, in part because all these irresponsible know-it-alls were sounding the alarm about red meat ... THE best source of iron for those who have iron-poor blood.

It's INCREDIBLY irresponsible to paint such a wide brush and claim red meat to be bad in the absolute - because my doctor told me to start gouging on steak after I was diagnosed! Spinach just DOES NOT pack the same punch, nor do iron supplements.

Women in their 30's need to be aware of the dangers of possibly being anemic ... it's apparently severely underdiagosed!

[slatep]

After an appointment with my family doctor; I was diagnosed as eing serly anemic.

It was so bad I could not walk without gasping for breath.

I was folling a healthy diet as far as meat was concerned.

I have now been tttold I need to eat liver twice a week and more red meat.

I was also told to prepare as many of my meals as possible in a cast iron frying pan.

I am sick to death of all these studies telling me what not to eat, what to drink etc.

Injust the past year there have been so many recalls on foods we eat daily I have lost count.

Within the last two weeks; even baby formula and food have been recalled.

If you are already healthy; IGNORE these idiots.

My mother is 91 years old, and I can recall sitting at the table sucking the juices from the fat surrounding her steak.

Her only health problem is she required a pacemaker a couple of years ago.

Somebody please tell me how she managed to live so long without all this information.?

[boiler_tech]

Had to reread headline. "...raises risk of dying". Which one of us worrys about increasing our risks over absolutely will die anyway. Better headline needed, CBS.

[commenter777]

I don't really want to keep barely hanging on as I'm turning back to a pile of dust only to outlive all my loved ones to hold their hands as their in their death beds. Plus, if you live too long you've got to keep getting parts fixed and it's becomes a pain in the as.