Diet Heavy In Meat Raises Mortality Risk

Federal Study Finds Those Limiting Intake Of Red And Processed Meats Reduced Cancer Risk, Heart Disease

(AP)  The largest study of its kind finds that older people who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of death from heart disease and cancer.

The federal study of more than half a million American men and women bolsters prior evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat like hamburger and processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts.

Calling the increased risk modest, lead author Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute said the findings support the advice of several health groups to limit red and processed meat intake to decrease cancer risk.

The findings appear in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.

Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger daily gave men in the study a 22 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease. That's compared to those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces per week.

Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less.

For processed meats, the increased risks for large quantities were slightly lower overall than for red meat. The researchers compared deaths in the people with the highest intakes to deaths in people with the lowest to calculate the increased risk.

People whose diets contained more white meat like chicken and fish had lower risks of death.

The researchers surveyed more than 545,000 people, ages 50 to 71 years old, on their eating habits, then followed them for 10 years. There were more than 70,000 deaths during that time.

Study subjects were recruited from AARP members, a group that's healthier than other similarly aged Americans. That means the findings may not apply to all groups, Sinha said. The study relied on people's memory of what they ate, which can be faulty.

In the analysis, the researchers took into account other risk factors such as smoking, family history of cancer and high body mass index.

In an accompanying editorial, Barry Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote that reducing meat intake would have benefits beyond improved health.

Livestock increase greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming, he wrote, and nations should reevaluate farm subsidies that distort prices and encourage meat-based diets.

"We've promoted a diet that has added excessively to global warming," Popkin said in an interview.

Successfully shifting away from red meat can be as easy as increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet, said Elisabetta Politi of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, North Carolina.

"I'm not saying everybody should turn into vegetarians," Politi said. "Meat should be a supporting actor on the plate, not the main character."

The National Pork Board and National Cattlemen's Beef Association questioned the findings.

Dietitian Ceci Snyder said in a statement for the pork board that the study "attempts to indict all red meat consumption by looking at extremes in meat consumption, as opposed to what most Americans eat."

Lean meat as part of a balanced diet can prevent chronic disease, along with exercise and avoiding smoking, said Shalene McNeill, dietitian for the beef group.


Facts On Meat Consumption:

According to the Agriculture Department, U.S. per capita consumption of red meat (beef, pork, veal, lamb and mutton) was estimated at 119 pounds in 2008, slightly more than two pounds a week; poultry (mature chickens, broilers, turkeys) was 106 pounds. - CBSNews.com

[lindamcc]

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Please........tell us something that we don't know. Posted by Baileyccc

[white_dog_crap]

dumb study. learn the real poop at Weston A Price Foundation.

[kjm123]

I recently read an article that we could eliminate are carbon foot print by not eating red meat. That if we eliminate red meat from are diet, it would equal to taking a jet and flying around the world. No one has research this or talk about it, and I wonder why not?
Who is paying people off not to explain this to American's.

[iDragon13]

Please send 1 case each of T-bones to Messers Cheney and Bush. Thank you.

[mswolfestock]

I think it's unreasonable to condemn red meat in general. My husband buys our beef and pork from small local farmers. The meat is better in quality because the animals are not loaded with antibiotics or hormones and it is a whole lot cheaper, too. We make our own ham, bacon, and sausages in our smokehouse, and eliminate about half of the chemicals found in commercially processed cured meats. The wood smoke takes the place of some of the chemicals that producers like Hormel use.

While this option is not open to everybody, I would strongly urge everyone to look into buying their meat closer to the farm. Contact your County Extension Office for info on local meat producers. Local meat packing operations are another source of wholesale meats. Even with prices higher than a couple of years ago, two or three families can get together and save a bunch of money by buying the whole cow from the farmer and having it butchered locally.

[honestabe8]

brianbwb: I almost forgot a biggy....Rita Bell's Prize Movies

[honestabe8]

brianbwb: Don't forget when Eastland was an outdoor mall, Oopsie The Clown, Edgewater Park...or on my side of town, the beach at Nine Mile and Jefferson

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by honestabe8

If you live on a "traditional" block, houses with back yards, you might consider getting the neighbors to first tear down the fences, opening up a parcel of land protected by the residents, and growing a crop on it, trading with neighboring blocks doing the same with different crops.

You can even raise poultry, and a swimming pool can become a fish farm. I have seen this practice sustain populations in some of the world's poorest places, and with the coming depression, it could be a life saver for many.

[brianbwb-2009]

Oops, Meant Johnny Ginger, and I almost forgot Soupy Sales, Whitefang, and Blacktooth.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by honestabe8

"Roy O'Brien's got them buyin', and buyin',
He's known from many miles away
You'll save yourself a lot of dollars, and dollars'
By driving out his way today..."

Johnny Jinger

Vernor's (still the world's best, and I say that from experience)

Captain Jolly, and Poopdeck Paul

Morgus presents (I used to think that was Sonny Elliot in drag)

Jack LeGoff

George Kell and Ernie Harwell

Man, lets stroll on down memory lane, shall we?

[jfc15009]

Genesis 1:29

[honestabe8]

best if you grow your own food. but, as a city person (brianbwb: get on the right track to nine mile and mack), my ability to do so is limited. family history shows a predisposition toward heart problems, so i chose the vegetarian route. i also exercise quite a bit, and visit the doctor. my brother did none of those things and we lost him from a heart attack in november.

[brianbwb-2009]

I think it is not the meat per se, but the additives. US beef cattle are fattened with steroids and growth hormones, which cannot be removed, and remain in the flesh after slaughter, to be consumed by people.

Processed meats like hot dogs, sausages, bologna, etc., have additives like phosphates, dyes, binding agents, incredible amounts of salts and other additives, which probably have a cumulative effect.

The recent expose of US "downer" cattle being illegally introduced into the food supply, is most likely the norm rather than the exception.

Perhaps if a qualitative analysis test of the meat consumed by Americans would show these compounds at levels that cannot be healthy, the FDA could regulate, or better yet prohibit the use of such additives.

[itgranny]

To set the record straight, beef, pork, chicken producers do NOT get farm subsidies, only crop farmers.

[honestabe8]

TexasEd: If you are in a hurry to meet Jesus, there ARE shortcuts

[honestabe8]

ROFL!!! They may be stronger, but I would guess the biggest reason is how much groceries you now get for $20.00
Posted by irishwench-2009

BINGO, IW. Hope you're having a great day

[honestabe8]

'Always remember humaans that you are what you eat" - thiefofhearts1

not quite, thief: it's not that you are what you eat, it's you are what you don't poop

[honestabe8]

Why cant you DO-GOODERS just stay out of everyones business and bodies?
Posted by TexasEd

Dunno, ask the DEA

[honestabe8]

I am a vegetarian. Have been for 30 years. I am not a veggie evangelist. I truly don't care what others eat. But to assume that people who want to eat right are liberals because they want to be healthy is just insane.