AP/ March 24, 2009, 1:33 PM

Diet Heavy In Meat Raises Mortality Risk

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
By AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
39 Comments Add a Comment
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lindamcc says:
Thanks for the informative article. It just seems like the world has turned obese at such a fast pace it really is scary. I have struggled with weight for my whole life and finally have a grip on it after 30 years of suffering from diet-itis!! It really helps to know what you are doing and you don't have to work nearly as hard when you do. Go to this site http://kevkev227.stripfat.hop.clickbank.net/ It was recommended to me by a friend and it really changed my thinking and helped me turn the tide and finally lose weight and keep it off without the constant struggle and fluctuations. I have lost over 50 lbs and kept it off. I finally have enough energy to keep up with my children. Best of luck to every one of you who knows what it is like to struggle to lose weight...hope this makes your life easier!!
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baileyccc says:
Please........tell us something that we don't know. Posted by Baileyccc
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white_dog_crap says:
dumb study. learn the real poop at Weston A Price Foundation.
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herb-avore replies:
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"Poop" written by "crap." Sounds like the Weston A. Price Foundation to me. Who funds the WAPF? My bet is the Meat Industry. If you want to get some real science on meat (and all animal protein products), read "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell, PhD. (By the way, Weston A. Price was a dentist, not a nutritionist, and he would probably be outraged by the use of his name to promote high-density (read high-fat)diets.
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kjm123 says:
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.
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iDragon13 says:
Please send 1 case each of T-bones to Messers Cheney and Bush. Thank you.
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honestabe8 says:
brianbwb: I almost forgot a biggy....Rita Bell's Prize Movies
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honestabe8 says:
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
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brianbwb-2009 says:
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.
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brianbwb-2009 says:
Oops, Meant Johnny Ginger, and I almost forgot Soupy Sales, Whitefang, and Blacktooth.
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brianbwb-2009 says:
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?
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