Time to Cut Back on Red Meat

As in my previous blog (below), data from the Nurses’ Health Study II has again provided useful information for improving our health.  Reporting in the online version of Circulation, Harvard researchers describe the associations between different types of dietary protein and the development of coronary heart disease (CHD).  

More than 84,000 women aged 30 to 55 were followed for 26 years.  At enrollment they had no known cancer, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease.  Food frequency questionnaires were administered at entry and then every 4 years.  Cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality were recorded throughout follow-up.

Analyses showed that eating red meat and high-fat dairy were significantly linked with an increased risk of CHD, whereas higher intakes of poultry, fish, and nuts were significantly liked with a lower risk.  The researchers made the following calculations:  If you were to swap one serving of red meat for one of the following, you would decrease your risk of CHD by the listed percentages:   

Nuts                                  30%

Fish                                   24%

Chicken or turkey               19%

Low-fat dairy                     13%

Looking in the other direction, it was found that one red or processed meat serving daily was linked to a 16% increased risk of CHD compared with none; an average of two servings a day was linked with a 29% increased risk.

These results pertain to women, but it’s highly likely they would be the same for men, according to the researchers.  The message is pretty clear, especially when the analyses include processed meats – I reported on their risks in an earlier blog this month.