Eating Red, Processed Meat Associated With Increased
Risk of Death from All Causes
Eating more white meat decreases the death risk
from all causes in study of older people
March 23, 2009 A gigantic government study of
older Americans has found that eating more red meat increases the risk
of death from not only cancer and heart disease, but from all causes.
This study also adds processed meat to the list of bad meats but says
eating more white meat decreases the death risk from all causes.
"Meat intake varies substantially around the world,
but the impact of consuming higher levels of meat in relation to chronic
disease mortality [death] is ambiguous," the authors write in the March
23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives
journals..
Diet high in red and processed meats, sweets and
desserts, french fries, and refined grains increases the risk of cancer
recurrence and decreases survival
Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D., and colleagues at the National
Cancer Institute, Rockville, Md., assessed the association between meat
intake and risk of death among more than 500,000 individuals who were
part of the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.
Participants, who were between 50 and 71 years old
when the study began in 1995, provided demographic information and
completed a food frequency questionnaire to estimate their intake of
white, red and processed meats. They were then followed for 10 years
through Social Security Administration Death Master File and National
Death Index databases.
During the follow-up period, 47,976 men and 23,276
women died.
The one-fifth of men and women who ate the most red
meat (a median or midpoint of 62.5 grams per 1,000 calories per day) had
a higher risk for overall death, death from heart disease and death from
cancer than the one-fifth of men and women who ate the least red meat (a
median of 9.8 grams per 1,000 calories per day).
The same was true for the one-fifth of men and
women who ate the most vs. the least amount of processed meat (a median
of 22.6 grams vs. 1.6 grams per 1,000 calories per day).
When comparing the one-fifth of participants who
ate the most white meat to the one-fifth who ate the least white meat,
those with high white meat intake had a slightly lower risk for total
death, death from cancer and death from causes other than heart disease
or cancer.
"For overall mortality, 11 percent of deaths in men
and 16 percent of deaths in women could be prevented if people decreased
their red meat consumption to the level of intake in the first quintile
[one-fifth] - a median of 9.8 grams per 1,000 calories per day.
The impact on cardiovascular disease mortality was
an 11 percent decrease in men and a 21 percent decrease in women if the
red meat consumption was decreased to the amount consumed by individuals
in the first quintile," the authors write.
"For women eating processed meat at the first
quintile level, the decrease in cardiovascular disease mortality was
approximately 20 percent."
There are several mechanisms by which meat may be
associated with death, the authors note. Cancer-causing compounds are
formed during high-temperature cooking of meat. Meat also is a major
source of saturated fat, which has been associated with breast and
colorectal cancer. In addition, lower meat intake has been linked to a
reduction in risk factors for heart disease, including lower blood
pressure and cholesterol levels.
"These results complement the recommendations by
the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research
Fund to reduce red and processed meat intake to decrease cancer
incidence," the authors conclude. "Future research should investigate
the relation between subtypes of meat and specific causes of mortality
Editor's Note: This research was supported in part
by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Cancer
Institute. Please see the article for additional information, including
other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial
disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Editorial: Reducing Meat Consumption Has
Benefits Beyond Better Health
"The publication by Sinha et al is timely," writes
Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, in an accompanying editorial.
"There is a global tsunami brewing, namely, we are
seeing the confluence of growing constraints on water, energy and food
supplies combined with the rapid shift toward greater consumption of all
animal source foods."
"Not only are components of the animal-source foods
linked to cancer, as shown by Sinha et al, but many other researchers
have linked saturated fat and these same foods to higher rates of
cardiovascular disease," Dr. Popkin writes. "What do we do?"
Because there are health benefits to eating some
red and white (although not processed) meats, the consensus is not for a
complete shift to vegan or vegetarian diets, Dr. Popkin concludes.
"Rather, the need is for a major reduction in total
meat intake, an even larger reduction in processed meat and other highly
processed and salted animal source food products and a reduction in
total saturated fat."
Editor's Note: The author is not a vegetarian and
has no financial conflict of interest related to any food product as it
affects health.
>> A very good analysis of this research, Study
Finds Eating Red Meat Contributes to Risk of Early Death, by Rob Stein
can be found at the Washington Post
Click here
Keep up with the latest news for senior citizens, baby
boomers
March 23, 2009 A gigantic government study of
older Americans has found that eating more red meat increases the risk
of death from not only cancer and heart disease, but from all causes.
This study also adds processed meat to the list of bad meats but says
eating more white meat decreases the death risk from all causes.
When comparing the one-fifth of participants who
ate the most white meat to the one-fifth who ate the least white meat,
those with high white meat intake had a slightly lower risk for total
death, death from cancer and death from causes other than heart disease
or cancer.