After hearing for years from a cavalcade of learned studies that eating Red Meat is bad for us, most of us who are interested in food and pay attention to that stuff have become more or less convinced that the notion is true. But a new survey of global health studies suggests otherwise…
Red Meat: Okay to eat, after all? And ‘at current levels’, too? It’ll take
more than one study to convince me, no matter how many
million participants answered the questionnaires…
How many times have I spotlighted a learned report in this space that further bolsters the concept that eating too much Red Meat is bad for you? Principally, that Red Meat consumption has a major roll in raising the risk of cardio-vascular disease and some cancers, not to mention other diseases an conditions? More than I can probably remember. All the studies I’ve reported on have been conducted by legitimate scientists at well-known, respected institutes and universities and have relied on strict application of the scientific method. But now, after looking at a collection of surveys involving literally millions of participants, researchers at a consortium of universities have concluded that Red and even Processed Meats may have received a bad rap from science.
What they did
A collaborative effort by investigators from a number of universities situated around the globe searched out and analysed a dozen key studies involving the overall health – including dietary habits – of groups totalling millions of participants, looking for statistically significant associations between certain dietary patterns and the incidence of common health scourges such as heart disease, cancers and diabetes.
What they found
An abstract of the study methods and findings states: “In one review of 12 trials with 54,000 people, the researchers did not find statistically significant or an important association between Meat consumption and the risk of heart disease, diabetes or cancer. […] In three systematic reviews of cohort studies following millions of people, a very small reduction in risk among those who had three fewer servings of Red or Processed Meat a week, but the association was uncertain.”
The takeaway
The study group produced not only conclusions but recommendations and guidelines. In short, the researchers say they found that found cutting back on Meat has little impact on health, and recommend that most adults should continue to consume their current levels of Red and Processed Meat.
“There is a worldwide interest in nutrition and the issue of red meat in particular. People need to be able to make decisions about their own diet based on the best information available,” said Dr. Gordon Guyatt, Chair of the Guideline Committee.
Bradley Johnston, Corresponding Author on the Reviews and Guideline, said the research team realizes its work runs contrary to many current nutritional guidelines, but: “This is not just another study on red and processed meat, but a series of high quality systematic reviews resulting in recommendations we think are far more transparent, robust and reliable.”
My take
How can this be? After all the work others have put into studying the issue of Red Meat over the past couple of decades, and the myriad recommendations from legions of other researchers to abandon Red and Processed Meats in favour of a dietary regimen based more on fresh Produce, Gains and Vegetable Proteins than on Meat? I’m a little suspicious of the findings of this amazing new study just from the standpoint that it’s so starkly at odds with the existing body of evidence.
However, in an editorial accompanying the study report, authors at the Indiana University School of Medicine admit: “This is sure to be controversial, but [it] is based on the most comprehensive review of the evidence to date. Because [the] review is inclusive, those who seek to dispute it will be hard pressed to find appropriate evidence with which to build an argument.”
That aside, I’m more than a little curious as to why the study team elected not to take into account environmental or sustainability concerns in its Guideline and Reccommendatio0ns deliberations: “We focused exclusively on health outcomes, and did not consider animal welfare or environmental concerns when making our recommendations,” Johnston stated. “We are however sympathetic to animal welfare and environmental concerns […]”
I actually experienced an involuntary a hackles-raising response when I read the language in the abstract that, “[…] most adults should continue to eat their current levels of Red and Processed Meat.” – As if suggesting there are not only no negative consequences to eating the stuff, but perhaps even benefits from doing so. (Italics mine.)
And let’s not forget that the question of eating Red Meat or not is soon going to be rendered moot by the looming reality of a global population numbering 10 billion by 2050, all of whom will need to eat. Vegetable Protein in some form or another is the only (currently) known solution to that far more compelling problem.
~ Maggie J.