This one is bound to cause an uproar – on the social media scene and everywhere else! A long-term research project reveals that eating meat may help you live to 100… But there are some important caveats you should be aware of…
We live in an age when animal protein is vilified – both for its nutritional ‘drawbacks’, and its soaring – unattainable for many – prices. And we’re on the doorstep of a new era, in which climate change will force the vast majority of humans now routinely eating meat to switch to plant-based proteins.
So why is a new study on meat consumption such a potentially prickly issue?
Counterintuitive… at best
The notion that eating more animal protein can prolong your life sounds totally contrary to prevailing nutritional wisdom. Even counterintuitive to those who have embraced the emerging plant-based food movement.
But there is solid proof that a certain group of older folks can benefit from eating meat.
A team of Chinese researchers published their findings in The American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition this past February.
What they did
An abstract of the study report recounts, the study included 5203 participants aged 80 and older from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a nationally representative cohort initi-ated in 1998. Participants were classified as omnivores and vegetarians, and further into veg-etarian subgroups (pesco-vegetarians (who also eat fish), ovo-lacto-vegetarians (who also consume eggs and/or dairy, respectively), and vegans, based on consumption of certain animal-derived foods.
The primary goal of the Survey as to see how many subjects had lived to 100 by the end of the 20-year follow-up (2018).
What they found
Relative to omnivores, vegetarians had a lower likelihood of becoming centenarians, and similar patterns were observed for vegans. But not for pesco-vegetarians or ovo-lacto-vegetarians.
The most significant association was seen in underweight individuals. Whom I see as being at a disadvantage already, when it comes to living longer, than their average-weight peers.
The takeaway
Individuals following a vegetarian diet had a significantly lower likelihood of becoming centenarians relative to omnivores, underscoring the importance of a balanced, high-quality diet with animal- and plant-derived food protein composition for exceptional longevity, especially in the underweight oldest-aged.
Some observations
We all know that a totally-plant-based diet can provide all the essential nutrients humans need to survive. But this study was not about survival – it was about living to 100 or more. I didn’t see any-thing in the study report to indicate that the researchers had factored into their analysis of Survey data whether subjects who reached or surpassed the age of 100 had been taking supplements. Or at least carefully choosing diets that were well-balanced.
Neither do we know who among the ‘cohort’ were urban residents and who lived outside cities. I sus-pect that rural, village-based Chinese octogenarians would see doctors less often than their urban counterparts. I also suspect that the general quality and variety of the food available to them might be inferior to that available to city dwellers. Or being closer to the source of fresh food, would rural dwellers have an advantage?
Also, I think it’s safe to assume that urban dwellers, with greater access to information, would be more aware of official medical and nutritional recommendations.
My take
I may be barking up the wrong tree, with the forgoing observations… But I felt they were worth point-ing out, anyway. The bottom line, here, is: I find it hard make any confident judgments about the ac-curacy or veracity of the study results based on what I see as a lack of important context.
Anyway…
I leave your opinions and conclusions up to you. As always.
I suppose it can’t hurt to live a little, eating a little meat regularly, if not every day, if you’re otherwise hale and hearty, and already into your 80s!
But… Another important question is… Do we want to live to 100? I always tell folks, “I can’t afford it!”
~ Maggie J.