Eating More Red Meat May Mean Quicker Death

Increasing consumption of both processed and unprocessed red meat was associated with a greater risk of dying during the study period, data from two large, prospective studies showed.

Through up to 28 years of follow-up, each additional serving of red meat per day was associated with a relative 13% to 20% increased risk of all-cause mortality, with the higher risk attributed to processed meats, according to Frank Hu, MD, PhD, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues.

It was estimated that 9.3% of the deaths in men and 7.6% of the deaths in women could have been prevented by consuming less than half of a serving of red meat (42 grams) per day, roughly equivalent to about one hot dog, the researchers reported online in Archives of Internal Medicine.

However, 77.2% of men and 90.4% of women consumed more than that during the studies.

Hu and colleagues examined data from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which tracked men ages 40 to 75 at baseline from 1986 to 2008, and from the Nurses' Health Study, which followed women ages 30 to 55 at baseline from 1980 to 2008.

The current analysis included 37,698 men and 83,644 women, all of whom were free from cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline.

Eating red meat increases the risk of early death, a new study concludes. It was based on medical records and surveys of about 120,000 men and women. They were part of two long-running studies. Everyone regularly answered questions about foods they ate. Researchers kept track of their health for about 28 years. In that time, almost 24,000 died. People who ate about one serving of red meat daily had a 13% increased risk of death. People who ate more meat also had less healthy lifestyles. However, researchers adjusted their numbers to account for these differences. Adjusted death rates from heart and artery disease alone were 18% higher for someone who ate a daily serving of unprocessed red meat. The increase was 21% if the meats were processed, such as bacon and hot dogs. Cancer deaths increased 10% for unprocessed and 16% for processed red meats. Researchers estimated that cutting back to half a serving of red meat daily could reduce death rates 9.3% for men and 7.6% for women. The journal Archives of Internal Medicine published the study. USA Today, the New York Times and HealthDay News wrote about it March 13, 2012.

Diet was assessed at baseline and every four years using a food frequency questionnaire. Unprocessed red meat included beef, pork, lamb, or hamburger and processed red meat included bacon, hot dogs, sausage, salami, and bologna.

During follow-up, the amount of red meat eaten declined for both men and women.

There were 23,926 deaths, including 5,910 from cardiovascular disease and 9,464 from cancer.

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