Red meat. Good or bad?
“Red Meat is not healthy and should be eaten in moderation“. True or False?
As I stated on my previous post, How To Find Reliable Information About Nutrition and Fitness, the information here is based on reliable scientific studies, to be more exact they are randomized controlled trial.
Fact: it is true that you are more likely to have an increased risk or CVD (cardio vascular disease) and other chronic illnesses by consuming processed meat but the evidence is not the same for unprocessed meat.
The only harm coming from unprocessed red meat is when it’s overcooked as it may form harmful compounds (similar to processed foods when smoked).
Based on this the answer is not to avoid red meat, just don’t burn it.
Also the relation between unprocessed red meat and cancer seems highly exaggerated as large review studies show that the effect is very weak in men and nonexistent in women.
Some studies about read meat:
- Micha R, et al. Red and processed meat consumption and risk of incident coronary heart disease, stroke, and diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Circulation, 2010.
- Rohrmann S, et al. Meat consumption and mortality – results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.BMC Medicine, 2013.
- Alexander DD, et al. Meta-analysis of prospective studies of red meat consumption and colorectal cancer.European Journal of Cancer Prevention, 2011.
- Alexander DD, et al. Red meat and colorectal cancer: a critical summary of prospective epidemiologic studies. Obesity Reviews, 2011.