Large NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study Finds Red Meat And Associated
Compounds Increase Risk Of Death From Multiple Causes
The evidence keeps
accumulating to indicate the consumption of red meat is associated
with a higher risk of death. In the latest study from NIH published in
the British Medical Journal on May 9, NIH epidemiologist Arash
Etemadi and colleagues found that persons in the highest quintile
of red meat consumption had a 26% increased risk of all cause
mortality compared with the lowest quintile. Cause specific deaths
were higher for nine major causes of death. Both processed and
unprocessed red meat were implicated whereas white meat consumption
was associated with a lower risk of all cause mortality.
The population based cohort study was impressive for
its large size with over half a million participants and a 16 year
follow up.
Writing in a conclusion to their paper, the authors
note “This is the largest study, so far, to show increased mortality
risks from different causes associated with consuming both processed
and unprocessed red meat, and it underlines the importance of heme
iron, nitrates, and nitrites in assessing the pathways related to
health risks associated with red meat intake. Our findings also show
reduced risks associated with substituting white meat (poultry and
fish) particularly unprocessed white meat.”
In a notable awareness-raising commentary, Massey
University epidemiologist John Potter told BMJ readers that red
and processed meats are likely to be harmful to human health in many
different ways and simply focusing on one or two of these outcomes in
not helpful in creating prevention strategies. According to Potter,
“It feels like an old fashioned murder mystery with too many suspects.
The important conclusion is that the current patterns of consumption
of red and processed meat are not good for humans.”
He lays out why overconsumption of meat is bad for the
planet as well, and cites the late Australian epidemiologist Tony
McMichael to indicate that “research even provides clear
underpinnings for evidence based policy that could limit harm to both
[health and the planet] but these underpinnings are not linked to
action.” According to the BMJ editor, the latest report confronts
doctors and society with “another inconvenient truth” and suggests
that the health profession could lead by example as it did with
smoking cessation. ■
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