According to a long term research project, consuming red meat, especially processed red meat, dramatically increases the risk of death from heart disease and cancer.
Researchers looked at data from 37,698 men between 1986 and 2008 and 83,644 women between 1980 and 2008 to produce the findings, published in the international peer-reviewed journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
Senior author Professor Frank Hu, from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said: “This study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, contributes substantially to premature death.”
“On the other hand, choosing more healthful sources of protein in place of red meat can confer significant health benefits by reducing chronic disease morbidity (illness) and mortality.”
The researchers claim that halving red meat consumption could have prevented the deaths of 9.3% of the men 7.6% of the women taking part in the study.
They also found that cutting red meat out of the diet led to significant benefits. For example legumes and low-fat dairy products lowered the mortality risk by 10%, whole grains by 14% and nuts by 19%.