Harvard study vindicates red meat, slams processed food

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0...-bacon/?src=mv

A new Harvard study that found no increased risk of heart disease among meat eaters is generating a lot of buzz for red meat. “A Guilt-Free Hamburger,” reads one headline. “Order the Steak,” begins another.

But the research, published this week in the journal Circulation, is not so much a celebration of red meat as it is an indictment of processed meats like bacon, sausage and deli meats. Eating one serving of those foods a day was associated with a 42 percent higher risk of heart disease and 19 percent increased risk of diabetes. But there was no increase in risk associated with eating unprocessed red meat.

The findings come from a broad analysis of several studies tracking meat consumption and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Processed meats include bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs or processed deli or luncheon meats.

Notably, the culprit in processed meats wasn’t the saturated fat or cholesterol — both whole cuts of meat and processed meats contained the same amount per serving. The big differences were the levels of sodium and chemical preservatives. Processed meats had about four times more sodium and 50 percent more nitrate preservatives than unprocessed meats.

The study suggests meats like burgers and steaks have been wrongly implicated in heart disease. But that mistake likely occurred because the people who eat a lot of meat also tend to consume high amounts of bacon, hot dogs and other processed meats.

While it’s true that the study will make it easier to enjoy a burger, at least if we’re worried about our heart, it doesn’t address research that has linked an increased risk of colon cancer with high meat consumption. In addition, many people skip red meat not for personal health reasons but because they are concerned about the health of the planet.

Livestock account for 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Compared with a burger, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich saves as much as 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide, 280 gallons of water and 50 square feet of land, according to the Web site PBJCampaign.org

And for more on the nonhealth reasons to cut back on red meat, read this story by the Times food writer Mark Bittman, “Rethinking the Meat Guzzler.”

heres correct link http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/dont-bring-home-the-bacon/?src=mv

I think red meat is healty, because the high amount of carnosine.

It's good to see vindicating press on this once demonized food, because I've been downing red meat guilt free for over ten years now. For years, I would get funny stares for just stating the facts on red meat. I would usually have to point out studies which the average person couldn't understand, but this one speaks it in plain English.

Of course grass-fed is even better for us, containing extra amounts of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). Red meat is of course a very useful form of iron (not the bad kind that comes from fortified or "enriched foods") and like tao81 pointed out, a great source of Carnosine is which a longevity nutrient.

Red meat is great food .. Chicken however, i feel is something to avoid.

care to explain, why you think chicken is something to avoid? That is all I eat at the moment!

brandnew, I think the chicken industry has created an ungodly unhealthy meat type. Chickens are raised in 30 days because
they are fed growth-hormones and estrogens .. normal wild chickens are not infected in excess by salmonella, industry-chickens
are! .. as well as other bacteria. The solution of course is to add alot of antibiotics to the coctail ..

Farmed salmon is something along the same lines but in a different way .. norwegians come to denmark now, to catch wild salmon! Pretty funny, and tragic at the same time .. wild salmon has begun to avoid the norwegian waters and seek elsewhere, this has to do with the
huge farming going on. Not sure about the exact mechanism.

My main source of protein is wild canned fish from Vitalchoice.com, their stuff is of amazing quality and the prices are fairly cheap.

Costs me about 400$ CND shipped for 100 portions of salmon, good stuff and it supports sustainable fishing!

That is complete speculation vis a vis chicken versus beef. By the way, most beef is not grass fed. They are fattened up by grains and antibiotics so they mature more quickly. You have to look for grass fed beef very carefully since the majority of what is sold in stores is corn fed.