Tonight's special: a juicy post-grad from Bovine University. (Photo via Shutterstock)
Sorry meat eaters, but your addiction to the flesh is killing you. According to a new study, called Meat and You: Partners In FreedomRed Meat Consumption and Mortality, eating any type of red meat significantly increases the risk of premature death.
The study zeroed in on the eating habits and health of more than 110,000 adults for a 28 year period. According to the LA Times, which dissected the study, "adding just one 3-ounce serving of unprocessed red meat—picture a piece of steak no bigger than a deck of cards—to one's daily diet was associated with a 13% greater chance of dying during the course of the study... adding an extra daily serving of processed red meat, such as a hot dog or two slices of bacon, was linked to a 20% higher risk of death during the study." (Cue the end of the bacon-on-everything fad.)
The lead author of the study, and fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health, says it simply: "Any red meat you eat contributes to the risk." But on the upside, there are alternatives! "Compared with red meat, other dietary components, such as fish, poultry, nuts, legumes, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains, were associated with lower risk." The iron and saturated fat in beef, pork and lamb appear to be the prime suspects, as well as the nitrates used to preserve them. If you are going to keep eating red meat, it's best to stick to the unprocessed stuff, and under 3 servings a week.
As previous studies have declared, red meat is associated with diabetes, heart disease and cancer... so it turns out you weren't "a Grade A moron to ever question eating meat"...
[via Pat's Papers]
