As part of a balanced diet, meat provides a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals. Whilst many of us love to indulge into a fillet steak or bacon sandwich, meat can be high in saturated fat. Eating too much red and processed meat has been linked with health concerns, where research has associated high consumption of these meats with cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

Firstly, the effects of red meat consumption has caused much debate. Red meat forms part of a balanced diet for the majority of people living in the UK, providing essential nutrients such as iron, zinc and vitamin B12. However, its link to the development of health conditions and mortality still seems unclear. Nonetheless, dietary guidelines recommend that you should ideally eat no more than 70 grams of red meat a day due to these potential health risks. One study in particular recently suggested that red meat consumption is in fact associated with an increase in total, cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality. Implying that we should substitute red meat for other healthy protein sources to lower this risk. In contrast, a review has proposed that moderate consumption of lean red meat as part of a balanced diet valuably contributes to the intake of essential nutrients and indicated that more research needs conducting before we accuse red meat consumption of directly causing these long term conditions.

Processed meat such as bacon, sausages and ham come preserved, and as much as we may love the taste of it, the health effects don’t seem good. This type of meat is often high in fat and cholesterol, and regularly eating up to 90g a day has been linked with a number of health concerns. One study found processed meat consumption to be associated with a 42% higher risk of coronary heart disease and could also increase the incidence of diabetes. However, this study actually found support for red meat consumption, as it did not find red meat to be associated with a higher incidence of these conditions. Other studies have also found processed meat consumption to be linked with pancreatic cancer risk and diabetes.

Eating red meat could contribute to a healthy diet and it seems evident that eating a lot of processed meat alongside it could be the concern of increased health risks. This has been backed up by research that found a high intake of red and processed meat to be associated with an increased risk of colorectal, colon and rectal cancers, implying that consumption should be limited. However, it is not understood whether this finding is from the effects of just one type of meat, the effect of them combined, or down to other possibly influencing factors completely.

To summarise, the research in this area still seems unclear, but one thing we know for sure is that too much of anything is rarely good for you and that everything we eat should be in healthy moderation. Instead of looking at the amount of red meat we consume (as long as we consume a healthy amount), it may be more feasible to look at the quality of the meat we consume.

Another point you should be aware of is that many of the studies in this area look at the relationship between consumption and health conditions, which does not mean that one is directly causing another. In fact, it could actually be the result of other lifestyle factors such as being inactive or smoking that are affecting the reported data. However, one important message that does seem clear is that we should look to limit or reduce how much processed meat we eat due to the health concerns it is associated with.

Adie Blanchard – Researcher

References

Chan, D. S., Lau, R., Aune, D., Vieira, R., Greenwood, D. C. et al. (2011). Red and processed meat and colorectal cancer incidence: meta-analysis of prospective studies. PLoS One, 6(6), e20456.

Larsson, S. C., & Wolk, A. (2012). Red and processed meat consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer: meta-analysis of prospective studies. British journal of cancer, 106(3), 603-607.

McAfee, A. J., McSorley, E. M., Cuskelly, G. J., Moss, B. W., Wallace, J. M. et al. (2010). Red meat consumption: An overview of the risks and benefits. Meat science, 84(1), 1-13.

Micha, R., Wallace, S. K., & Mozaffarian, D. (2010). Red and processed meat consumption and risk of incident coronary heart disease, stroke, and diabetes mellitus. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Circulation, 121(21), 2271-2283.

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Pan, A., Sun, Q., Bernstein, A. M., Schulze, M. B., Manson, J. E. et al. (2012). Red Meat Consumption and Mortality Results From 2 Prospective Cohort Studies. Archives of internal medicine, 172(7), 555-563.

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