Is Red Meat Healthy?
Heaven or Hell?
Yes. The Quality Research Says So!
G’day groovers! Here’s a limited list of scientific publications showing the valuable health contributions of unprocessed red meat and the research indicating a lack of connection between red meat/saturated fat and disease. Firstly a little bit of background. Many of us are confused about whether red meat is healthy or not, mostly because it still gets a truckload of negative press and it seems we are always told to eat less of it. And yet, red meat is an important healthy food. So I’m going to list a range of scientific literature showing why red meat is a crucially important healthy food that isn’t significantly associated with ANY disease condition, such as heart disease or cancer. Importantly, this list does not cover nor advocate chicken or any processed meats including ham, bacon, salami, hot dogs, ham, beef jerky or deli meats. That’s simply because it is fair to say there exists some correlation between processed meats and some diseases but it’s outside the scope of this article and I simply don’t recommend them from a health perspective. I recommend only unprocessed, red meat. Fish is another story altogether and sits very safely in the very healthy category.
I want to point out that this is far from an inclusive list, but in order to keep the article fairly short, I’ve left out a large number of papers also advocating unprocessed red meat as a valuable component of a healthy diet. And just for the record, I’ve excluded all studies where I found a conflict of interest such as any connection to meat industry organisations. All but one of the papers I’m listing were published since 2009. So this is up to date information. Okay, let’s start with several studies variously indicating a lack of connection between saturated fat, animal protein and/or red meat and heart disease or cancer
Red Meat is Good - 01
This 1998 review covered dozens of studies of various types and found absent or negative associations in the more recent studies and concluded there is a lack of evidence linking saturated fat and coronary disease in any of the studies analyzed.
Ravnskov, Uffe. "The questionable role of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids in cardiovascular disease." Journal of clinical epidemiology 51, no. 6 (1998): 443-460.
Red Meat is Good - 02
This 2010 meta-analysis of 21 prospective cohort studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found no credible evidence of a link between saturated fat and cardiovascular disease. The authors remarked, “Intake of saturated fat was not associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke or cardiovascular disease.
Siri-Tarino, Patty W., Qi Sun, Frank B. Hu, and Ronald M. Krauss. "Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease." The American journal of clinical nutrition 91, no. 3 (2010): 535-546.
Red Meat is Good 03
This 2010 systematic review and meta-analysis published in the journal ‘Circulation’, concluded that consumption of processed meats, but NOT red meats, is associated with a higher incidence of coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus. They also pointed out that even though dietary guidelines in many countries recommend consumption of red and processed meat should be moderated, this assertion is derived in large part from expected negative effects of saturated fat which are NOT well established, with considerably conflicting results in prior studies.
Micha, Renata, Sarah K. Wallace, and Dariush Mozaffarian. "Red and processed meat consumption and risk of incident coronary heart disease, stroke, and diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis." Circulation 121, no. 21 (2010): 2271-2283.
Red Meat is Good 04
This 2014 Systematic Review and Meta-analysis published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concludes that, and I quote, “current evidence does not clearly support cardiovascular guidelines that encourage high consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids and low consumption of total saturated fats.” And just for the record, this paper was funded by the British Heart Foundation and the Medical Research Council among other fairly conservative British establishment organisations.
Chowdhury, Rajiv, Samantha Warnakula, Setor Kunutsor, Francesca Crowe, Heather A. Ward, Laura Johnson, Oscar H. Franco et al. "Association of dietary, circulating, and supplement fatty acids with coronary risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis." Annals of internal medicine 160, no. 6 (2014): 398-406.
Red Meat is Good 05
This article published in the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society in 2016 explains how the high-quality protein and other nutrients in red meat can provide a useful contribution to the intakes of key nutrients commonly found to be in short supply in the diets of young infants, adolescents, women of childbearing age and older adults. They point out that the average UK consumption of red and processed meat for women falls below the figure advised by the Department of Health.
Wyness, Laura. "The role of red meat in the diet: nutrition and health benefits." Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 75, no. 3 (2016): 227-232.
Red Meat is Good 06
In this 2020 article published in the journal ‘Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition’, the authors argue that reduction in meat consumption could produce serious physiological harm. They assert that diets high in meat have proved successful over the long history of our species while the benefits of alternative protein sources are far from being established.
Leroy, Frédéric, and Nathan Cofnas. "Should dietary guidelines recommend low red meat intake?." Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 60, no. 16 (2020): 2763-2772.
Red Meat is Good 07
Now while we bicker over the relative superiority of animal versus plant proteins in the developed world, the capacity middle- and lower-income countries have to choose their nutrition sources depends on affordability and availability to populations often struggling to make ends meet. Pun not intended. This 2021 review article published in the Maternal & Child Nutrition journal makes the case that essential amino acids obtained from animal-sourced foods are critical in ensuring optimal growth and development and avoiding the physical stunting that remains a serious problem globally in children aged under 5 years. They point also to micronutrients such as zinc, iron, iodine, magnesium, calcium, B vitamins, vitamin A and vitamin D that supply building blocks as well as regulate the processes involved in growth and development.
Parikh, Panam, Richard Semba, Mark Manary, Sumathi Swaminathan, Emorn Udomkesmalee, Rolf Bos, Bee Koon Poh et al. "Animal source foods, rich in essential amino acids, are important for linear growth and development of young children in low‐and middle‐income countries." Maternal & Child Nutrition (2021): e13264.
Red Meat is Good 08
This paper published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in 2014 looked at 2-time points 7 years apart and compared what level of animal protein the participants consumed and how their higher level of functional capacity changed over that time span. Higher level function in this context means the ability to carry out the practical activities of daily living, intellectual activity, and social roles. They found that higher consumption of protein, particularly animal protein, was associated with lower risk of decline in higher-level functional capacity in older men. How about that!
Imai, Eri, Megumi Tsubota‐Utsugi, Masahiro Kikuya, Michihiro Satoh, Ryuske Inoue, Miki Hosaka, Hirohito Metoki et al. "Animal protein intake is associated with higher‐level functional capacity in elderly adults: The Ohasama study." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 62, no. 3 (2014): 426-434.
Red Meat is Good 09
The InCHIANTI study from 2021 included community-dwelling older adults in the Chianti region of Italy and was published in The Journals of Gerontology. Among the study population of 1139 adults of mean age 75 years, red meat made up on average 20% of the participants’ animal protein source. The researchers observed that higher intakes of animal protein were associated with lower risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality after 20 years of follow-up.
Meroño, Tomás, Raúl Zamora-Ros, Nicole Hidalgo-Liberona, Montserrat Rabassa, Stefania Bandinelli, Luigi Ferrucci, Massimiliano Fedecostante, Antonio Cherubini, and Cristina Andres-Lacueva. "Animal protein intake is inversely associated with mortality in older adults: the InCHIANTI study." The Journals of Gerontology: Series A (2021).
Red Meat is Good 10
Finally, and also in regard to older adults, This study published in the journal ‘Clinical Nutrition’ and 2021, showed that only animal protein, not plant protein was linked with lower risks of functional impairment AND higher animal protein intake led to 34% and 48% greater preservation of grip strength in men and women respectively. Grip strength has long been closely correlated with healthy aging and self-determination in advanced years.
Yuan, Mengjie, R. Taylor Pickering, M. Loring Bradlee, Jabed Mustafa, Martha R. Singer, and Lynn L. Moore. "Animal protein intake reduces risk of functional impairment and strength loss in older adults." Clinical Nutrition 40, no. 3 (2021): 919-927.
So, there you have it. A large array of quality scientific literature pointing out that red meat is a very important nutrition source while not posing any credible threat to our long-term health!
Live long and prosper!!!
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