Doctors always advise patients to consume lots of fruits, vegetables and white meat in order to be healthy. It’s true that many of us would like to try some red or processed meat, but a new study comes to underline the idea that heavy use of the latter is costing us days…days of our lives.

 

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute analyzed eating habits of more than 500,000 middle-aged and elderly Americans involved in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. The study began in 1995 and lasted for ten years, in which time 47,976 men and 23,276 women died.

 

The participants were divided into five groups depending on the quantity of red or processed meat eaten on a daily basis. Leaving aside factors like smoking and physical activity, which could influence someone’s health, the researchers found that those who ate the most red meat, about a quarter-pound a day, were more likely to die of any reason, and from cancer and heart disease in particular compared with those who ate the least, the equivalent of a couple of slices of ham a day.

 

More exactly, those who ate the most red meat had about 30 percent greater risk of dying compared with those who consumed the least amount of red meat. The mortality was mostly the result for cardiovascular disease and cancer.

 

On the other hand, people who ate the most white meat were 8 percent less likely to die during the follow up period compared to those who ate the least. The explanation might be that poultry is rich in unsaturated fat, which improves cholesterol levels and fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are believed to help reduce heart disease risk.

 

“It is important that people understand that they do not need to give up eating red meat, but should pay a little closer attention to how much they eat. Many people, particularly women, come up short on the nutrients that red meat has to offer,” says Lona Sandon, R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and an assistant professor at UT Southwestern in Dallas, Texas.