A new study provides more evidence that eating too much red meat and processed meat isn’t merely bad for you — it also makes it much more likely that you will develop several serious diseases.
Published in the medical trade journal BMJ, the paper focused on popular red meat and processed meat food items from animals like cows, pigs, lambs and goats. The researchers studied statistics on meat production and trade from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization between 1993 and 2018. Specifically, they studied 154 countries, then recorded how the quantity of their red meat and processed meat consumption corresponded with non-communicable diseases (NCD) associated with that type of food. In particular, they calculated the proportions of deaths and years of life spent with a disability that could be attributed to diet among people at least 25 years old and were caused by coronary artery heart disease, diabetes or bowel cancer.
The conclusions […]
About 25 years ago, a friend asked me if I was aware of how hot dogs were made. When I said no, she proceeded to tell me that a program she watched, showed scraps of meat swept off the floors and counters at a factory, and artificial substances were added to the process to make them. I subsequently stopped eating pork. Mad cow disease helped me quit red meat, and a recall of diseased Foster Farm chicken, made the next move logical. Before I knew it, turkey started tasting “gamey” so I’ve been a pescatarian ever since. I believe anyone can achieve a healthier meat free, or low meat diet easier, by gradually cutting out one meat at a time. Red meat would be the first to eliminate.