Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Red meat linked to increased mortality

Choosing between red and processed meat, and white meat, may affect how long you live, according to new findings from a study with half a million people. Writing in the new issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers from the US’ National Cancer Institute (NCI) report that increased consumption of red and processed meat may have a modestly increased risk of death from all causes and also from cancer or heart disease.

In contrast, high white meat intake and a low-risk meat diet was associated with a small decrease in total and cancer mortality. The study analyzed data from 500,000 participants of the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study aged between 50 and 71 years at the start of the study.

The researchers note that meat may increase mortality rate via several mechanisms. One is the formation of carcinogenic compounds during high-temperature cooking, while another is linked to the high levels of saturated fat.

Bonnie - they fail to mention that processed meats that are loaded with additives that have been linked to carcinogenic activity. They also fail to mention that these mortality rates would NOT be anywhere near these levels if the red meat had been pasture/grass-fed instead of corn and soy fed.

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