Conventional wisdom has dictated that fat from red meat is a risk factor for heart disease, but a new analysis from Harvard researchers finds it’s eating processed meat -- not unprocessed red meat -- that increases the risk for heart disease and even diabetes.
The term “processed meat” refers to any meat preserved by smoking, curing or salting or with the addition of chemical preservatives. The researchers defined “red meat” as unprocessed meats such as beef, hamburger, lamb and pork.
“To lower risk of heart attacks and diabetes, people should avoid eating too much processed meats -- for example, hot dogs, bacon, sausage or processed deli meats,” said lead researcher Renata Micha, a research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Based on our findings, eating up to one serving per week would be associated with relatively small risk.”
Micha’s findings were presented at an American Heart Association conference on cardiovascular disease in San Francisco.
For the study, Micha’s team analyzed data from 20 studies that included more than 1.2 million participants. Among them, 23,889 had coronary heart disease, 2,280 had had a stroke and 10,797 had diabetes.
The researchers found that people who ate unprocessed red meat did not significantly increase their chances of developing heart disease or diabetes. However, eating processed meat was linked to an increased risk for the two conditions.
“When we looked at average nutrients in unprocessed meats and processed meats eaten in the U.S., we found that they contained similar amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol,” Micha said. “In contrast, processed meats contained, on average, four times higher amounts of sodium and two times higher amounts of nitrate preservatives.”
This suggests that salt and other preservatives, rather than fats, probably explain the higher risk for heart attacks and diabetes seen with processed meats, Micha said.
“Health effects of unprocessed red meats and processed meats should be separately considered,” she said.
(HealthDay News)
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