Eating meat regularly increases the risk of someone developing heart disease, diabetes, pneumonia and other serious illnesses, new research has found.
It is already known that eating red and processed meats increases the risk of diagnosis of bowel cancer. But these findings are the first to assess whether meat consumption is related to any of the 25 non-cancerous diseases that most commonly cause people to be hospitalized in the UK.
Oxford University academics who published the study found that consumption of red meat, processed meat and chicken meat, such as chicken and turkey, alone or together, at least three times a week, was associated with an increased risk of nine diseases many different.
Their results add to the growing evidence from researchers and the World Health Organization that eating too much meat, especially red and processed meat, can harm someone’s health.
The results, published in the journal BMC Medicine, are based on an analysis of the health records of 474,985 middle-aged Britons. The researchers examined details provided about their diets with information from their medical records on hospital admissions and also mortality data for an average of eight years.
The study concluded: “On average, participants who reported consuming meat regularly (three or more times a week) had more adverse health behaviors and characteristics than participants who consumed meat less regularly.
“Increased consumption of combined unprocessed red and processed meat has been associated with increased risk of ischemic heart disease, pneumonia, diverticular disease, colon polyps and diabetes, and increased consumption of chicken meat has been associated with increased risk of reflux disease. gastroesophageal, gastritis and duodenitis, diverticular disease, gallbladder disease and diabetes. “
The academics, led by Dr. Keren Papier of the university’s Nuffield Department of Population Health, found that each 70 grams of unprocessed red meat and processed meat that someone consumed daily increased the risk of heart disease by 15% and diabetes in 30%.
These meats can increase the risk of heart disease because they contain saturated fatty acids, which can increase low-density lipoprotein or “bad” cholesterol, which is known to put people at greater risk for heart problems.
Likewise, every 30 grams of chicken meat eaten daily increases the risk of developing gastroesophageal reflux by 17% and diabetes by 14%, they found.
However, it was mainly meat eaters who were overweight or obese who were at risk, as it emerged during the study. Most of the increased risks of illness identified were reduced once the participants’ body mass index was taken into account.
“Differences in BMI between meat consumption categories appear to be responsible for a substantial part of the increased risks,” says the BMC Medicine article.
Eating meat regularly reduced the risk of someone suffering from iron deficiency anemia, however.
“We have long known that the consumption of unprocessed red meat and processed meat is probably carcinogenic and this research is the first to assess the risk of 25 non-cancerous health conditions in relation to eating meat in one study,” said Papier .
Further research was needed to find out whether the risk differences she and her team observed reflected “causal relationships [with meat intake] and, if so, to what extent these diseases could be prevented by reducing meat consumption, ”he added.
Public Health England and the British Meat Processors Association were contacted for an answer.