| according to a report in
the March 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the
JAMA/Archives journals. In contrast, a higher intake of white meat
appeared to be associated with a slightly decreased risk for overall
death and cancer death. "Meat intake varies
substantially around the world, but the impact of consuming higher
levels of meat in relation to chronic disease mortality [death] is
ambiguous," the authors write as background information in the article.
Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D., and colleagues at the National
Cancer Institute, Rockville, Md., assessed the association between meat
intake and risk of death among more than 500,000 individuals who were
part of the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study.
Participants, who were between 50 and 71 years old when the study began
in 1995, provided demographic information and completed a food frequency
questionnaire to estimate their intake of white, red and processed
meats. They were then followed for 10 years through Social Security
Administration Death Master File and National Death Index databases.
During the follow-up period, 47,976 men and 23,276
women died. The one-fifth of men and women who ate the most red meat (a
median or midpoint of 62.5 grams per 1,000 calories per day) had a
higher risk for overall death, death from heart disease and death from
cancer than the one-fifth of men and women who ate the least red meat (a
median of 9.8 grams per 1,000 calories per day), as did the one-fifth of
men and women who ate the most vs. the least amount of processed meat (a
median of 22.6 grams vs. 1.6 grams per 1,000 calories per day).
When comparing the one-fifth of participants who ate
the most white meat to the one-fifth who ate the least white meat, those
with high white meat intake had a slightly lower risk for total death,
death from cancer and death from causes other than heart disease or
cancer.
"For overall mortality, 11 percent of deaths in men
and 16 percent of deaths in women could be prevented if people decreased
their red meat consumption to the level of intake in the first quintile
[one-fifth]. The impact on cardiovascular disease mortality was an 11
percent decrease in men and a 21 percent decrease in women if the red
meat consumption was decreased to the amount consumed by individuals in
the first quintile," the authors write. "For women eating processed meat
at the first quintile level, the decrease in cardiovascular disease
mortality was approximately 20 percent."
There are several mechanisms by which meat may be
associated with death, the authors note. Cancer-causing compounds are
formed during high-temperature cooking of meat. Meat also is a major
source of saturated fat, which has been associated with breast and
colorectal cancer. In addition, lower meat intake has been linked to a
reduction in risk factors for heart disease, including lower blood
pressure and cholesterol levels.
"These results complement the recommendations by the
American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research
Fund to reduce red and processed meat intake to decrease cancer
incidence," the authors conclude. "Future research should investigate
the relation between subtypes of meat and specific causes of mortality."
(Arch Intern Med. 2009;169[6]:562-571.
Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)
Editor's Note: This research was supported in part by
the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Cancer Institute.
Please see the article for additional information, including other
authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures,
funding and support, etc.
Editorial: Reducing Meat Consumption Has Benefits
Beyond Better Health
"The publication by Sinha et al is timely," writes
Barry M. Popkin, Ph.D., of the University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, in an accompanying editorial. "There is a global tsunami brewing,
namely, we are seeing the confluence of growing constraints on water,
energy and food supplies combined with the rapid shift toward greater
consumption of all animal source foods."
"Not only are components of the animal-source foods
linked to cancer, as shown by Sinha et al, but many other researchers
have linked saturated fat and these same foods to higher rates of
cardiovascular disease," Dr. Popkin writes. "What do we do?"
Because there are health benefits to eating some red
and white (although not processed) meats, the consensus is not for a
complete shift to vegan or vegetarian diets, Dr. Popkin concludes.
"Rather, the need is for a major reduction in total meat intake, an even
larger reduction in processed meat and other highly processed and salted
animal source food products and a reduction in total saturated fat."
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