We keep hearing that red meat is not ideal for us. We believe that meat grass fed cows is healthier for us that industry raised cows . In my book, “Mind body Secrets” in the nutrition section (chapters 4 & 5) I discuss that red meat consumption has been associated with faster aging and diseases of aging like cardiovascular inflammation, cancer or cognitive decline. In addition it is less environmentally friendly due to green house gas production.
In this recently published study we more convincing data that red meat intake is indeed associated with development of type 2 Diabetes. In fact theater is a linear relationship between quartiles of red meat consumed per day and hazard ratio (percentage risk of developing type 2 diabetes): For total red meat 62%, processed meat 51%, plain red meat 42% risk, respectively of developing diabetes.
Eating processed red meat is worse that plain red meat. The good news is that replacing one of those meat servings per day reduces the risk of developing diabetes.
The power of this study is that it follows 216,695 individuals (81% women from Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II), and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) ) with a 30 year follow up. 22,761 develop type 2 diabetes . They do food diary records every few years. This creates the ability to decreases error of actual amounts of meat eaten over time, and allows the investigators to identify if there is a latency effect (delay over time of meat exposure to onset of diabetes)after years of consistent red meat consumption. There is a 15 year delay from regular exposure to onset of diabetes.
Isn’t it time we give awareness of these data to everyone we know?
https://ajcn.nutrition.org/action/showPdf?pii=S0002-9165(23)66119-2