Link is with processed meat but not with unprocessed red meat or poultry.
A global study led by scientists from Hamilton Health Sciences has found a link between eating processed meat and a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. The same study did not find the same link with unprocessed red meat or poultry.
The information comes from the diets and health outcomes of 134,297 people from 21 countries spanning five continents, who were tracked by researchers for data on meat consumption and cardiovascular illnesses.
After following the participants for almost a decade, the researchers found consumption of 150 grams (5.3 ounces) or more of processed meat a week was associated with a 46 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease and a 51 percent higher risk of death than those who ate no processed meat.
However, the researchers also found moderate levels of consumption of non-processed meats had a neutral effect on health.
Clarifying the Meat-Heart Disease Connection
“Evidence of an association between meat intake and cardiovascular disease is inconsistent. We, therefore, wanted to better understand the associations between intakes of unprocessed red meat, poultry, and processed meat with major cardiovascular disease events and mortality,” said Romaina Iqbal, first author of the study and an associate professor at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan.
“The totality of the available data indicates that consuming a modest amount of unprocessed meat as part of a healthy dietary pattern is unlikely to be harmful,” said Mahshid Dehghan, investigator for the Population Health Research Institute (PHRI) of McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences.
The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study was launched in 2003 and is the first multinational study that provides information on the association between unprocessed and processed meat intakes with health outcomes in low, middle, and high-income countries.
Diverse Diets Add Strength to Study’s Results
“The PURE study examines substantially more diverse populations and broad patterns of diet, enabling us to provide new evidence that distinguishes between the effects of processed and unprocessed meats,” said senior author Salim Yusuf, executive director of the PHRI.
Participants’ dietary habits were recorded using food frequency questionnaires, while data was also collected on their mortality and major cardiovascular disease events. This allowed researchers to determine the associations between meat consumption patterns and cardiovascular disease events and mortality.
The authors believe that additional research may improve the current understanding of the relationship between meat consumption and health outcomes. For example, it is unclear what study participants with lower meat intakes were eating instead of meat, and if the quality of those foods differed between countries.
Non-meat food substitutes may have implications in further interpreting the associations between meat consumption and health outcomes. Nonetheless, the study’s authors believe their findings “indicate that limiting the intake of processed meat should be encouraged.”
For more on this research read Researchers Urge You to Avoid Processed Meats – Linked to Higher Risk of Mortality and Major Cardiovascular Disease.
Reference: “Associations of unprocessed and processed meat intake with mortality and cardiovascular disease in 21 countries [Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) Study]: a prospective cohort study” by Romaina Iqbal, Mahshid Dehghan, Andrew Mente, Sumathy Rangarajan, Andreas Wielgosz, Alvaro Avezum, Pamela Seron, Khalid F AlHabib, Patricio Lopez-Jaramillo, Sumathi Swaminathan, Noushin Mohammadifard, Katarzyna Zatońska, Hu Bo, Ravi Prasad Varma, Omar Rahman, Afzal Hussein Yusufali, Yin Lu, Noorhassim Ismail, Annika Rosengren, Neşe Imeryuz, Karen Yeates, Jephat Chifamba, Antonio Dans, Rajesh Kumar, Liu Xiaoyun, Lungi Tsolekile, Rasha Khatib, Rafael Diaz, Koon Teo, Salim Yusuf on behalf of the PURE study, 31 March 2021, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa448
Funding: Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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