Red Meat and Saturated Fat

It is becoming increasingly obvious that animal foods and red meat in particular have been wrongly maligned -Its detractors have been wielding weak epidemiological science, religious dogma and industry influence to push a plant-based agenda on an unsuspecting public. The following resources make the case for red meat and dispel some of the myths that have infected the discourse of the common man.

Six papers about red and processed meat were published by the The NutriRECS Consortium in the Annals of Internal Medicine on 30th September 2019. This included a summary paper about the dietary guidelines, A systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Three systematic reviews and meta-analyses of cohort (observational) studies and one final paper on attitudes towards eating meat. This comprehensive analysis of all the available evidence utilised the widely accepted GRADE method to rate the certainty of evidence and to develop recommendations.  The conclusion was simple. There is currently no good evidence that red meat is harmful to health. Additionally a more recent burden of proof study came to much the same conclusion.

Red Meat Intake and Asia

Unlike in the west Red meat is expensive in Asia, considered to be the food of higher status and is readily sought after. In contrast to western based studies epidemiological data out of Asia shows either no correlation or a positive correlation between red meat, saturated fat and health, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and longevity. Furthermore, as well as having one of the longest life expectancies in the world Hong Kong is the biggest meat eating country averaging nearly a pound of meat per person per day. In the west, Red Meat in particular has seen a decline in consumption over the last 50 years and is being mostly displaced in our diets by poultry.

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  • The Big Fat Surprise - Nina Teicholz