Eat Meat Sparingly

There are lots of diets out there, many arguing over how much meat is healthy. Some say small amounts of meat is healthiest, others recently have tried to convince Americans that in fact high amounts pf meat are best.

Again, in order to do good science lets get the facts straight. Today a study was released, the biggest of its kind ever, which monitored over 500,000 people for ten years. (Take note, these are the kinds of numbers you need for good statistics.) Science Daily has a detailed analysis but for the layman I will quote USA Today to tell it like it is:

People who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of premature death from heart disease and cancer, National Cancer Institute research shows...

Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger a day gave men in the study a 22% higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27% higher risk of dying of heart disease. That's compared with those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces a week. Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20% higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50% higher risk of dying of heart disease, says the study in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine.

There you have it, as little as 0.25 pounds of red meat a day makes a substantial difference. Don't let anybody fool you, if you eat large amounts of red meat you are putting yourself at statistically higher risk of death from cancer and heart disease. It turns out white meat may not be as bad, and may lead to decreases.

Take home message: Stick with good science, eat meat sparingly. (Especially the red stuff.)