by Nigel Ward
- Eating red meat, such as steak, everyday can increase your chance of death a study shows
During the summer, everyone is keeping their grill busy. Burgers, steaks, pork and other delicious barbequed foods fill back yards with that delicious aroma. But a new study shows that eating all of that red meat, as tasty as it is, could be dangerous to your health.
A study published back in March, in the Archives of Internal Medicine, determined that adding a small portion of red meat to your daily diet contributes to greater health risks. It examined the diets and health of 110, 000 adults over 20 years. It found that the majority of participants had at least one serving of red meat per day.
- Substituting chicken for steak can be a life savior
Unfortunately for steak lovers, it warns that a three ounce steak – imagine a piece no bigger than a deck of cards – was associated with a 13% increased chance of death. Even scarier for meat lovers, the study found that processed meat – as little as two slices of bacon everyday – was associated with a 20% increased chance of death during the study.
Red meat has long been linked to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Although scientists still aren’t exactly sure why red meat is so dangerous, they have narrowed it down to a few suspects. The iron and saturated fat in beef, pork and lamb; the nitrates used to preserve the meat and the chemicals created by the high-temperature cooking are all possible causes for the increased death risks.
But don’t worry barbeque fans, all is not lost. The study found that replacing red meat with other foods can have a beneficial impact on your health.
- Fish is a great substitute for red meat. It contains valuable oils and tastes great on a BBQ
Nuts are extremely beneficial to health, decreasing mortality risks by 19% during the study. Poultry (think chicken and turkey burgers) showed a 14% decrease in mortality, low-fat dairy products and vegetables a 10% decrease, and fish had a 7% decrease.
Carol Kaprowski, a professor of preventive medicine at USC’s Keck School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, noted that studies such as this can be hard to draw concrete conclusions from because there can be error in the questioning of the participants.
While it is apparent that any amount of red meat contributes to a greater health risk, it does not mean that you’ll die if you enjoy a little every now and then.
An Pan, lead author of the study out of the Harvard School of Public Health, says “if you want to eat red meat, eat the unprocessed products, and reduce it to two or three servings a week. That would have a huge impact on public health.”
In other words, save that juicy steak for a special day. Lay off the quadruple bacon cheese burgers, and substitute your love of red meat with some tasty chicken, or fish. Besides, after a long wait, that steak will never taste so good.
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