If you're anything like me, there is nothing better than sinking your teeth into a big juicy burger while at a family bbq, football tailgate, the 4th of July, or more recently after a difficult biochem exam. Research for years has discouraged eating burgers because red meat has been labeled as a carcinogen among many other things (Bouvard, Loomis, Guyton, Grosse, Ghissassi, Benbrahim, Guha, Mattock, & Straif, 2015). However, as of two weeks ago, a group of scientists from all over the world are now questioning these claims.
The Annals of Internal Medicine, a international website dedicated to publishing journals and research studies to keep medical professionals updated on the newest medical discoveries compiled a group of studies and reviews that re-investigated the previous claims on red meat. There overall conclusion was that there wasn't enough significant evidence to suggest that red meat was carcinogenic or involved in cardiometabolic diseases (Zeeraatkar, Johnston, Bartoszko, Cheung, Bala, Valli, Rabassa, Sit, Milio, Sadeghirad, Agarwall, Zea, Lee, Han, Vernooij, Alonso-Coello, Guyatt, & El Dib, 2019). Unlike a primary study, this study which resulted in 5 different published articles on the same topic, red meat and health affects, assembled a panel of 14 members to review previous studies. Of the 14 members, 3 members were not medical professionals, but community citizens. These members were collected from 7 different countries. There job was to systematically review previous studies on the topic and make a decision on whether the conclusions were warranted based on the research. What they found was that previous studies were at a high risk for confounding. Many of these studies did not address population values or preferences and conflicts of interest among the researchers running these studies. Therefore, the results of these reviews were as follows:
For adults there is no limitations set on the quantity of processed or unprocessed red meat consumed. Consumption of this meat should continue as normal because there was not enough significant evidence to suggest otherwise. These recommendations resulted from a vote of 11:3 in favor of eliminating the red meat consumption guidelines established prior to this study. They did not say who out of the 14 panelists voted what way (Zeraatkar, et al., 2019).
With this information in mind, does this new information change your personal views on making red meat a part of your diet? The study did state that they only focused on how red meat affects human health and did not keep in mind how red meat affects the environment (Zeraatkar, et al., 2019). Do the environmental worries associated with consumption of red meat affect your opinion on whether or not red meat is a part of your diet? Finally, would you be interested in knowing who out of the 14 panelists voted in favor of keeping the red meat consumption guidelines? I know I would be.
References:
Zeraatkar, Dena., Johnston, Bradley C., Bartoszko, Jessica., Cheung, Kevin., Bala, Malgorzata M.,
Valli, Claudia., Rabassa, Montserrat., Sit, Daegan., Milio, Kirolos., Sadeghirad, Behnam.,
Agarwal, Arnav., Zea, Adriana M., Lee, Yung., Han, Mi Ah., Vernooij, Robin W.M.,
Alonso-Coello, Pablo., Guyatt, Gordon H., & El Dib, Regina. (2019). Unprocessed Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption: Dietary Guideline Recommendations From the Nutritional Recommendations (NutriRECS) Consortium. Annals of Internal Medicine. doi: 10.7326/M19-1621.
Zeraatkar, Dena., Johnston, Bradley C., Bartoszko, Jessica., Cheung, Kevin., Bala, Malgorzata M.,
Valli, Claudia., Rabassa, Montserrat., Sit, Daegan., Milio, Kirolos., Sadeghirad, Behnam.,
Agarwal, Arnav., Zea, Adriana M., Lee, Yung., Han, Mi Ah., Vernooij, Robin W.M.,
Alonso-Coello, Pablo., Guyatt, Gordon H., & El Dib, Regina. (2019). Effect of Lower Versus Higher Red Meat Intake on Cardiometabolic and Cancer Outcomes., Annals of Internal Medicine. doi: 10.7326/M19-0622.
Bouvard, V., Loomis, D., Guyton, KZ., Grosse, Y., Ghissassi FE., Benbrahim, L., Guha, N., Mattock, H., Straif, K. (2015). Carcinogenicity of consumption of red and processed meat. Lancet Oncology. 16(16), 1599-1600. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(15)00444-1.
Hi Whitney! It is difficult during this day and age to get a straight answer about what types of food are actually good for us to eat. I find it frustrating that while I am trying to keep myself and my family safe people are out there trying to sell me a product regardless or idea regardless of whether it is actually beneficial. That being said, I have considered many times whether meat (and specifically red meat) is healthy for my body. Multiple studies have come to the conclusion that in a comparison between red and white meat, a diet consisting of predominately red meat increases an individuals risk of developing CVD (Abete et al., 2014). Additionally, nitrogen residues from red meat have been found to be correlated with an increase in colorectal cancer as they lead to an increase in endogenous N-nitrosation leading to the cancer (Sheila et al., 2002). That being said, I will gladly join you for a burger to celebrate a completed biochem exam!
ReplyDeleteReferences
Abete I, Romaguera D, Vieira AR, Lopez de Munain A, Norat T. (2014). Association between total, processed, red and white meat consumption and all-cause, CVD and IHD mortality: a meta-analysis of cohort stud- ies. British Journal of Nutrition. 112:762–775.
Bingham S.A., Hughes R., Cross A.J. (2002) Effect of White Versus Red Meat on Endogenous N-Nitrosation in the Human Colon and Further Evidence of a Dose Response, The Journal of Nutrition, 132;11, 3522S–3525S.