Seeing is believing—how processed meat affects the heart

We all know that processed meat is bad for the heart, and now scientists have been seeing the bad effects of the diet using special imaging technology.

Using three different measures, including cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) technology, researchers at Queen Mary University in London discovered a direct correlation between heart health and a diet of red and processed meats.

In all, 19,4908 people participated in the study, and researchers found that heart health, including elasticity of the blood vessels, was worse in those who ate the most processed and red meat. They had smaller heart ventricles, poorer heart function and had stiffer arteries.

But they discovered healthy heart indicators in those who were eating oily fish; the more that was eaten every week, the better heart function improved, and arteries were ‘stretchier’.

Although processed meat can raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and also increase diabetes and obesity, there is an added factor that makes the diet so bad for the heart. Dr Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, the lead researcher, believes the meats alter the gut microbiome, which increases metabolites in the blood that have a direct impact on the heart.

(Source: Proceedings of the European Society of Cardiology Preventive Cardiology conference, April 15,2021)

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