Is red meat bad for our health? You’d think so from the headlines—but the evidence isn’t there to support the claim.
There’s a lot of talk about how eating unprocessed red meat causes heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes.
But the evidence is weak—and even non-existent in some cases, say researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
There’s no evidence that red meat causes ischemic or hemmorhagic stroke—the first happens when the blood flow to the brain becomes restricted and the latter when a clot bursts in the brain—and only weak evidence that it causes chronic health problems, such as colorectal and breast cancers, type 2 diabetes and ischemic heart disease, the researchers say.
There’s some evidence that eating red, unprocessed meat may reduce your longevity, but again the evidence is weak. In short, more research is needed to make stronger claims.
The same does not apply to processed meats, which can damage our health—and that is proven.
Nature Medicine, 2022; doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01968-z
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