Eating Too Much Meat and Health Conditions
Because there is limited prospective evidence on the association between the amount of meat eaten and general health outcomes, we will present a study that investigated the association between meat consumption and the risk of 25 common conditions (other than cancer).
Between 2006 and 2010.
Using data from 474,985 middle-aged adults recruited into the UKBiobank study and followed up until 2017 (mean follow-up 8 years), hospital admissions and mortality data linked to available information on meat intake at baseline (collected via touchscreen questionnaires) to a large subsample (approximately 69,000) in which dietary intake was re-measured at least three times using an online 24-hour recall questionnaire.
Results.
Participants who reported that they ate meat three or more times per week had more adverse health effects and characteristics than those who ate meat less regularly, and most of the observed positive associations between meat intake and health risk were substantially weakened after BMI adjustment.
In a multivariable-adjusted (including BMI) Cox regression model modified for multiple tests, higher consumption of unprocessed red meat combined with processed meat was associated with
Ischemic heart disease (70 g/day (HR) 1.15)
Pneumonia (1.31)
Diverticulosis (1.19)
Colonic polyps (1.10)
Diabetes mellitus (1.30)
These results would be similar if measured separately for unprocessed red meat and processed meat intake, but the higher the intake of unprocessed red meat only, the lower the risk of iron deficiency anemia.
The higher the intake of chicken, the lower the risk of
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (30 g/day (HR) 1.17)
Gastritis, duodenitis (1.12)
Diverticulosis (1.10)
Gallbladder disease (1.11)
Diabetes mellitus (1.14)
Reduced risk of iron deficiency anemia (0.83)
Conclusions.
The higher the consumption of unprocessed red meat, processed meat and poultry, the higher the risk of some common diseases. However, these increased risk results were shown to be strongly associated with higher BMI levels. It has also been shown that the higher the consumption of unprocessed red meat and poultry, the lower the risk of IDA.
Papier, K., Fensom, G.K., Knuppel, A. et al. Meat consumption and risk of 25 common conditions: outcome-wide analyses in 475,000 men and women in the UK Biobank study. BMC Med 19, 53 (2021). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-01922-9
Conclusion
The results of this study show that people with a high BMI, with a bias towards meat eating, have a higher risk of disease for common conditions. One of the debates in the study is whether smoking is a good indicator of BMI. As for smoking, the results do not seem to change when taking into account the presence or absence of a smoking history. And as for BMI, the results showed that high numbers are a problem, but high fat content is the most serious problem.
Thus, in addition to whether simply being overweight and having an unbalanced meat diet will blow up your risk of disease, the same can be said for having too much body fat.However, even if the BKI values were standard, the bias towards meat eating still seems to be associated with a higher risk of the diseases mentioned above, so caution should be exercised if you consume unprocessed red meat, processed meat, or poultry more than 3 days a week.
In other words, the risk of disease may be reduced if you incorporate meats that do not fall into these categories into your diet, while also maintaining good exercise habits and sleep.
Maybe a diet that is easily accessible is something to think about.
