Red Meat Intake and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
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Red Meat Intake and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Adam M. Bernstein & Walter C. Willett
Published online: 22 December 2010 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010
Abstract Despite a wealth of research on cholesterol and saturated fat and cardiovascular disease (CVD), few studies have examined the association between red meat and CVD. We review the epidemiologic data on the relation between red meat intake and CVD. From observational studies over the past 25 years, we conclude that both unprocessed and processed red meat increase the risk of coronary heart disease and that processed red meat likely confers a greater risk. Data on the relation of red meat with stroke is limited, but also suggests an increased risk. As dietary iron, added sodium, and compounds created during cooking may contribute to these associations, simply choosing lean red meats may not reduce the risk of CVD. Clinicians may consider recommending that patients decrease or eliminate red meat from their diet and replace it with healthier protein sources such as nuts, fish, poultry, or low-fat dairy products. Keywords Diet . Nutrition . Protein . Meat . Red meat . Cardiovascular disease . Stroke . Coronary heart disease
A. M. Bernstein (*) : W. C. Willett Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA e-mail: [email protected] W. C. Willett Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA W. C. Willett Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Introduction Dietary guidelines on red meat consumption are based largely on research on the relation between cholesterol, saturated fat, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The US Department of Agriculture and American Heart Association both recommend that individuals choose lean meats as a way of keeping saturated fat intake to less than 7% of total calories and cholesterol intake to less than 300 mg/d [1, 2]. The American Dietetic Association makes similar recommendation [3]. Yet, despite a wealth of research on cholesterol and saturated fat and CVD, few studies have examined the association between red meat and CVD. These studies are important because the relation between red meat and CVD cannot be predicted by knowing red meat’s content of saturated fat and cholesterol. Other constituents, such as heme iron [4–8] and sodium [9, 10], may also influence risk, and nutrients within a food may act synergistically or antagonistically with another to influence a disease process. Moreover, processing and preparation methods modify meat and its nutrient content and thus its association with CVD.
Studies Large prospective studies have looked at the association between vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets and risk of CVD [11–14]; however, few of these have looked specifically at the effect of red meat. One of the earliest studies compared serum cholesterol levels of 466 vegetarian and non-vegetarian Seventh-Day Adventists and observed that mo
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