I was overseas in England when the recent story broke about red meat possibly being okay for your health. The following day, many of the nation’s major newspapers ran front page headlines about how it was now fine to continue consuming red meat, and that there was no specific need to cut back. A browse online showed me that the story was causing waves here in the US as well. The study and guidelines, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, a previously respectable medical journal, involved reviews of prior research on the subject (meta-analyses). It concluded that red meat posed no significant health risks, including heart disease and cancer. This was in the face of an extensive body of prior research which showed just the opposite—that red meat was one of the worst foods you could possibly be regularly eating. The fact that this flew against what healthcare organizations and physicians have been telling people, was shocking. But more shocking was the way the mass media latched onto it and rapidly disseminated this information to the general public. I was not the only medical professional who was shocked. One of the world’s premier institutions, Harvard University, put out this release about how the study contradicted prior evidence and shouldn’t change current guidelines.
The bottom line is this: we know that red meat is high in saturated fat, cholesterol and calories. Links to heart disease, cancer (especially colon cancer), and premature death, have been found time and again in those who consume the highest quantities. Common sense tells us it’s good to cut back on any food that contains so many bad nutrients. We also know that the meat farming process is land-intensive and terrible for the environment (aside from the animal cruelty issues that vegetarians and vegans have also been raising for a very long time).
When I sit down with patients, I always tell them to eat red meat no more than 2-3 times a week, and if they’re going to eat meat— prefer healthier white meat like fish whenever they can. That advice will remain the same, no matter what study comes out contradicting the current evidence. In a country where over 70 percent of the country is overweight or obese, and chronic comorbidites soaring, it’s wholly irresponsible for any authority to be telling people otherwise. I worry about the effect this news story will have already had on millions of people. It’s now left to doctors to pick up the pieces and set the record straight.
Your blog today has me questioning – not only the press that I do on a daily basis but the implications and warnings brought by the medical community. This item is good for you-bad for you is a constant changing field.
Of course the media will pick it up as newsworthy because more people are interested in their health and their job is to sell their wares. But then again you read of the number of medical researchers who accept money from corporations to do research and others that falsify data to prove their hypothesis, you just can’t pinpoint the media for all of this back and forth.
Having been interested in health for many years, I have learned to listen to my body because it knows better than I or the medical community what it needs.
Further our ancestors had almost a red meat diet with berries and nuts before agriculture came into the picture. Why do we have canine teeth for goodness sake.
On the other hand, is it what we consume or the amounts together with a lack of exercise of moving? Our ancestors were constantly on the move to survive; we are not.
So to blast the media exclusively for causing confusion I don’t think is fair. We have medical researchers getting money for corporations to prove something and then sell it to their patients and there are also researchers that fudge data to prove their hypothesis.
We have learned to live in a world that constantly changes as well as our information base, ie. the food pyramid has just turned upside down almost (-:
Caveat emptor
Thanks Sue. Absolutely, one must question everything, no matter the source (includes medical authorities). In this case, there is overwhelming evidence for negative effects from eating red meat in high quantities. We were indeed created carnivores initially, eating meat is an individual choice though nowadays. Up until only 100 years ago, average life expectancy all over the world hovered in the 20s-40s. Now humans are living longer for a number of reasons, including our more balanced diet! We can always strive to optimize it further. Suneel
Well said Suneel. The media does have a lot to answer for.
The evolution of the media in the internet era does Not seem to include attention to factual content or ethical behaviour. At least not a high priority !
It wouldn’t be so bad if the media just put in a disclaimer that their content is just for amusement and not to be taken seriously, but most people accept information at face value, especially from the big media companies.
As we say in Australia, such is life !
Thanks Stephen! Suneel