Finally clear evidence on meat consumption 🥩

Including red or processed meat in daily diet is associated with significant reduction of healthy years.

Now in the midst of grilling season, what is the combined evidence around meat consumption? Surely, good quality red meat should be fine, but processed meat such as bacon, ham, and sausages should be the real evil here.

Not according to the latest large meta-analysis from last year covering a million deaths over a 10-year period of followups on lifestyle habits and 12 groups of food.

Meat does not love you back

We used to love meat also, but now it is not part of our daily nutrition anymore as we know case studies that report remarkable benefits of substituting meat. Similarly, this large meta-analysis is making a strong case: Red meat is associated linearly with all-cause mortality, research data ending with 35% increase of all cause mortality with 170g per day intake. This risk increase translates into a loss of 1.8 healthy years with a 40-year-old person.

Processed meat (any meat preserved with smoking, curing, salting, or with chemical preservatives, e.g. bacon, salami, hot dogs) had a similar effect with +35% increased risk data ending with 120g per day intake. Similarly, dairy and eggs had a negative but not as big of an impact, less than a half of what meat has.

Plant-based food and fish are better options

This large study reinforces already known positive effects of a plant-based diet with occasional fish. However, previously the effects of legumes, dairy, and eggs were not reviewed this thoroughly.

Most positive effects where shown in these groups in order: nuts, legumes, whole grains, fish, fruits, and vegetables.

One reason is that all these are anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic due to the fact that they increase the intake of fibre, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids. However, be careful with excessive consumption of fish as many contain heavy metals.

Worst- and best-case scenario

The study also concluded that by eating all the worst groups you double (+200%) your chance of all-cause death. By concentrating on the best groups you drop your risk by -56%. Theoretically, if you change from worst to best, it would mean even more healthy years than from red and processed meat alone – think about that, and what to do with all that quality time!

Critique

Obviously, these studies do not reveal if eating meat was actually the direct cause or if meat eaters are just less health-conscious in general, but most probable associations were controlled in the study.

Next step.

Take action.

There is nothing like a good barbecue with your close ones on a sunny afternoon, and we want you to enjoy that wholeheartedly. Just before, when you are shopping for it, leave the marinated rump steak where it is and pick your favourite vegetables and a good sweet water fish instead.

When you do grill, let the fish high in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids steal the show from meat. Add colourful vegetables, salads, and sprinkle some crushed nuts (light roasting can make them more tasty) on top. You can even try a legume based sidedish: It’s fast and easy to make, and internet is full of delicious recipes on how to season it.

If you are heavy griller or guest often, position can make a difference: Place the grill so that most of the fumes are not directly coming on the guests. This way you avoid the carcinogenic gases, and make sure you can enjoy the hearty food together with the fullest taste and smell range.

And remember: Always do dietary changes with caution especially if you already have diagnosed health issues: Consult a professional physician who can guide, monitor, and coach you along your path to better health.

Share.

The act of giving back.

Sharing is related to the action. Invite people and make that grill event happen. At the same time you will achieve significant positive social health impacts as our first post highlighted.

Question from the audience: “How about insects? Insects as a source of protein is coming up more and more…”

Since insect eating is very rare, and there are no epidemiological studies on health effects of insects as of yet, our current knowledge bases on the micro and macro nutritional values of insects. Insect species vary significantly from each others. Much more than pork, beef, chicken, and fish from each others, so we need to be careful in categorising them all either “good” or “bad”.

Most of the insects have all essential amino acids in recommended ratios. Compared to meat they also have beneficial fiber in them. This study investigated the micro/macro nutritional profiles (https://www.nature.com/articles/ejcn2015149): Crickets 🦗, palm weevil larvae 🐛, and mealworm were found to be significantly healthier than beef in Nutritional Value Score (NVS).

Many of the species have cholesterol amounts similar to meat, so check it out before you start to incorporate them into your daily diet especially with heart problems in family or APOE4 gene in your genome.

Our meetups in Berlin

We are hosting meetups in Berlin. The evenings are filled with deep talks, passion, and knowledge about health. Last time we had a guest speaker and researcher Matthew Schenk telling us about Rejuvenation Therapies, what aging really is, and how to tackle it. Check our Facebook group for the feelings after the meetup, and be one of the first ones to know when we announce the next meetup: Join now.

How long will you live in good health? Make the test now on Yolife.io

Also, check out Tassilo Weber’s book Life Extension Design.