After several years of warnings about the potential damage, including cancer and heart disease, caused by consumption of red meat and processed meat, a panel of experts from seven countries has recently said that people should not necessarily cut down on their consumption of red meat products like ham, sausage and bacon.
These controversial recommendations, which have been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, were made by nutriRECS, a consortium of experts that describes its mission as producing trustworthy nutritional guidelines.
Prof Gordon Guyatt, chair of the guideline committee from McMaster University (Canada) said that the research group with a panel of 14 members from seven countries used a rigorous systematic review methodology and methods which rate the certainty of evidence for each outcome, to move from evidence to dietary recommendations to develop their guidelines. “There is a worldwide interest in nutrition and the issue of red meat in particular. People need to be able to make decisions about their own diet based on the best information available,” he added.
Dr Bradley Johnston, part-time associate professor at McMaster University and associate professor at Dalhousie University, is one of the corresponding authors of the new guideline. He explained that the research team realises its work is contrary to many current nutritional guidelines. “This is not just another study on red and processed meat, but a series of high quality systematic reviews resulting in recommendations we think are far more transparent, robust and reliable,” he added.
To arrive at their conclusion, researchers performed a series of systematic reviews focused on randomised controlled trials and observational studies looking at the impact of red meat and processed meat consumption on cardio-metabolic and cancer outcomes. In a review of 12 trials with 54,000 people, the researchers did not find statistically significant or important association between meat consumption and the risk of heart disease, diabetes or cancer. In three systematic reviews of cohort studies following millions of people, the researchers found a very small reduction in risk among those who had three or fewer servings of red or processed meat a week; but the association was uncertain.
Dr Johnston said, “We focused exclusively on health outcomes and did not consider animal welfare or environmental concerns when making our recommendations. We are however sympathetic to animal welfare and environmental concerns with a number of the guideline panel members having eliminated or reduced their personal red and processed meat intake for these reasons.”
The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has historically advised people to avoid processed meat altogether or eat very little of it, while limiting red meat to about three portions a week. After the study was published, the WCRF gathered a team of organisations—including from the World Health Organisation—to hit back at the latest findings, saying that there is good evidence of link between red and processed meat and bowel cancer.
