It has been shown that people who eat red meat as their main source of protein, could be shortening their lives. The findings, which were published online August 1 in the journal ‘JAMA Internal Medicine’, made a case for including more plant protein in daily diet.
According to the study, people who get more of their protein from plant sources have an overall lower risk of dying early than those who consume a lot of animal protein, the researchers said.
Processed red meats include items like bacon, sausage and deli meats. Processed meats contain loads of sodium and nitrates, which have been linked to heart disease and cancer.
Reacting to the development, Lead Researcher and Nutrition Research Fellow with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Dr. Mingyang Song, said it was not all animal proteins that carry the same level of risk. Besides, the researchers said many of the red meat eaters also had unhealthy habits such as drinking and smoking.
“We found protein from red meat, particularly processed red meat, is strongly associated with mortality,” he said, adding, “The protein from fish or chicken is not really associated with mortality.”
For every three per cent increase in plant protein in their daily diet, participants experienced a 10 per cent lower risk of death from all causes and a 12 per cent lower risk of heartrelated death, the investigators found.
Participants experienced a two per cent increased risk of death from all causes and an eight per cent increased risk of heart-related death for every 10 per cent increase of animal protein in their total daily calories. Swapping three per cent of calories from animal protein with plant protein lowered overall risk of premature death, based on the type of animal protein being substituted.
Risk of early death dropped 34 per cent if people ate less processed red meat, 12 per cent for less unprocessed red meat, and 19 per cent for fewer eggs, the findings showed
