Original Source

Association of Changes in Red Meat Consumption with Total and Cause Specific Mortality Among US Women and Men: Two Prospective Cohort Studies

BMJ

Volume: 365

12 JUN 2019

Zheng, Y., Li, Y., Satija, A., Pan, A., Sotos-Prieto, M., Rimm, E., et al.

187

Yes

From the source: "The cohorts were supported by grants UM1 CA186107 and UM1 CA167552 from the National Institutes of Health. The current study was supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL071981, HL034594, HL60712, HL126024), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK091718, DK100383, DK112940, DK078616), the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (DK46200). The sources of funding had no role in the design, conduct, analysis, or reporting of this study. YZ was supported by a fellowship from the American Diabetes Association (7-12-MN-34) and the Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning. The funding sources did not participate in the design or conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis or interpretation of the data; or preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript."

From the source: "All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.pdf and declare: support from the National Institutes of Health; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; and the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center for the submitted work; support from the FBH reported being supported by grants HL60712, HL118264, and DK112940 from the National Institutes of Health, and reported receiving research support from the California Walnut Commission and honorariums for lectures from Metagenics and Standard Process and honorariums from Diet Quality Photo Navigation, outside the submitted work."
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Summary

This study finds that nurses and healthcare professionals from the United States (US) have an increased risk for all-cause mortality (death of any cause) with increased consumption of meat. The study considered age, gender and several sociodemographic and health factors. The associations between mortality and meat were stronger for processed meat compared to unprocessed meat. Statistical modeling found that participants had a lower mortality when meat consumption decreased and consumption of nuts, fish and whole grains increased. Among the strengths of this study are the high number of participants, the long follow-up and the repeated assessment of food intake. A limitation is that the study cohort consisted predominantly of white nurses and healthcare professionals, which can make generalizability to other demographics more complicated. In conclusion, according to the authors the “analysis provides further evidence to support the replacement of red and processed meat consumption with healthy alternative food choices”.

Objective: To evaluate the association of changes in red meat consumption with total and cause specific mortality in women and men.

Design: Two prospective cohort studies with repeated measures of diet and lifestyle factors.

Setting: Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, United States.

Participants: 53 553 women and 27 916 men without cardiovascular disease or cancer at baseline.

Main outcome measure: Death confirmed by state vital statistics records, the national death index, or reported by families and the postal system.

Results: 14 019 deaths occurred during 1.2 million person years of follow-up. Increases in red meat consumption over eight years were associated with a higher mortality risk in the subsequent eight years among women and men (both P for trend<0.05, P for heterogeneity=0.97). An increase in total red meat consumption of at least half a serving per day was associated with a 10% higher mortality risk (pooled hazard ratio 1.10, 95% confidence interval 1.04 to 1.17). For processed and unprocessed red meat consumption, an increase of at least half a serving per day was associated with a 13% higher mortality risk (1.13, 1.04 to 1.23) and a 9% higher mortality risk (1.09, 1.02 to 1.17), respectively. A decrease in consumption of processed or unprocessed red meat of at least half a serving per day was not associated with mortality risk. The association between increased red meat consumption and mortality risk was consistent across subgroups defined by age, physical activity, dietary quality, smoking status, or alcohol consumption.

Conclusion: Increases in red meat consumption, especially processed meat, were associated with higher overall mortality rates.