We Hate to Say ‘We Told You So,’ But …
… Wait a minute, what am I saying? We love to say “We told you so.” And this time, what we’ve been telling you for years is finally making headlines. Here’s the truth—drumroll, please—meat, as it turns out, is bad for you.
Specifically, meat increases your chances of dying prematurely.
That’s right, we weren’t just making it up. Research has, once again, linked the consumption of meat with heart disease and certain types of cancer—and this time, it’s more conclusive than ever. As The Washington Post explains, a new case study has just been published—the first large examination of the relationship between eating meat and overall risk of early death—and guess what it found?
“The bottom line is we found an association between red meat and processed meat and an increased risk of mortality,” concluded the leader of the study, Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute.
Women in the study who ate the most red meat were 36 percent more likely to prematurely die of any cause than those who ate less (or none), and they were 50 percent more likely to die of heart disease! Maybe it’s just me, but those kinds of odds would definitely shock me into seriously reconsidering my meaty habits. Men who ate the most red meat didn’t do much better—they were 31 percent more likely to die prematurely of any cause.
Amusingly, the only defense that the American Meat Institute could muster was that meat products “provide a sense of satisfaction and fullness that can help with weight control.” So don’t worry about the cancer and heart disease, say the meat guys, because filling your stomach with disease-linked animal flesh makes you full, and that keeps the weight off! Um, nice try, fellas.
Nope, I’m not buying the meat guys’ argument—and something tells me a lot of other people won’t be, either. This could end up as a real victory for our arteries—and for animals.
Written by Amanda Schinke
