What were the chances the “food pyramid” and the scientists who told you to eat sugar and white bread all day to lose weight were going to be correct about the dangers of red meat?
New research that claims red and processed meat is probably not harmful to our health has caused controversy among experts who maintain people should cut down.
The World Health Organization has classified red and processed meats as cancer-causing. Public health bodies worldwide urge people to limit their intake of red and processed meat to reduce their cancer risk. The NHS advises that people who eat 90g of meat a day – equivalent to three thin slices of roast meat – should cut down to 70g.
Aside from public health, calls are multiplying for people to cut back on meat consumption because of the climate emergency and the greenhouse gas emissions that come from animal farming.
But the 14-member international team led by Bradley Johnston an associate professor of community health at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, concluded that those who like meat should not stop on health grounds. “Based on the research, we cannot say with any certainty that eating red or processed meat causes cancer, diabetes or heart disease,” he said.
If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of the study, keep in mind that the critics are whining about the way the study was “wrong to exclude environmental concerns about damage to the planet.”
What does that have to do with personal health?