A review of several large-scale studies into dietary health effects has found that meat eaters die earlier than vegetarians.
You should eat less red meat, less processed meat and replace them with far more vegetables to live a longer, healthier life. If you’re still craving some protein, try fish or chicken.
This might not sound too outlandish, not after several reports in recent years into how to form a balanced, healthy diet.
But, after looking through a number of those findings and reviewing and collating them as a whole, the Mayo Clinic in the US has found that even slight increases in red meat intake can prove damaging to your health.
Looking through international reports, which in total dealt with more than 1.5m people, the new paper found that ‘all-cause mortality’ is higher for people with increased daily consumption of red meat, especially processed meat. Other things like poultry and fish don’t seem to have the same effect.
“This data reinforces what we have known for so long – your diet has great potential to harm or heal,” said Brookshield Laurent, assistant professor of family medicine and clinical sciences at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“This clinical-based evidence can assist physicians in counselling patients about the important role diet plays, leading to improved preventive care, a key consideration in the osteopathic philosophy of medicine.”
The longer you’re a vegetarian the better, obviously, with those on such a diet for over 17 years expected to live 3.6 years longer.
Image of red meat via Shutterstock
