sursa: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/diet/nutrition/meat-is-better-for-you-than-you-think/
Sorting the good meat from the bad is far more important
than giving it up altogether, say scientists
Hattie
Garlick1 January 2024 • 5:00am
A growing body of research suggests that meat is a complex
beast – this is what you should, and shouldn't eat
Is the scent of a delicious roast dinner currently wafting
from your oven, making you salivate? Will you feel just a smidge guilty as you
tuck in?
Never mind the people trying Veganuary this month, all of us
have been told that eating meat is bad. Not only for the planet, but for our
health. Every bite of that brisket will raise your risk of cancer, heart
disease and more. A second helping will send you to an early grave.
But will it? A growing body of research suggests that meat
is a complex beast. Acres of difference stand between a high welfare, grass-fed
sirloin steak and the impact on your body of a highly processed hot dog. The
NHS advises that people who eat 90 grams of processed or red meat a day –
equivalent to a couple of rashers of bacon – should cut down to 70 grams.
What’s clear is that, cooked with care and eaten
selectively, meat may even boost your health. A recent report by the University
of Edinburgh suggests that without better awareness of alternative sources of
nutrients, the targets to reduce meat and dairy consumption by 20 per cent by
2035 might actually raise health risks, inadvertently exacerbating deficiencies
in important minerals including selenium, iron and zinc.
But ethics and environment aside, what do we really know
about the impact that eating meat has on our health?
Why we shouldn’t give up on meat
Veganism and vegetarianism have become shorthand terms for
healthier lifestyles, says Dr Wenpeng You, biomedicine researcher at the
University of Adelaide in Australia. But after he and his team examined the
overall health effects of meat consumption in 175 countries, taking into
account factors including affluence, obesity and overall calorie consumption,
their results, published in the International Journal of General Medicine last
year, suggest that meat consumption does not send people to an early grave. In
fact, it extends life expectancy.
Dr You is not hugely surprised. Humans, he suggests, are
hardwired to eat animal protein. “Until about 12,000 years ago, there were not
many sources of other nutrients that we could digest.”
In fact, meat may become an increasingly useful and
convenient source of nutrition as we age, suggests Prof James Goodwin, director
of science at the Brain Health Network and author of Supercharge Your Brain.
“From middle age onwards, a process called sarcopenia,
or muscle loss, progresses at 1-2 per cent a year.” If you want to counter this
loss, 30 per cent of your food should be protein, he suggests.
You could, of course, get all this protein from plants. It
is just a lot more complicated. Nutritional therapist Lucy Miller says animal
proteins are “complete” – meaning they contain all the amino acids our bodies
need.
The odd BLT is OK but avoid processed meat when you can
There is strong evidence that processed meat – including
ham, bacon, corned beef and some sausages – increases the risk of bowel cancer,
says Dr Julie Sharp, head of health information at Cancer Research UK.
“Nitrates and nitrites, which are added to processed meat to keep it fresh for
longer, can form chemicals called N-nitroso chemicals (or NOCs) during
digestion that can damage the cells in the bowel,” she explains.
Processed meats are also high in blood-pressure-raising
sodium, says consultant cardiologist Dr Neil Srinivasan. Eating two
servings a week may raise your risk of heart and circulatory diseases by 7 per
cent.
The other bad news is that processed meats have also been
linked to Type 2 diabetes, while a 2021 observational study correlated the
consumption of 25g of processed meat a day to a 44 per cent increase in risk of
dementia.
The good news about red meat
“Red meat is one of the best available sources of iron, zinc
and B vitamins, in particular vitamin B12,” says Dr Srinivasan. This means it
has the potential to do your heart good, because low zinc levels have been
linked to conditions including coronary artery disease and angina, while
vitamins B6, B9, and B12 may lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.
It is also rich in haem iron, says Miller, a highly
absorbable form of the mineral that is only found in animal-based foods,
“meaning that if you have a purely plant-based diet, you may not be absorbing
high enough levels of iron”.
That haem, however, is controversial. During digestion, it
breaks down into cancer-causing chemicals, says Dr Sharp. Plus, “when processed
and red meats are cooked at high temperatures, such as grilling or barbecuing,
other cancer-causing chemicals are produced, called heterocyclic amines (HCAs)
and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).” Eating large quantities is
therefore considered a likely cause of bowel cancer, although further research
is needed to confirm that.
But what about heart disease? Red meat is higher in
cholesterol than poultry or fish - a major reason it has, historically, been
demonised. Yet “a number of studies now suggests it’s the mix of fats, sugar
and refined carbohydrates in your diet that influences blood cholesterol, not
the amount of cholesterol you eat from food,” says Miller. In fact, one study
that came to this conclusion in 2010 criticised contemporary public health
advice that promoted a move away from saturated fats found in animal products.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said the
advice “has spurred a compensatory increase in consumption of refined
carbohydrates and added sugars – a dietary shift that may be
contributing to the current twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes”.
And dementia? “There is definitely a relationship between
the consumption of unprocessed red meat and dementia,” says Prof Goodwin. “It
reduces the risk.” A 2021 study linked 50g of unprocessed red meat a day to a
reduction in the risk of Alzheimer’s. Not surprising, says Prof Goodwin: “The
five most critical nutrients for the brain are all predominantly from animal
sources,” he says. “Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Omega 3 fatty acid, zinc and
magnesium.” Modern Western diets are often low in them all.
How to choose your chicken
“White meat, such as chicken, and fish, are not linked to an
increased risk of cancer,” says Sharp. In fact, good quality chicken is the
best source of protein, says Miller, containing around 32g of protein in every
100g, compared to the 10g in the same amount of beans and legumes.
That said, in 2021, Oxford University researchers published
a study involving 475,000 people – from voracious meat eaters to vegetarians.
Keren Papier, the lead author, explains that “higher consumption of poultry
meat was associated with higher risks of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease,
gastritis and duodenitis, diverticular disease, gallbladder disease, and
diabetes.” There is, however, one crucial and familiar addendum. “Most of these
positive associations were reduced if body mass index (BMI) was taken into
account,” says Papier. “This suggests that regular meat eaters having a higher
average body weight could be partly causing these associations.”
Control your weight, and a roast chicken may not be the
death of you. But here’s the rub. Around 95 per cent of chicken consumed in the
UK is factory-farmed, says Miller, making it liable to be less nutritionally dense, and also
higher in fat. In other words, we’re being sold chicken that makes it harder to
get the health benefits without the health risks.
Why the quality and cut matters
Choose meat from factory farms, where animals are confined
and fed a grain-based diet, and the nutritional content of your meat will
diminish, says Miller, citing a review spanning three decades which found that
grass-fed beef not only had more healthy carotenoids, vitamin E and other
antioxidants, but also contained less fat, of unhealthier sorts.
“Grass-fed beef has more Omega 3 fatty acids than grain-fed
beef,” agrees Prof Goodwin. “On organic [beef], the jury is out. Few studies
show, unequivocally, that its nutrient levels are better, just that there are
no pesticides in it.”
The cut counts too. “Unprocessed, lean meats and cuts are
healthier for your heart,” says Dr Srinivasan. “So ask your butcher for a lean
cut and, if buying pre-packed meat, check the nutrition label to see how much
fat it contains and compare products.”
The healthy way to eat meat – and how much
Back in 1996, a study was published that examined the health
outcomes of 11,000 “health conscious” Brits, some vegetarian, others omnivore,
recruited from places such as health food shops. After 17 years, both camps had
half the death rate compared with the average population. The key influence
appeared not to be whether or not they ate meat, but whether or not they ate
lots of fresh fruit and raw salad.
“In the West, an estimated 75 per cent of all our calories
comes from just five animals and 12 plants – a woefully narrow diet,” says Prof
Goodwin. It is this narrowness that lies at the root of many health problems,
he suggests. So, “ask yourself the following question: have I eaten 30 types of
plant and more than five types of animal food this week?” The answer, he
suggests, may not be to exclude meat altogether but “to eat a better quality,
more balanced and diverse diet”.
Meat: the good and the bad for your health
1. Steak filet
Good: a source of iron, zinc and B
vitamins
2. Chicken breast
Good: but avoid factory farmed chicken, which is
higher in fat
3. Sausage
Bad: processed meat raises your risk of bowel
cancer
4. Lamb chops
Bad: avoid barbecuing, as meat can become
carcinogenic
5. Venison steak
Good: lower in fat than any other red meat
6. Bacon rasher
Bad: buy nitrate-free bacon to lower the cancer
risk
7. Slice of turkey
Good: an excellent source of selenium, a mineral
that can help prevent certain cancers
8. Parma ham
Good: free of additives, this is one of the
healthiest ham options
