Processed Meat and Red Meat Linked with CVD and Mortality

A cohort study suggests that higher intake of processed meat, unprocessed red meat, or poultry, was significantly associated with an increased risk of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD), whereas higher intake of processed meat or unprocessed red meat, was significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality. The study analyzed individual-level data in 6 prospective cohort studies in the US, including 29 682 adult participants (mean age at baseline 53.7 years; 44.4% men; and 30.7% self-identified as non-white). A total of 6963 incident CVD events and 8875 all-cause deaths were adjudicated during a median follow-up of 19.0 years. Based on each additional intake of 2 servings (about 6-8 ounces) per week for monotonic associations or 2 vs 0 servings per week for nonmonotonic associations, intake of processed meat (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.07; adjusted absolute risk difference [ARD], 1.74%), unprocessed red meat (adjusted HR, 1.03; adjusted ARD, 0.62%), or poultry (adjusted HR, 1.04; adjusted ARD, 1.03%) was significantly associated with incident CVD. Fish intake was not significantly associated with incident CVD. Intake of processed meat (adjusted HR, 1.03; adjusted ARD, 0.90%) or unprocessed red meat (adjusted HR, 1.03; adjusted ARD, 0.76%) was significantly associated with all-cause mortality. Intake of poultry or fish was not significantly associated with all-cause mortality. The positive associations between processed meat intake and CVD and mortality have been established. The significant positive association between poultry intake and incident CVD may be related to fried chicken. In spite of the small effect sizes (partly due to using 2 servings per week as the unit of interpretation), findings of this study have critical public health implications because dietary behaviors are modifiable and most people consume these 4 food types on a daily or weekly basis. Source: https://jamanetwork.com/