A new study shows that there is not a causal relationship between meat and heart disease. Researchers looked at approximately 460,000 people who ate meat and did not find a significant risk of cardiovascular disease between those who do and do not eat processed meat, pork, beef, and mutton.
In fact, the link between meat and heart disease has always been a shaky one. This was born out of the proposal in the 1950s by Ancel Benjamin Keys, who was known to eat red meat himself regularly. His hypothesis revolved around cholesterol as a cause of heart disease, and that has been disproven. In fact, higher levels of cholesterol can be found to be associated with LOWER mortality rates.
In fact, a study by Keys himself showed that the diet-heart hypothesis was wrong and that polyunsaturated fats (vegetable oils) were a bigger risk to health. This study was buried until it was re-analyzed in 2016.
The authors of the new study say that their results “differ from those of previous observational studies…. Over the past decade, several cross-sectional and prospective studies have investigated the relationship between red and processed meat consumption and [cardiovascular disease]. The conclusions drawn from the available data are inconsistent.” They do caution that more research is warranted on this matter.
