Reduced consumption of processed meat provides health benefits

According to one study, reducing processed meat consumption by about a third could prevent more than 350,000 cases of diabetes in the United States over 10 years.

Reducing processed meat consumption by 30 percent among American adults — the equivalent of about 10 slices of bacon per week — would also lead to tens of thousands fewer cases of cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer, the researchers say.

A team from the University of Edinburgh’s Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems, in collaboration with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has developed a simulation tool to estimate the health impacts of reducing consumption of processed meat and unprocessed red meat.

While many studies have linked high processed meat consumption to chronic disease, few have assessed the impact on multiple health conditions. Some previous research also suggests that unprocessed red meat may contribute to chronic disease risk, but the evidence is still limited.

The researchers used data from a national health survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create a simulated, representative sample of the U.S. adult population — a so-called microsimulation.

Their microsimulation is the first to estimate the effects of reducing processed meat and unprocessed red meat consumption – by 5 to 100 percent – ​​on multiple health outcomes in the United States.

The team assessed the impact of changes in meat consumption on the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer and death in adults. The effects were assessed in the whole population and separately by age, sex, household income and ethnicity.

In addition to preventing more than 350,000 cases of diabetes, a 30% reduction in processed meat consumption would result in 92,500 fewer cases of cardiovascular disease and 53,300 fewer cases of colorectal cancer over a decade, the researchers say.

In this scenario, white men and those with annual household incomes between $25,000 and $55,000 enjoy the greatest health benefits.

The researchers also analyzed the impacts of reducing consumption of unprocessed red meat alone and reducing consumption of both processed meat and unprocessed red meat.

A 30% reduction in consumption of these two products resulted in a decrease of 1,073,400 cases of diabetes, 382,400 cases of cardiovascular disease and 84,400 cases of colorectal cancer.

A 30% reduction in unprocessed red meat consumption – which would mean eating about one fewer beef burger per week – led to a reduction of more than 732,000 cases of diabetes. It also led to a reduction of 291,500 cases of cardiovascular disease and 32,200 cases of colorectal cancer.

The finding that more cases of illness were prevented by reducing consumption of unprocessed red meat compared to processed meat is partly due to the fact that the average daily consumption of unprocessed red meat is higher than that of processed meat, at 47 g per day versus 29 g per day, respectively.

Because less is known about the effect of unprocessed red meat consumption on chronic disease risk, the team says these estimates should be interpreted with caution and further research is needed.

The study, published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health, was funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Professor Lindsay Jaacks, Personal Chair of the Department of Global Health and Nutrition at the University of Edinburgh and one of the authors of the study, said: “Reducing meat consumption has been recommended by national and international organisations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the Climate Change Committee here in the UK and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Our research shows that these dietary changes could also have significant health benefits in the US, so it’s a clear win-win for people and the planet.”