Health concerns top the list of reasons many gave for consuming less red meat.

With more evidence pointing to environmental factors for the rise in heart disease and many cancers, red meat has been at the center of the debate for quite some time.

“American culture has been a meat-and-potatoes culture for a very long time,” Fabius tells The Salt. “Now we’re in a period of believing that intake of meat should be reduced in this country; we’re talking about a generational transition.”

Among those who are eating less meat, 66 percent said they’re worried about the health effects; 47 percent said cost is a factor, while 30 percent were concerned about animal welfare, and 29 percent have limited their meat intake out of a concern for the environment.

Robert Lawrence, professor of environmental health sciences and director of the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, says this is consistent with what he found when he asked people in 2002 why they might eat less meat. “Health concerns still remain the No. 1 reason people might consider cutting back on meat,” says Lawrence, who helped launch the Meatless Monday initiative.

Red meat just can’t catch a break.

More evidence is in about the harmful effects of red meat.

Incidence of heart disease and cancer can be linked to consumption of red meat.

It is advised to limit consumption and that limitation should be no more than 2-3 times per week.

Using data from two long-running studies of health professionals, researchers tracked the diets of more than 121,000 middle-aged men and women for up to 28 years. Roughly 20% of the participants died during that period.
On average, each additional serving of red meat the participants ate per day was associated with a 13% higher risk of dying during the study. Processed red meat products — such as hot dogs, bacon, and salami — appeared to be even more dangerous: Each additional daily serving was associated with a 20% higher risk of dying.

Meat and dairy products have been getting a bad rap from cardiologists with links to heart disease and now new studies find that well done red meat is linked to greater risk of prostate cancer.

When meat is cooked—and charred—at high temperatures over an open flame, a reaction occurs that causes the formation of two chemicals: heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). In animal studies, these chemicals have been shown to cause several types of cancer, including prostate cancer.

Although by now it is well established that red meat increases the risk of heart disease and colorectal cancer, its role in prostate cancer has been less clear. Numerous studies have investigated a possible link between meat consumption and prostate-cancer risk, but the results have been inconsistent.

As if we needed more reasons to avoid meat; salmonella poisoning, e-coli, antibiotic resistant bacteria and HCG, to name a few, add a risk of type 2 diabetes to the list.

Type 2 diabetes is at epidemic levels in the U.S raising many questions about the American diet.

Critics aside, some serious evaluation is necessary.

Healthcare costs from treating diabetes alone is in the billions and growing.

No comprehensive national healthcare policy can exist without a comprehensive national food policy!

Read the whole article to learn more.

Type 2 diabetes is linked with obesity. It occurs when they body does not produce enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells do not use insulin properly. Insulin helps the body use glucose or blood sugar for energy. When blood sugar remains elevated with diabetes, complications such as heart disease, blindness, and nerve and kidney damage can occur.

In the study, participants who ate one 3.5-ounce serving of non-processed red meat a day, such as steak or hamburger, were almost 20% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Those who ate half of this amount of processed meat, such as two slices of bacon or one hot dog, had a 51% increased risk for developing diabetes.