The massive NIH-AARP study looks at the relationship between meat consumption and total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular disease mortality.
Meat and Mortality
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I realize I’m moving very quickly through all this—I’m just trying to fit in as much of the best new science as I possibly can. It is important, though, to pause and just acknowledge the tremendous dedication, work, energy, and resources these researchers have sacrificed. I mean, imagine what it takes to not only study thousands of individuals, but then follow them for a decade or two. I can hardly keep track of friends that long.
Now imagine following a half million people for ten years. The National Institutes of Health-AARP study—the largest forward-looking study of diet and health in history. So what does the largest study ever have to say about meat and mortality? Meat intake means increases in total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular mortality. End of story.
Here’s the title of the accompanying editorial in the American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine: “Reducing Meat Consumption Has Multiple Benefits for the World’s Health,” calling for “a major reduction in total meat intake.” They do particularly pick on processed meats, but in terms of global crises: “There is a…tsunami brewing, namely, we are seeing the confluence of growing constraints on water, energy, and food [supplies] combined with the rapid shift toward greater consumption of all animal source foods,” which, they note, are “inefficient, wasteful, and polluting.”
And this is in a journal of the AMA. Just so readers don’t think they’re biased, though, they note: “The author is not a vegetarian.”
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- N. D. Barnard, J. Cohen, D. J. A. Jenkins, G. Turner-McGrievy, L. Gloede, A. Green, and H. Fer-dowsian. A low-fat vegan diet and a conventional diabetes diet in the treatment of type 2 diabetes: A randomized, controlled, 74-wk clinical trial. Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 89(5):1588-1596, 2009.
- R. Sinha, A. J. Cross, B. I. Graubard, M. F. Leitzmann, and A. Schatzkin. Meat intake and mortality: a prospective study of over half a million people. Arch Intern Med. 2009 March 23; 169(6): 562–571.
- B. M. Popkin. Reducing meat consumption has multiple benefits for the world's health. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):543-5, 2009.
Image thanks to jayneandd via Flickr.
I realize I’m moving very quickly through all this—I’m just trying to fit in as much of the best new science as I possibly can. It is important, though, to pause and just acknowledge the tremendous dedication, work, energy, and resources these researchers have sacrificed. I mean, imagine what it takes to not only study thousands of individuals, but then follow them for a decade or two. I can hardly keep track of friends that long.
Now imagine following a half million people for ten years. The National Institutes of Health-AARP study—the largest forward-looking study of diet and health in history. So what does the largest study ever have to say about meat and mortality? Meat intake means increases in total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular mortality. End of story.
Here’s the title of the accompanying editorial in the American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine: “Reducing Meat Consumption Has Multiple Benefits for the World’s Health,” calling for “a major reduction in total meat intake.” They do particularly pick on processed meats, but in terms of global crises: “There is a…tsunami brewing, namely, we are seeing the confluence of growing constraints on water, energy, and food [supplies] combined with the rapid shift toward greater consumption of all animal source foods,” which, they note, are “inefficient, wasteful, and polluting.”
And this is in a journal of the AMA. Just so readers don’t think they’re biased, though, they note: “The author is not a vegetarian.”
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- N. D. Barnard, J. Cohen, D. J. A. Jenkins, G. Turner-McGrievy, L. Gloede, A. Green, and H. Fer-dowsian. A low-fat vegan diet and a conventional diabetes diet in the treatment of type 2 diabetes: A randomized, controlled, 74-wk clinical trial. Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 89(5):1588-1596, 2009.
- R. Sinha, A. J. Cross, B. I. Graubard, M. F. Leitzmann, and A. Schatzkin. Meat intake and mortality: a prospective study of over half a million people. Arch Intern Med. 2009 March 23; 169(6): 562–571.
- B. M. Popkin. Reducing meat consumption has multiple benefits for the world's health. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):543-5, 2009.
Image thanks to jayneandd via Flickr.
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Meat and Mortality
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
More on meat and mortality:
Never Too Late to Start Eating Healthier
Harvard’s Meat and Mortality Studies
And check out my other videos on meat.
Also see my associated blog posts: Harvard’s Meat and Mortality Studies and Eating To Extend Our Lifespan.
Update: In 2022, I did a whole new series on how industries impact dietary and health guidelines.. Check it out:
- How Big Sugar Undermines Dietary Guidelines
- How Big Sugar Manipulated the Science for Dietary Guidelines
- Observational Studies Show Similar Results to Randomized Controlled Trials
- Failing GRADE for Annals of Internal Medicine Meat Studies
- Conflicts of Interest in the Annals of Internal Medicine Meat Studies
- The Health Risks vs. Benefits of Meat Consumption
- How Big Meat Manipulated the Science
- How Much Does Meat Affect Longevity?
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