Too much (red) meat?

This is probably more of a general question, but I'll post it here so not to spoil future steps for people before step 7. By step 7 we have added protein to all 3 main daily meals. Moreover, as vegetable proteins (legumes) are an inferior nutritional source we have been advised to take our protein intake from fish, meat or eggs (or nuts but that seemed to be a provisional breakfast thing).

This means that it is easy to end up eating meat twice a day, and Jeff comment on red vs white meat was (up to this step at least) that it does not particularly matter.

However, there are recents results which point out that frequent consumption of red and processed meat are associated with colon cancer. It made headlines and all kind of "terroristic" articles a few months ago, but this page is, I think, an equilibrated take on the issue

http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/10/26/processed-meat-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/

Quoting part of it

"None of this means that a single meat-based meal is ‘bad for you’. What it does mean is that regularly eating large amounts of red and processed meat, over a long period of time, is probably not the best approach if you’re aiming to live a long and healthy life. Meat is fine in moderation – it’s a good source of some nutrients such as protein, iron and zinc. It’s just about being sensible, and not eating too much, too often.

So how much is a ‘sensible’ amount of meat? This is a much trickier question to answer. The evidence so far doesn’t point to a particular amount that’s, in terms of cancer risk, likely to be ‘too much’. All we can say is that on the whole, the risk is lower the less you eat. Based on a  range of health considerations, the Government advises people who eat more than 90g (cooked weight) of red and/or processed meat a day should cut down to 70g or less."

This other link cite some studies https://examine.com/faq/does-red-meat-cause-cancer/

 

In fact the advice of limiting red meat consumption is not so new: it is a staple of (popular descriptions of) Mediterranean diet to limit red meat consumption and prefer fish, white meat and vegetable sources of proteins. All in all my feeling is that while red meat should absolutely not be demonised or banned it is difficult to refuse that the advice to limit its consumption is sound.

I would be interested to know what is Jeff's take on this issue, and if beyond eggs, fish/seafood and white meat is there any other good protein source which he advise to use to limit the consumption of red meat.

Guid,

Good reference. Good article that links full studies that are free. Nice job.

Im going to respond very un-scientifically because the research is a meta-analysis and I really don't want to read the 28 papers its using.

To ger a proper study you need to control 100% of what someone is eating. I bet if we go read the 28 studies you will find a bunch of people eating red meat and donuts. Again, I want to be clear I did not read these studies so I don't know but to give you a real answer would take me a week of research. Sorry buddy Im just not going to do that. 

All red meat is not equal. Further, all beef is not equal. grocery store ground beef isn't even equal. When it says 90% lean, that just means 10% pure fat is added to the meat. The 90% lean part might be meat that has a very high intramuscular fat, so that 90% part might be meat that is literally 1/2 fat now they add 10% pure fat. You are eating 50% cow fat. To boot fat is the bodies toxin storage unit. So you are basically eating 50% stuff the cow didn't want floating in its blood(of a very unhealthy cow). I could see how that would cause cancer. On the flip side is a cow that is pasture raised (does exercise in so many words) and is 100% grass fed and they don't mix in pure fat (common practice at stores) to get a higher profit margin because they charge by the total weight of the cow at the time of death. So if you instruct them to ditch all the pure fat, they will. 

Something that may be easer to understand is wild caught salmon vs. farm raised. 

What it would take for me to believe that red meat causes cancers is a controlled diet of Thrive with 1/2 of the control eating 100% grass fed beef and the other 1/2 eating lean white meat. Yes thats a bit ridiculous but so is grouping in all red meat and processed meat. 

Everyone: Part of my post is not visible - that's where all the empty space is. I guess that's because the original text was in grey and it melts with the background.  I cannot find any way to edit it, but  to read the missing part highlight it (as for copy pasting), it becomes visible then.

Jeff, I fully agree, I am sure that the conditions under which animals are raised and the whole of one's alimentation/lifestyle are crucial, and that most studies only focus on some small piece of the puzzle. As it is sometime difficult (or very expansive) to control the source of everything one eats and as my lifestyle is not impeccable, I guess I will try to limit a bit red/processed meat but without obsessing about it. I know that veggie proteins are suboptimal, but for occasional consumption what would you recommend?

I would never compare red and processed meat in any category. Lean turkey lunch meat has far more conclusive cancer implications. Thats because its literally the scraps collected up off the floor and pressed together. 

Im sure there is a vegetarian protein out there but give me an example of one before I agree to it. The problem with most of their protein sources is their carb content. To get 40g protein you have to eat 120g carbs. Deficent in lysine and so on. 

Avoiding red meat and using vegetable sources is pretty far off my design. 

Indeed processed meat is quite a different beast, I had not thought about that. The only vegetable proteins I know of are legumes. I know they are not complete in amino acids, but I was thinking of eating them only on 2-3 meals a week. All right, I will better check my food provenience, and if I feel like skipping red meat I'll lean towards fish/poultry/eggs instead.