Red Meat Review Finds Alternate Conclusions on Health Effects

Researchers have published a review of studies evaluating the effects of “reducing red meat intake on clinically important outcomes” and purportedly showed that red meat may not have the carcinogenic effects that previous studies have found. Zeraatkar et al., “Effect of Lower Versus Higher Red Meat Intake on Cardiometabolic and Cancer Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Randomized Trials,” Annals of Internal Med., October 1, 2019. The researchers only reviewed studies that met certain criteria, including randomized trials, and reportedly found evidence suggesting that “diets restricted in red meat may have little or no effect on major cardiometabolic outcomes and cancer mortality and incidence.”