A long-running study of 120 000 people has found that consuming red meat daily can increase a person’s chance of dying by 20 per cent.
The Harvard University study has confirmed the long-held beliefs of many experts that consumption of red meat increased heard disease and cancer.
Up to nine per cent of all deaths in the study "could be prevented if all the participants consumed fewer than 0.5 servings per day of total red meat,” the report says.
Replacing red meat with fish and poultry may also lower the risk of dying early, the study, which appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine, has found.
"This study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, contributes substantially to premature death," senior author of the study, Frank Hu said.
With the 37 698 men observed for 22 years and the 83 644 women observed for 28 years, the research is one of the longest of its kind and provides a more accurate picture of the impact of red meat on long term health.
And it’s not just massive slabs of red meat which contribute to the increased risk of death, but rather daily intake of the recommended serving size.
Every four years the subjects would answer surveys about their eating habits, and it was found that those who ate a serving of red meat the size of a deck of cards each day experienced a 13 per cent increase in the risk of dying than those who did not.
If the red meat consumed was processed, such as in hot dogs or bacon, the risk of dying young jumped an extra seven per cent.
When red meat was substituted by nuts, the chance of death at a younger age saw a decrease of almost 20 per cent.
If it is replaced with poultry or whole grains, the risk of early death is reduced by 14 per cent, and seven per cent if fish was substituted.
The elements of concern in red meat include sodium, saturated fat, nitrates and some carcinogens which lead to heart disease and cancer, so consuming it every day poses grave concerns.
According to Dean Ornish, a physician and dietary expert at the University of California, San Francisco, a reduction in the amount of red meat consumed would significantly benefit not only people’s lives, but health systems also.
"More than 75 per cent of the $US2.6 trillion ($2.5 trillion) in annual US health care costs are from chronic disease," he said.
"Eating less red meat is likely to reduce morbidity from these illnesses, thereby reducing health care costs."
How much red meat do you eat?