A major new study released today yet again indicates that red meat consumption results in a shorter life.

Meat Intake and Mortality; A Prospective Study of Over Half a Million People, from the National Cancer Institute in Maryland, USA, involved more than 500,000 American people aged 50 to 71. Each person had to fill in a questionnaire about diet, exercise, smoking, education and other things that could affect their health. There were 47,976 male deaths and 23,276 female deaths during follow-up period of 10 years. Through analysing the results, the researchers came to the conclusion that “red and processed meat intakes were associated with modest increases in total mortality, cancer mortality, and cardiovascular disease mortality”.

Using the word ‘modest’ seems misleading when you look at the figures. Male participants in the study who ate the most read meat per day, about 5 ounces (roughly the equivalent of a small steak), had a 31% higher risk of death over a 10-year period than men in the study who ate the lowest amount of red meat. For women, those who ate the most red meat had a huge 36% increase in death over a 10-year period compared with women who ate little red meat; eating lots of meat was associated with a 20% higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50% higher risk of dying of heart disease.

The researchers calculated that 11% of deaths in men and 16% of deaths in women during the study period could have been prevented if people had decreased their red meat consumption to the level of those in the lowest intake group.

To lower your risk of heart disease and cancer, the study advises an average daily limit of about 19 grams (0.7 ounces) of red meat for women, or 25 grams (almost an ounce) for men. But since red meat is so clearly damaging to our health, why eat any at all?