DAY 7: Can eating Red Meat lead us to Cancer?

 

From the "PaleoLithe Website"...

 

Numerous articles have popped up recently about the studies showing links between eating red meat and cancer, and the paleo-sphere (and paleo subreddit) has been abuzz with concern – is our diet increasing out risk of cancer?  To find out, we need to look more closely at two things: first, we need to take a hard look at the articles and second, we need to take a hard look at the paleo diet.  Let’s start with the studies – or rather “study”.  Multiple people have submitted many different links that all talk about the same study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine by An Pan et al. titled “Red Meat Consumption and Mortality“

NPR’s food blog “the SALT” recently posted an article titled “Death By Bacon? Study Finds Eating Meat Is Risky” and the scientific article appeared in a press release on the Harvard School of Public Health website titled “Red Meat Consumption Linked to Increased Risk of Total, Cardiovascular, and Cancer Mortality.”  After reading these articles, I am not sure why the paleo community is so worried.  The study conducted by Dr. An Pan in Dr. Frank Hu’s laboratory at the Harvard University School of Public Health found that consuming 1 serving of red meat a day, especially if the meat was processed, increased risk of mortality over diets that obtained their protein from red meat along with more varied sources, like fish and poultry.  Dr. Hu and Dr. Marji McCullough, of the American Cancer Society, both seemed to agree that eating meat 2-3 times a week would be fine.

The study was impressive, investigating a staggering 37,698 men and 83,644 women over 22 years and doing statistical adjustments for multiple variables, such as lifestyle and dietary risk factors.  I noticed a few people dismissing the study outright, but I caution against that for 2 reasons; 1) This study was very carefully and very objectively conducted and it included a massive number of subjects and 2) it is easy to dismiss something outright that seems to threaten our strongly held beliefs that paleo is the right way to eat without considering what the study has to say.  The good news is that this study does not put a single dent into the paleo lifestyle, but rather supports it completely.

Standard diet: Corn-fed cows | Paleo diet: Grass-fed cows

Let’s now consider the paleo diet.  First and foremost, the paleo diet strongly advises against eating anything processed (hot dogs, bologna, deli meats) and encourages eating red meat from grass-fed animals that weren’t subjected to a corn-based diet, constant antibiotics and growth hormones, and didn’t live in a super crowded, manure laden filth pit that is the standard industrial facility.  This means that we paleo-ers don’t have to worry about the 20% increased risk of death associated with consumption of processed meats.

What about the 13% increased risk from the 1 serving of red meat a day?  I also don’t think this is a huge deal for paleo either for three main reasons.

Standard diet: Processed meat | Paleo diet: Grass-fed/Natural meat

The first is that we need to consider the rest of the diet the people in the study followed.  This study was massive and likely included individuals that ate anywhere from magnificently healthy veggie and lean meat filled diets to people who consumed primarily junk food and McDonalds and the like.  It would probably be safe to say that the majority of the individuals in this study ate somewhere in between the two extremes, and likely consumed a standard American diet, thus consuming many processed and sugary foods.  If you couple a moderately high sugar diet with daily consumption of red meat and a (likely) paltry amount of plants, it isn’t terribly surprising that you’d find a higher risk of disease.  Paleo is all about staying away from sugary processed foods, so I would say that it is highly likely that we aren’t like the average person in this study.

Standard diet: High sugar content drinks | Paleo diet: Water

The second reason is the paleo diet itself – nothing in paleo mentions the benefits of daily consumption of red meat.  Paleo embraces a variety of meats from animals that traverse the planet by land, sea and air.  Fish offer a magnificent amount of heart and brain healthy omega-3 fatty acids and are generally very lean.  Poultry offers a delicious lean option for meat, and red meat is delicious and offers a good dose of iron.  With so many critters to choose from, each with its own set of benefits, why would a paleo dieter limit him- or herself to primarily red meat?

The third reason is that paleo also embraces a whopping dose of vegetables and encourages the use of a variety of spices.  Meat can get stuck in the folds of our intestines (especially the colon), and vegetables, with their high fiber content, act as a brush of sorts – getting in all the crevices of your intestines and helping prevent diverticulitis.  Vegetables are high in all sorts of vitamins and minerals that keep poor-diet-exacerbated diseases at bay.  As for spices, a recent study found that adding a whole lot of spices to foods helps cut the levels of triglycerides by one third and drop insulin levels by about 20%, even in meals that are full of oily sauces and high in fat.

Combine all of these factors in the paleo diet – shunning of sugary processed foods and beverages, eating a variety of animals from land, sea and air, and complementing meals with large helpings of nutrient packed veggies and a variety of spices – and not only do we have nothing to worry about, but we should proudly embrace these studies.  Thank you Dr. Pan et al. for highlighting the dangers of processed foods and dietary tunnel vision when it comes to eating way too much of one food, in this case, red meat.