By Michelle Healy
USA Today
BETHESDA, Md. — People who eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of premature death from heart disease and cancer, National Cancer Institute research shows.
The large study of 545,000 American men and women, ages 50 to 71, bolsters evidence of the health risks of diets loaded with red meat such as hamburger and processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts.
Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger a day gave men in the study a 22% higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27% higher risk of dying of heart disease. That’s compared with those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces a week. Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20% higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50% higher risk of dying of heart disease, says the study in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine.
Full Story: Meat-heavy diet linked to early death