A response by Dr Richard Maurer

 Understanding basic sciences requires a strong bit of skepticism.  Never is this truer than in medicine, where old myths tend to stick like glue and old egos want to be right despite the evidence against them. 

 This brings me to the recent headline this March, “Eating Meat Ups Risk of Cardiovascular and Cancer Mortality.”  The ridiculous study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, had to include people who ate the most processed meat products to show statistical significance of harm.  And the photo that WebMD attached to the article was that of unprocessed red meat.   I was not surprised to see Dr. Dean Ornish listed as one of the proponents of the study, a man who has a vested interest in defending his oft misguided vegetarian agenda in the treatment and prevention of heart disease.  The coverage of the study is a scientific step backwards, since it was clear for years that unprocessed red meat does not come with cancer and heart disease risk.  What would have been more helpful is to elicit what occurs when meats are processed that cause so much harm.

The Skinny on Saturated Fat:

In March of 2010, Heartwire published the recent findings from a study by Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, “A recent meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studiesshowing that there was no significant evidence that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased riskof coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease”.  [Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, epidemiologist; Co-Director of the Program in Cardiovascular (CV) Epidemiology (www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/cvdepi/); Assistant Professor in CV Medicine, BWH and Harvard Medical School; and Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard SPH.]  The health benefit of dietary saturated fat intake was vindicated.

 The Beef on Red Meat:

By May of that same year, in the journal Circulation, Dr. Mozaffarian, along with a team of researchers looked further toward the commonly quoted myth about the harmful effect of eating red meat.  The researchers looked at the compiled data from nearly 1,600 studies and were startled to find that even though the health risks of red meat seem well-established, the evidence is actually mixed.  “More surprising, we found that all of the studies had either looked at total red meats or processed red meats, but very few of the studies had looked at unprocessed red meats separately.”

 So, the researchers took to separating the processed meat eaters from the non-processed meat eaters.  They found that unprocessed red meats are not associated with heart disease or diabetes. But the researchers also found that the consequence of eating processed meats is dramatic: a 42 percent higher risk of heart disease and almost a 20 percent higher risk of diabetes.

 The reason for the detrimental effect of processed meat is not clear.  Is it the artificial preservatives?  The excessive use of sodium?  Some chemical compound (think pink slime)?  Oxidation of the essential fatty acids due to excess handling/processing?

 There is universal acceptance about the harms from dietary processed oils and trans fats.  And excess sugar intake is clearly linked to cardiovascular disease.  Let’s let go of the saturated fat and red meat moral good-bad argument.  In the Fatback Diet we can be healthy and confident eating a diet that allows whole unprocessed meats, fish, whole dairy and whole eggs, is rich in vegetables, and provides a combination of nutrient-rich saturated animal fats, raw nuts and seeds and olive oil.

 Bon appétit,               ,

Dr. Maurer