Red meat benefits: are they different from white meats?

Question
Dear Sir/Madam,

I hope you are well.

My question relates to meat consumption. I eat white meat, mostly chicken. I also eat fish occassionaly. Now what I wanted to know is as I hardly every consume red meat like beef, lamb etc, is there something crucial I am missing from not eating red meat which I am not getting from the white meat? If the answer is yes could you please let me know what I can eat to compensate for it?

Thank you

Al

Answer
Dear Al,

White meat from chicken and fish contains similar amounts of protein as in red meat, but contains much less saturated fat and cholesterol. Higher red meat consumption seems to associate with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (1) and in that, red meat differs from fish and poultry (Nurses' Health Study, 2): consumption of poultry and fish was associated with a lower risk.

However, recently, these data's interpretation shed doubts on the causality of ill effects of red meat and the blame is now shifting from all red meats to processed meats in particular: unprocessed red meat was not significantly associated with risk for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes (3). The reason? These two kinds of red meat differ mainly in their content of preservatives, salt, nitrates and nitrites which were higher in processed meats. On the other hand, it was estimated (Nurses?Health Studies I and II) that substitutions of one serving of nuts, low-fat dairy, and whole grains per day for one serving of red meat per day were associated with a 16?5% lower risk of type 2 diabetes (4).

All in all, it looks like you miss nothing choosing white meat and, unless you have hemoglobin issue, you benefit from this substitution.

Sources

1. Gramenzi A, Gentile A, Fasoli M, Negri E, Parazzini F, La Vecchia C. Association between certain foods and risk of acute myocardial infarction in women. Br Med J 1990;300:771?.

2. Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Manson JE, et al. Dietary saturated fats and their food sources in relation to the risk of coronary heart disease in women. Am J Clin Nutr 1999;70:1001?.

3. Micha R, Wallace SK, Mozaffarian D. Red and processed meat consumption and risk of incident coronary heart disease, stroke, and diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Circulation. 2010;121:2271?283

4. Pan et al., Red meat consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes: 3 cohorts of US adults and an updated meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr October 2011 vol. 94 no. 4

= Tanya Zilberter

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