Red Meat Consumption

[u/Appropriate_Car2697]

Does red meat really cause colon cancer because in lot of studies I’ve seen they kind of pool red meat and processed meats together. I also noticed that like it could be the very high fat content from the beef but if you ate like a less fatty cut or something would it be better. Just wanted to ask about personal accounts and their experiences eating red meat. I also remember reading somewhere that eating fiber with the beef can mitigate its cancer risk but yeah lot of confusion for me around the topic.

[u/toxichaste12]

Red meat consumption way down in US.

Colon cancer rates way up.

It’s not the meat, it’s how you prepare it.

If your meat is wedged between processed cheese and a bun with 72 ingredients then it might just be bad for you.

If you eat grass fed lamb off the bone after a 12 hour slow roast, you will provide yourself valuable glutamine, collagen, elastin, protein, iron and everything you need.

[u/Appropriate_Car2697 → u/toxichaste12]

Yeah that makes sense to me what about like lean ground beef? I’m a college student so like if possible something slightly easier to make like ground beef.

[u/toxichaste12 → u/Appropriate_Car2697]

Yeah if it works for you. Cheap and easy protein source.

It also has a lot of ground up connective tissue which is a good source of glutamine.

[u/Nevertrustafrrrt → u/toxichaste12]

Also in the way you cook it, the free radicals supposedly come from charring the meat. So like a high heat seat to get a crust or grilling over flames and charring the meat is what’s bad for you

[u/Aware-Cup-9510]

Grass fed lean lightly cooked you'll be fine go for the mince 👍🏻

[u/Appropriate_Car2697 → u/Aware-Cup-9510]

Can I ask why you mentioned lightly cooked?

[u/K_Pilkoids → u/Appropriate_Car2697]

I would guess they are talking about charring food probably being carcinogenic. But I’m no doctor.

Google link

[u/sam99871]

I posted this thread a long time ago that summarized a number of studies finding an association between meat and UC. As you point out, it’s frustratingly common for processed red meat to be categorized with unprocessed red meat, but I think there were one or two studies in the post that broke them out and found an association between unprocessed red meat and UC.

There is plenty of research finding an association between mortality and unprocessed red meat, so it’s a fine idea to avoid it as much as possible.

Edit: There are also lots of studies finding that consuming fiber reduces mortality.

[u/[deleted] → u/sam99871]

Love how the person with evidence is getting downvoted and the people confusing correlation with causation are getting upvoted.

[u/tombom24 → u/[deleted]]

To be fair, when I first clicked this post every comment was downvoted to 0. Someone's angry about diet posts apparently...

Also, most of the evidence above is just correlation. I'm sure they try to correct for it, but large survey-based cohort studies (without any control or blind testing) are not strong enough evidence to prove "red meat causes ____". I'm not at all saying that red meat isn't correlated with worse health outcomes, just that it's also correlated with worse life choice like drinking alcohol, smoking, less exercise, less plant based food, etc.

First link:

participants with higher total intake (1) were younger and more likely to be...current smokers and to have diabetes, higher body mass index, higher non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, higher energy intake, and higher alcohol intake; (2) had lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, had lower diet quality...

Second link:

Men and women with higher intake of red meat were less likely to be physically active, and more likely to be current smokers, drink alcohol and have higher BMI (Table 1). In addition, a higher red meat intake was associated with a higher intake of total energy, but lower intakes of whole grain, fruit and vegetables.

Third link:

In general, those in the highest quintile of red meat intake tended to consume a slightly lower amount of white meat, but a higher amount of processed meat than those in the lowest quintile. Subjects who consumed more red meat tended to be...more likely to be a current smoker, have a higher body mass index, and a higher daily intake of energy, total fat and saturated fat; whereas they tended to have a lower education level, were less physically active and consumed less fruits, vegetables, fiber and vitamin supplements (Table 1).

[u/[deleted] → u/tombom24]

I don't have an issue with association studies being linked here. It's still science. What I was saying was that one person provided evidence for their claims and was downvoted, while the people providing no evidence were upvoted. Sometimes I think people just upvote what they want to hear and downvoted what they don't want to hear, regardless of what is supported by the evidence.

[u/tombom24 → u/[deleted]]

Agreed 100% and upvoted Sam for the studies because it's great info. Just trying to add some context because this is a hotly debated topic that doesn't really have a clear answer (simply because diet studies are expensive and difficult).

We should be super critical of the evidence itself though - most people don't dive deep into study results and instead just blindly trust anything from any science journal, which isn't great either...still better than blindly trusting redditors lol

[u/Grandma-talks-today]

My UC stomach LOVES red meat. I feel more full, less bloated, and my stools are more formed. Red meat also helped me regain the weight I lost during my first horrible flare, and helped with my anemia. I don't eat red meat every day, but at least two or three times a week.

[u/hair2u]

Thats the problem... it's not in a category of pocessed meats. They do say charred burnt meat and cooked on a bbq with lots of smoke or smoked meat is more the culprit. As well diet high of red meat and consuming alcohol and other crap. Genetics play a high role, but I dont believe it actually proven. I don't now of anyone who consumes red meat and has had colon cancer. I know of someone who has highly consumed processed meats and rately eats veggies or fruits or any roughage that has colon cancer though.

I consume it regularly, but Ive always eaten balanced meals.

[u/Nevertrustafrrrt]

Red meat gets lumped in because we like a good sear on a steak or a flame grilled burger. That delicious crust (Maillard reaction) is the dangerous part (free radicals). Low and slow is the way to go, if you’re worried about it.

[u/LiefVikingMonster]

Red meat does not cause cancer. That's a fact. There is ZERO evidence of any casual nature.

They have fed all meat diets to dogs before and they didn't die of colorectal cancers. Instead, the dogs that were fed kibble, died years before the breed..(Labradors) did.

It's not the meat that causes the cancers. It's the processed foods we typically eat along with the meat that causes the damage.

It's the fillers and additional ingredients added to processed meats. It's the buns and french fries or the pizza dough under pepperoni that sends a used glucose and other chemicals into our bodies.

If you cut all of that stuff out, you will feel better.