The media is once again sensationalizing Meat Phobia.
The results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study published in BMC Medicine suggest that men and women with a high consumption of processed meat are at increased risk of early death, in particular due to cardiovascular diseases but also to cancer. The association did not appear to exist for what was defined as unprocessed red meat and poultry consumption.
The authors tried to consider other confounders like activity, smoking, alcohol and total food intake. They note that those eating processed meats tended to partake in many other unhealthy lifestyle behaviors.
Maybe this study should have been labeled as a comparison between processed vs. unprocessed foods, but then that would not attract much attention!
