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Regards to all our listeners!

I'm Rob Logan, Ph.D. senior staff National Library of Medicine substituting this week for Donald Lindberg, M.D, the Director of the U.S. National of Medicine.

Here is what's new this week in MedlinePlus.

To listen to Dr. Lindberg's comments, click here

The study, which features a cohort of about 322,000 men and 223,000 women (who answered questionnaires about food intake and health for a decade), suggests the consumption of red meat is independently associated with mortality.

The findings (recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine) also suggest overall deaths, deaths from cancer, and cardiovascular diseases decline when adults eat less white meat (such as poultry, turkey, and canned tuna).

The study is based on the Diet and Health study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and AARP (formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons), which occurred between 1995-2005. An accompanying editorial in the Archives of Internal Medicine notes the large number of participants who voluntarily filled out surveys about their diet and health makes the study one of the most comprehensive ever – and adds new evidence that underscores medical counsel for adults to curb red and processed meat consumption.

The findings that associated eating red and processed meats with overall deaths, cancer deaths, and cardiovascular deaths occurred even after controlling for other health issues including:

• body mass
• smoking history
• physical activity
• alcohol consumption
• vitamin intake
• eating fruits and vegetables
• and menopausal hormone therapy among women participants.

To put this another way, the study provides a fresh context that the intake of otherwise beneficial foods and vitamins may not offset the health impacts of red and processed meats. In addition, the association between red and processed meats and mortality seems to occur in spite of other questionable health habits, such as smoking, overweight, and little physical activity.

Incidentally, about 70,000 of the original sample of more than one half million adults died during the ten year study.

The researchers defined red meat broadly including: beef and pork, ham, hotdogs, liver, and meats in foods such as pizza, chili, lasagna, and stew. Processed meats included: bacon, red meat sausage, poultry sausage, cold cuts, and luncheon meats.

It should be noted that mortality rates comparatively declined among the participants who less frequently ate red and processed meats. Nevertheless, overall and disease-specific mortality rates (regardless of frequency) still were significantly higher among red and processed meat eaters.

The study's five authors (who are from the National Cancer Institute) reported some mixed findings. They suggest a need to better understand some complex interactions, such as the comparative mortality risks among meat eaters who do not smoke their entire life – and associations among specific types of red and processed meats and mortality rates from other diseases.

In providing some perspective about the overall findings, the authors explain the increase in mortality might stem from issues, such as the saturated fats within meats – and the possibility that some carcinogens are released during cooking meat at high temperatures.

In the aforementioned editorial that accompanies the study, the author notes the research does not suggest all Americans should become vegans. Rather, the study suggests a need for adults to reduce the intake of meats and saturated fats.

The editorial also notes the findings suggest physicians should provide more public health leadership by encouraging Americans to eat a healthier diet.

Regardless if you are just starting to change dietary habits, or consider yourself a veteran, there are a variety of helpful resources about diet and health on MedlinePlus.gov's nutrition health topic page.

These web-based resources include the 'healthy eating pyramid' provided by the Harvard University School of Public Health. The latter website offers straightforward tips about diet and provides the type of leadership and direction encouraged by the authors of the current study and editorial.

You can find the link to the 'healthy eating pyramid' website in the 'overviews' section of MedlinePlus.gov's nutrition health topic page.

The page also contains links to the latest nutrition news, related issues (such as information about soy foods, whole grains, and food portions) , health check tools that help you count calories, and some of the latest pertinent nutrition and health research. There are links to MedlinePlus.gov's other health and nutrition related health topic pages that cover issues such as diets, food safety, child nutrition, and nutrition for seniors.

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It was nice to be with you….

Dr. Lindberg returns in the future.

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