Cut the cold cuts and eat red

While fresh red meat may not be quite the villain it once was, national health groups still say people should limit its consumption.

The health risks

Numerous studies have linked both unprocessed and processed red meats with fatal heart disease and cancers. 

Among them:

Last year, Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, published a study that said high red meat intake, two servings a day, increases the risk of coronary heart disease. That risk can drop 20-30 percent when other sources of protein — nuts, fish and poultry — are chosen instead.

In 2009, the National Institutes of Health and AARP studied more than 545,000 people and found that men who ate the most, about four ounces of red meat and 1.5 ounces of processed meat daily, had a 31 percent higher death rate than those who ate the least.

An especially damning report for processed meat came out last year. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed 20 studies that examined the link between processed meats and cancer or heart disease deaths. Researchers concluded that eating 1.8 ounces of processed meats per day was associated with a 42 percent higher risk of heart disease, but they didn’t find an increased risk from eating unprocessed beef, pork or lamb. The report also said those who regularly ate processed meats had a 19 percent higher risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, but unprocessed red meats were not associated with an increased risk.

And another report from scientists who analyzed about 1,000 studies on colorectal cancer concluded recently that both red and processed meat increased colorectal cancer risk. The report for the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research’s Continuous Update Project also indicated that consuming processed meats, ounce for ounce, increased the cancer risk twice as much as consuming fresh red meat.

Researchers involved with these studies have indicated that more study is called for to explain why processed meats, including bacon, ham, smoked meats, pepperoni and cold cuts, appear to have higher health risks. But different theories have emerged blaming higher levels of sodium, nitrate/nitrite preservatives and chemicals used to add smoky flavors to meats.

Meat eaters

Despite all this, some die-hard fans of red meat and nutritional experts swear by its value and strength-building properties, especially for the athletic types.

Jeff Browning, 39, is a successful ultramarathoner in Central Oregon who says up to 40 percent of his diet comes from protein, mostly meat and eggs. He eats a lot of red meat, and, “I eat all the fat,” he said.

But he knows better than to eat cured meats very often. “We don’t buy processed meats at all for home. I do buy a cold cut sandwich occasionally in a pinch.”

Growing up on a farm in Missouri, Browning was raised on fresh beef, venison and veggies from the garden. In his early independent years, he started eating more fast and processed foods. He married a vegetarian, and generally dropped meat from his diet.

“She thought it was healthy,” he said. “My opinion: It’s not sustainable.”

In his late 20s, Browning got into serious running. He was not recovering well after long runs, and he was losing weight. And after his first son was born in 2002, his wife, Jennifer,  wanted to breast feed, but she was dropping weight and feeling weak. After many different nutritional attempts to improve their strength, they eventually discovered the Weston A. Price diet and began eating meat, fats, vegetables, minimal grains and nothing processed.

Just months later, they were both stronger and healthier, Browning said.

Now, when they eat pizza and bagels, he feels sluggish and she gets migraines.

After a long run or a race, “I’m craving red meat!” Browning said.

“Meat is building,” he said. “We have canines (teeth) for a reason.”

Protein needs

Kelly Harrington, a registered dietitian in Bend who specializes in sports performance, says her message to a guy like Browning is: “Keep eating what you’re eating,” even though it’s more protein than the average person needs. Typically, she said, protein should be 15 to 20 percent of an athletic man’s diet.

Harrington said there are different protein needs between men and women, and between athletes and nonathletes.

People who are breaking down muscle tissue in their sport need protein to rebuild it. A distance runner doesn’t need as much as a body builder, Harrington said. But a football player in the off season, who might be doing some heavy weightlifting, might want to eat more protein.

The general recommended daily allowance for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight, for most adults. Generally, the average man needs 56 grams of protein a day, and the average woman needs 46 grams of protein a day, although pregnant and lactating women need more.

An endurance- or strength-training athlete should eat 1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein daily per kilogram of body weight, or about 0.75 grams per pound of body weight, for ideal performance and health, Harrington said. For a 150-pound person, that’s 112 grams.

A six-ounce steak has about 50 grams of protein.

Animal products are the best source of a complete protein, she said.

“I think protein needs can be met on a vegetarian diet, but it’s much harder and a person needs to know what they’re doing,” she said.

Beans are not a complete protein source — they have an incomplete sequence of amino acids — unless paired with rice, corn or another grain, said dietitian and chef Garrett Berdan.

“There’s nothing wrong with eating red meat. It is a source of high-quality protein that an active body can use to repair muscles and structural tissues,” he said. “It’s important that, like with all other foods, it is consumed moderately as part of a varied diet. You don’t have to ditch the steak, you might just want to include other lean proteins, including beans, on the weekly menu.”

From a health perspective, he advises choosing lean cuts of red meat over prime, fatty, marbled red meats. That means at the store, choose the meat with fewer veins of visible fat. Bison and elk are other great sources of lean protein, he said.

Ultimately, he said, based on his unscientific research, “Red meat just tastes good. It’s got great flavor. And really, a fatty, nicely marbled steak is going to be especially good. But even a nice lean flank steak has wonderful flavor.”