Departments of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave, Bldg 2-319, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
BMC Med. 2013 May 23;11:136. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-11-136.
Dietary guidelines emphasize selecting lean (low-fat) meats to reduce saturated fat and cholesterol, but growing evidence suggests that health effects may relate to other ingredients, such as sodium, heme iron, or L-carnitine. Understanding how meats influence health, and on which nutrients this relationship depends, is essential to advise consumer choices, set guidelines, and inform food reformulations. A recent study published in BMC Medicine involving 448,568 participants in 10 European countries, provides important evidence in this regard. After multivariate adjustment, intake of unprocessed red meat was not significantly associated with total or cause-specific mortality; conversely, intake of processed meat was associated with a 30% higher rate of cardiovascular disease (CVD) (per 50 g/day, relative risk 1.30, 95% confidence interval 1.17 to 1.45) and also higher cancer mortality. These findings are consistent with our previous meta-analysis, based on smaller studies, showing strong associations of processed meats, but not unprocessed meats, with CVD. Preservatives are the notable difference; the calculated blood-pressure effects of sodium differences (around 400% higher in processed meats) explain most of the observed higher risk. Although unprocessed red meats seem to be relatively neutral for CVD, healthier choices are available, including fish, nuts, legumes, fruits, and vegetables. Public-health guidance should prioritize avoidance of processed meats, including the low-fat deli meats currently marketed as healthy choices, and the food industry should substantially reduce sodium and other preservatives in processed meats.See related research article here http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/63.
饮食指南强调选择瘦肉（低脂）肉类以减少饱和脂肪和胆固醇，但越来越多的证据表明，健康影响可能与其他成分有关，例如钠、血红素铁或左旋肉碱。了解肉类如何影响健康，以及这种关系取决于哪些营养素，对于为消费者提供选择建议、制定指南和告知食品配方改革至关重要。最近发表在《BMC 医学》上的一项涉及 10 个欧洲国家的 448568 名参与者的研究提供了这方面的重要证据。在进行多变量调整后，未加工的红肉摄入量与总死亡率或特定原因死亡率没有显著相关性；相反，加工肉类的摄入量与心血管疾病（CVD）的发病率增加 30%（每天 50 克，相对风险 1.30，95%置信区间 1.17 至 1.45）有关，癌症死亡率也更高。这些发现与我们之前基于较小研究的荟萃分析一致，表明加工肉类与 CVD 之间存在强烈关联，但未加工肉类则不然。防腐剂是显著的区别；钠差异（加工肉类中的钠含量高出约 400%）计算出的血压影响解释了观察到的更高风险的大部分原因。尽管未加工的红肉似乎对 CVD 相对中性，但有更健康的选择，包括鱼类、坚果、豆类、水果和蔬菜。公共卫生指南应优先避免食用加工肉类，包括目前作为健康选择销售的低脂熟食肉类，食品行业应在加工肉类中大幅减少钠和其他防腐剂。在此处查看相关研究文章 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/63。
