EATING RED MEAT, particularly processed varieties, significantly increases the risk of a premature death, according to new research.

Those who regularly eat red meat face a risk of developing heart disease or cancer – and the risk increases the more red meat is consumed, according to researchers involved in the large-scale US study.

Conversely, those choosing to replace red meat with poultry, fish or plant-based protein cut their mortality risk significantly.

Red meat has been identified as a cause of health problems in the past, however the data analysed by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston – involving 120,000 people, tracked for over 30 years – is the first to link it to increased chance of premature death.

Processed red meat posed even more significant health problems than unprocessed cuts, being shown to raise the risk of heart disease and cancer deaths by 21 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively.

“Any red meat you eat contributes to the risk,” said An Pan, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and lead author of the study. Pan said that, at the outset, the team has expected to find that only processed meat posed a health danger but found that both processed and unprocessed meats appeared to hasten death.

Researchers took into account known chronic disease risk factors – such as age, body weight, physical activity and family history – before drawing conclusions.

Although the reasons for the increase in mortality associated with red meat is not yet established, scientists believe it could be due to the iron and saturated fat content in beef, pork and lamb. The nitrates used to preserve meat, as well the chemicals created by high-temperature cooking, might also contribute.

Cutting red meat out of the diet and replacing it with other foods led to significant health benefits, according to the study:

• An equivalent serving of fish reduced mortality risk by 7 per cent
• Poultry reduced mortality risk by 14 per cent
• Legumes or low-fat dairy products lowered the risk by 10 per cent
• Whole grains  lowered the risk by 14 per cent
• Nuts reduced the risk by 19 per cent

Researchers concluded that halving red meat consumption could have prevented 9.3 per cent of deaths of men and 7.6 per cent of women taking part in the study.

The study is published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.