cm0002Feb 11, 2025

New study links red meat to faster cognitive decline

https://lemmy.world/post/25444265

New study links red meat to faster cognitive decline - Lemmy.World

> N=133,000 over 40 year time period > > Observational study so limitations may apply but the findings do hold after adjusting for a large list of factors I will quote here: > > > educational attainments, family history of dementia, menopausal status with hormone use status, total energy intake, regular antidepressant drug use, history of depression, BMI, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, neighborhood SES [socioeconomic status], marital status, living arrangement, smoking status, histories of hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia and intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and legumes, low-fat dairy products, high-fat dairy products, and alcohol

Show threadpsudFeb 12, 2025

Using the nurses study data. A food frequency questionnaire

Do you remember what you ate for lunch Monday? How about 5 years ago? That’s what a food frequency questionnaire asks. This one counts a McDonald’s big Mac meal with a bucket of coke as “red meat”

Garbage in/garbage out

Show threadheisenbug4242
Well, a big mac contains a beef burger, which is actually processed meat, which is known to increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s.
Feb 13, 2025 at 9:20amWeb
Show threadpsudFeb 13, 2025

Known, thanks to the nurses study which doesn’t control for healthy user bias, doesn’t collect enough information to know whether the was meat in that burger

It may have been fish burgers

It may have been impossible burgers

It may have been vegeburgers

It may have been a large double whopper meal

Also it’s not “known” it’s correlated

Show threadheisenbug4242Feb 13, 2025

If you want sources, here are some. Wikipedia: “Medical health organizations advise people to limit processed meat consumption as it increases risk of some forms of cancer,[5][6][7][8] cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.”

Studies:

( The middle one is a meta-analysis study. )

Not sure why I get downvoted except for people disagreeing, but I’m not saying anything out of the ordinary here?

American Cancer Society guideline for diet and physical activity for cancer prevention - PubMed

The American Cancer Society (ACS) publishes the Diet and Physical Activity Guideline to serve as a foundation for its communication, policy, and community strategies and, ultimately, to affect dietary and physical activity patterns among Americans. This guideline is developed by a national panel of …

PubMed
Show threadpsudFeb 13, 2025

The first one is based on epidemiological studies, correlation, not causation

The third one is comparing good diets to the standard American diet - high meat, high sugar. Since diabetes is a significant risk factor, don’t you think it might be the sugar?

Your middle one says among other things:

Inconsistencies might be due to differences by setting; most studies showing a positive association were conducted in North America23,51–54 or Europe,18,55

So it’s probably not the meat, it’s the things western people eat with their meat.

Why meat comes up as a risk? People who are taking care of their health and watching what they eat, exercising they follow guidelines and don’t eat much meat, but they also avoid pizza and avoid Coca-Cola, and avoid highly processed foods. The people who don’t take care of their health are eating all those things, and meat.

Show threadheisenbug4242Feb 14, 2025
I’m just saying this is scientific concensus. If you disagree about that, that’s understandable and we have to agree to disagree.
Show threadpsudFeb 14, 2025

Luckily we now have populations that eat only animal sourced food and populations who only eat plant foods

It’d be really good to get a prospective study comparing those groups, but in the last 20 years that there have been both of those, no one has compared either to the other. Both have been found to be better than the standard American diet, but just about anything is