
There is no reason to cut back on red meat for health reasons, according to a controversial claim by a group of leading scientists.
Researchers in Canada, Spain and Poland have cast a shadow over eating advice adopted by health organisations around the world.
In a landmark paper, the academics analysed past studies of how eating meat affected the health of more than four million people.
They found no evidence that eating beef, pork and lamb could increase the rates of heart disease, cancer, stroke or type 2 diabetes – despite fears.
And the team also said they found nothing strong enough to signal that people should cut down on red meat, adding that the quality of evidence was too low for findings to be concerning.
Officials have for years tried to encourage diet changes – guidelines recommend people limit themselves to 70g of red meat a day – the equivalent of one lamb chop, one pork sausage, half a beef burger, or one-and-a-half rashers of bacon.
The medical community is torn over the research, describing it as ‘very good quality’ but hesitating to agree with telling people to cut back on meat.
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