People who start eating more red meat – particularly processed meat such as burgers and cheap sausages – are more likely to die young, warns a new study.
But researchers found that cutting down on the amount of red meat eaten and replacing it with healthier animal or plant-based alternatives may lower the risk of an early death.
They discovered that swapping one serving per day of red meat in favour of one serving of fish per day over eight years was linked to a 17 per cent lower risk of dying in the following eight years.
The study, published in The BMJ, was the first of its kind to examine the association between changes in red meat intake and subsequent risk of mortality.
The findings showed that reducing red meat intake while increasing healthy protein sources – such as eggs and fish, whole grains and vegetables – over time may lower the risk of dying young.
High intake of red meats – such as beef, pork and lamb – has been previously linked with a higher risk of heart disease, certain types of cancers, type 2 diabetes, and premature death.
But little was known about how changes in red meat intake may influence risk of death.
A team of researchers based in the United States and China looked at the link between changes in red meat consumption over an eight year period with mortality during the next eight years, starting from 1986.
They used information from more than 53,500 US registered female nurses, aged 30 to 55, and over 27,900 US male health professionals, aged 40 to 75, who were free of heart disease and cancer at the start of the study.
Every four years the participants completed a food frequency questionnaire in which they were asked how often, on average, they ate each food of a standard portion size in the past year, ranging from "never or less than once per month" to "six or more times a day".
The participants were then divided into five categories based on their changes in red meat intake.
During the study period, the total number of deaths from any cause reached 14,019 with the leading causes being heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease and neurodegenerative disease.
The research team found that, after adjusting for age and other potentially influential factors, increasing total red meat intake – both processed and unprocessed – by 3.5 servings a week or more over an eight year period was associated with a 10 per cent higher risk of death in the next eight years.
And increasing processed red meat intake – such as bacon, hot dogs, sausages and salami – by 3.5 servings a week or more was associated with a 13 per cent higher risk of death, whereas increasing intake of unprocessed red meat was associated with a nine per cent higher risk.
Study author Professor Frank Hu, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the US, said that the associations were "largely consistent" across different age groups, levels of physical activity, dietary quality, smoking and alcohol consumption habits.
He said: "Overall, reducing red meat intake while eating more whole grains, vegetables, or other protein foods such as poultry without skin, eggs and fish, was associated with a lower risk of death among both men and women.
"For example, swapping out one serving per day of red meat for one serving of fish per day over eight years was linked to a 17 per cent lower risk of death in the subsequent eight years."
Prof Hu said that similar findings were seen in the shorter-term (four years) and longer-term (12 years) for the link between changes in red meat intake and mortality, and for replacing red meat with healthier food options.
The researchers emphasised that it was an observational study and, as such, can't establish cause.
But they said that the figures gathered covered a large number of people over a long follow-up period, with repeated assessment of diet and lifestyle factors, and consistent results between the two groups.
Dr Hu said the findings provide "a practical message to the general public of how dynamic changes in red consumption is associated with health."
He added: "A change in protein source or eating healthy plant based foods such as vegetables or whole grains can improve longevity."
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