Health trends go in and out of fashion. One week of food will be considered healthy, and the next week will be verboten. But we all know that white meat is healthier than red. That has always been true. Now, a study has challenged that belief.
Researchers in Italy found that eating more than 300 grams of poultry a week may double the risk of death by gastrointestinal cancer, especially for men. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) says that 100 grams of poultry is a serving and that it’s healthy to eat it up to three times a week. Poultry covers all birds, from chicken and turkey to duck and goose to game birds you must go hunting for. Generally, poultry is lower in fat than other meat. However, the industrialization of processing birds has lowered their nutritional value, adding salt, fat, sugar and preservatives.
The study used medical and dietary info from 4,869 people. It looked at how much red and white meat people were eating. Researchers examined the cause of death of people who passed during the study. Eleven percent of the deaths were from gastrointestinal cancers. Eighteen percent of the deaths were from other cancers. The other causes of death were heart disease and dementia.
People who died from non-gastrointestinal cancers were more likely to be firmly red meat eaters, with 65 percent of their meat coming from beef, pork, lamb or horse. The people who died from gastrointestinal cancers were less likely to pick red meat. For that group, 56 percent of their meat was red, and they consumed the most poultry.
Death from any cause rose by 27 percent for people eating more than 300 grams of poultry a week. And men were at an even higher risk than women as it increased their risk by 61 percent.
Earlier research had recommended picking chicken or other poultry over red meat because it appeared to be safer for the heart. However, this research shows that the amount of meat a person eats plays a huge factor. The risk of gastrointestinal cancer and dying young was 27 percent higher for people who ate 300 grams of poultry versus people who ate 100 grams of poultry a week.
The researchers said more work is needed. Their study didn’t look at how the meat was prepared. They don’t know if the poultry was breaded, fried, drenched in a heavy sauce or grilled and placed on top of a salad. There could be factors that they are missing and other aspects that need to be considered.
