Research

Mixed

Unprocessed red meat consumption is not significantly associated with the incidence of coronary heart disease or type 2 diabetes mellitus.

You do not need to eliminate unprocessed red meat (beef, lamb, pork) from your diet to avoid heart disease or diabetes, based on this analysis. The significant risks are specifically linked to processed meats.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Red meat intake was not associated with CHD (n=4 studies; relative risk per 100-g serving per day=1.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.81 to 1.23; P for heterogeneity=0.36) or diabetes mellitus (n=5; relative risk=1.16; 95% confidence interval, 0.92 to 1.46; P=0.25).
Renata Micha et al. · Circulation · 2010

Why this rating

Based on a systematic review and meta-analysis of 20 studies.

Source

Red and Processed Meat Consumption and Risk of Incident Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes Mellitus

Renata Micha et al. · Circulation · 2010

DOI 10.1161/circulationaha.109.924977

Meta-analysis · 20 studiesCited 1,254×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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