New Ted Meat Research

Scientists have found there is little evidence that eating red meat causes health problems. Ian Johnson, a nutritional expert at the UK’s Quadram Institute, welcomed the new findings, telling Reuters, “This study will, I hope, help to eliminate the incorrect impression… that some meat products are as carcinogenic as cigarette smoke, and to discourage dramatic media headlines claiming that ‘bacon is killing us’.”
The research, led by Dalhousie University and McMaster University in Canada, counters official guidance from the World Health Organization, which in 2015 labelled meat a carcinogenic.
The new paper was based on the research of an international team of specialists and published on this month in Annals of Internal Medicine. Bradley Johnston, associate professor at Dalhousie University, said, “Based on the research, we cannot say with any certainty that eating red or processed meat causes cancer, diabetes, or heart disease.”
The study’s author elaborated, “From 12 randomized controlled trials enrolling about 54,000 individuals, we did not find a statistically significant or an important association in the risk of heart disease, cancer, or diabetes for those that consumed less red or processed meat."
"In the meantime, the best we can do is understand the parameters of the evidence that we do have. While the precise downsides of bacon, for example, are unclear and possibly nonexistent, what is apparent is that we don’t really have enough evidence to consider it a bad food."
 

Some scientists have been pushing to stop meat consumption on the grounds that it is bad for one’s health, others have led with the angle that it must be reduced because of the so-called ‘climate emergency’.

Red Meat and Blood

While on the topic of blood pressure, it is interesting to know that the red fluid in red meat is not blood. Almost all blood is removed from meat during slaughter, for both red and white meat. A very small, trace amount of blood remains within the muscle tissue of meat from the store.

Red meats, such as beef, contain a good deal of water. Water mixed with a protein called myoglobin, makes up most of the red liquid. It  is a protein, that stores oxygen in muscle cells, very similar to hemoglobin, which stores oxygen in red blood cells. Most animals with a high amount of myoglobin are considered to be red meat, while animals with low levels of myoglobin, like most poultry are considered white meat.

Chickens and Turkeys are generally considered white meat, however due to the fact that both use their legs extensively, their leg muscles contain a significant amount of myoglobin which causes their meat to turn dark when cooked. This is why they have both white meat and dark meat.

Meat remains pinkish-red if it has been exposed to nitrites.  Packagers use this to artificially keep the meat looking pink, even after it has spoiled.  Consumers associate pink meat as fresh even though the pink color has little to do with the freshness of meat. Trust your nose, not your eyes.