hi, i have a question about red meat intake.
in my daily diet, my proteins come uniquely from: ground beef, ground chicken, eggs, salmon (+ milk and whey).
however, ground beef is probably the main source, since i consume around 100 g every day. given the cancer risk associated with red meat consumption, would you suggest switching from beef to pork? it’s not clear to me if pork consumption is associated with the same health risk, if the pork is not processed. wasn’t pork “white meat”?
I don’t think there’s a significant difference in mortality or morbidity with pork vs. beef.
Pork being called “the other white meat” was a marketing thing back when dietary fat was being demonized.
Farmers started breeding pigs to be a lot leaner, and the meat in the loin ended up being a lighter color too.
Since chicken breast was seen as the healthiest option, the ad men saw an opportunity and they came up with the ‘other’ white meat.
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Anyway, its probably labelled as such, but generic ground pork, shoulder or leg/ham would likely be >20% fat cause even a lean pig is still pretty fluffy. But tenderloin, loin chops, lean or extra lean ground pork should be a straight substitute for beef.
From memory, the ‘risk’ stemmed from the nitrates in processed meat, in a WHO report, not the actual meat itself. And you would need to be eating a shit tonne of it. Regardless, social panic and bold type headlines ensued.
(Obviously, I’m on the payroll of JBS S.A…)
epidemiological studies suggest that the consumption of any kind of red meat is associated with an increased risk of cancer. now, you could argue that epidemiological studies are not terribly trustworthy… and you would be right. the mechanism that should lead to cancer, with respect to red meat consumption, is unknown, as opposed to nitrates, for which the biochemical mechanism is known.
so i myself am not terribly convinced that red meat could cause harm, but i want to play it safe until we have further information.