Just in case you’ve been wondering what I’ve got against eating meat (and mind you, I have nothing against *people* who eat meat, just the meat itself), here’s yet another reference that might help explain why I recommend reducing or eliminating red meat from your diet:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090324/sc_nm/us_red_death_4

And I’m updating this post to add a better commentary on the study:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29840448/

A couple important findings to share here in case you’re in a hurry:

[As published in original study in the Archives of Internal Medicine:]

Women who ate large amounts of red meat had a 20 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 50 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease than women who ate less.

Over 10 years, eating the equivalent of a quarter-pound hamburger daily gave men in the study a 22 percent higher risk of dying of cancer and a 27 percent higher risk of dying of heart disease. That’s compared to those who ate the least red meat, just 5 ounces per week.

Bear in mind that in this latter link, the information is not perfectly presented (not that anything’s perfect!), and I’d never trust reps for the meat industry (including dieticians) to tell me the truth about how healthful it is or is not to consume meat. If you are looking for a great resource on why you should consider reducing your consumption of animal products as a whole, check out Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study, which is quite literally the most compelling book I’ve ever read about how different foods affect cancer cells and literally can turn cancer on and off like a key in some cases. Truly an eye-opener.