Changing your meat-eating habits could mean a longer life: study

PanARMENIAN.Net - Mounting evidence continues to suggest that eating too much red meat -- such as bacon and hot dogs -- is linked with health problems, CNN reports.

A new study finds that changes in your red-meat-eating habits can be tied to your risk of early death. An increase in red meat consumption of at least half a serving per day was linked with a 10% higher risk of early death in the study, published in the medical journal BMJ on Wednesday.

Replacing red meat with other protein sources may help you live longer, the study found.

"The data suggest that replacing red meat with other protein sources, such as poultry, fish, nuts, legumes and whole grains and even vegetables, can reduce the risk of premature death," said Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology and chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who was senior author of the study.

"What we found is that increasing the consumption of red meat is associated with higher mortality risk, and the risk is particularly high for people who increased their consumption of processed red meat," he said.