Red meat linked to heart damage—expert says it ‘seems sensible’ to limit intake

Eating larger amounts of red and processed meat is associated with significant heart damage, according to a new analysis of more than 19,000 people in the U.K.

The findings were presented virtually as part of ESC Preventive Cardiology 2021, an online scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology. The authors turned to findings from a variety of imaging techniques, including cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging, to reach their conclusions.

“Previous studies have shown links between greater red meat consumption and increased risk of heart attacks or dying from heart disease,” author Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, MD, of Queen Mary University of London, said in a prepared statement. “For the first time, we examined the relationships between meat consumption and imaging measures of heart health. This may help us to understand the mechanisms underlying the previously observed connections with cardiovascular disease.”