Associations between meat type consumption pattern and incident cardiovascular disease: The ATTICA epidemiological cohort study (2002−2022)

Abstract

BackgroundMeat consumption has shown from detrimental to beneficial effects against cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence, mainly depending on the type of meat studied (i.e., red/white, processed/unprocessed) and quantity consumed. ObjectiveTo examine the associations between meat type consumption patterns and incident CVD among apparently healthy adults. DesignATTICA study was conducted in the greater metropolitan Athens area, Greece, during 2001–2002 studying adults free-of-CVD at baseline. Twenty-year follow-up was performed in n = 1988 participants (n = 718 incident cases). Meat consumption during the follow-up period was categorized as: never/rare meat consumption (i.e., <1 time/week), mostly red meat (i.e., compared to other types of meat or processed meat), mostly white meat, and mostly processed meat products (e.g., bacon, sausage). ResultsApproximately 38% of the participants reported rare or no consumption of any type of meat, 31% consumed mostly red meat, 19% mostly white meat and the remainder 12% mostly processed meat. In multivariate analysis, compared to never/rarely consuming any type of meat, consuming mostly processed meat [HR: 2.89, 95%CI: 1.05, 7.89], but not red meat [HR: 1.22, 95%CI: 0.81, 1.82], was positively associated with incident CVD during 20 years of follow-up, while consuming mostly white meat was inversely associated with incident CVD [HR: 0.35, 95%CI: 0.17, 0.71]. ConclusionsThe findings of this study suggest that the type of meat, irrespective of the frequency of consumption, plays a role in the risk of developing CVD. In clinical practice, emphasis should be placed on avoiding processed meat and replacing it with white unprocessed meat.