Heart failure risk: effects of red meat, processed red meat, (and enhanced red meat?).

Abstract

In this issue of Circulation: Heart Failure , Kaluza et al1 report the results from their prospective follow-up trial on 37 035 Swedish men, in which total and processed red meat consumption were associated with greater heart failure (HF) incidence and HF mortality during an ≈12-year follow-up. Compared with men consuming 0.5 servings/d of red meat (1 serving=75 g or 3 oz), those consuming 2.3 servings/d were 20% more likely to develop HF and 30% more likely to die from HF. This effect was largely attributed to processed red meat (eg, sausage and cold cuts); men consuming 1.2 servings/d of processed red meat were 28% more likely to develop HF and 43% more likely to die from HF compared with those consuming 0.2 servings/d. Although no association between unprocessed red meat consumption and HF risk was observed, this negative finding should be interpreted with caution because the difference between the groups with the highest and lowest consumption was <1 serving/d. The findings from Kaluza et al1 support those from a 20-year follow-up on 21 120 male physicians in the United States,2 in which men consuming 1.4 servings/d of total red meat had a 20% higher HF incidence than those consuming 0.2 servings/d. In addition, Nettleton et al3 observed a 27% increase in HF incidence for every 1 serving/d increase in red (mostly processed) meat consumption in 15 143 men and women in the United States; although this association became nonsignificant after accounting for hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and other factors, this is not entirely surprising, because these factors could be part of the mechanistic connection between red meat intake and HF. From a broader health perspective, it is notable that meta-analyses, each of which represents numerous studies, demonstrated that red meat consumption (especially processed red …