Red meat increases stroke risk, study reveals

Researchers from Germany recently came out with a study regarding the link of red meat to a person's risk of stroke. Upon analysis on the data of about 11,000 middle-aged people who didn't have other risk factors for strokes such as diabetes or heart disease, they found out that this type of meat, indeed, increases the chances of stroke. And, the risk increases the more red meat people consume, they added.

In a study period covering a span of 23 years, results showed that those people who consumed the most red meat had a 47 percent higher risk of ischemic stroke, which is caused by blockages in blood vessels supplying the brain, compared to those who typically ate the smallest amount of red meat.

On the other hand, protein from poultry, seafood or vegetable sources like nuts and legumes wasn't associated with any added risk, Fox News reported.

"It's ok to eat red meat - preferably lean red meat - as long as you limit the amount," said lead study author Dr. Bernhard Haring of the Comprehensive Heart Failure Center at the University of Wurzburg in Germany.

Haring explained that, even though, there were some earlier research that linked high-protein diets to strokes, the results have been mixed and the current study helps solidify the evidence suggesting that red meat in particular may pose a danger.

"This study really tells us that what we eat matters for our future cardiovascular health," said Dr. Jennifer Dearborn-Tomazos, a neurology researcher at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

The study also corroborates the result of previous findings of a similar study from the researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Cleveland Clinic. They found out that frequently consuming red meat appears to increase the risk of stroke significantly. That time, though, they also added that eating poultry and other proteins, such as fish or nuts, lowers the risk, according to a news article from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

"The main message from this paper is that the type of protein or the protein package is really important for the risk of stroke," co-author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH.

The study published in Stroke online on Dec. 29, 2011 suggests that men who ate more than two red meat servings daily had a 28% higher stroke risk than those who ate about one-third of a serving each day. The researchers also found out that substituting other proteins, such as nuts or fish, for one daily serving of red meat reduced the risks of stroke.