Red meat consumption within high-quality diets may support mental health, study finds
medicalxpress.com
Red meat has long been associated with cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death globally. But new research from South Dakota State University offers a new perspective.
  • FancyManacles@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    2 hours ago

    Funding Sources: National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

    I’m sure the study was completely unbiased and trustworthy.

  • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
    2·
    2 hours ago

    I look forward to the rational dispassionate discussion of the paper in the comments.

    This article is [Opinion], based on unpublished [Epidemiology]

    Source Publication - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.106040

    abstract

    Objectives: Nutritionally balanced diets that are abundant in essential nutrients are consistently linked to better mental health. Red meat is a nutrient-dense source of protein, iron, zinc, and vit-B12; however, its associations with cardiovascular disease and cancer have contributed to negative public perceptions. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate whether red meat could be integrated into a high healthy-eating-index(HEI, >80 scores) diet to improve nutrient adequacy without impacting diet quality, mental health, or microbiota composition.

    Methods: This secondary analysis utilized data from the American Gut Project. Microbiota sequences were extracted and analyzed with QIIME2 on the high-performance computational cluster at South Dakota State University for taxonomic classification, diversity analysis, and microbiota community comparisons. A total of 4,915 adults were then stratified into four groups based on HEI scores and red meat consumption: high-HEI with red meat (HH-R), high-HEI without red meat (HH-NR), low-HEI with red meat (LH-R), and low-HEI without red meat (LH-NR).

    Results: Participants consuming high-HEI diets maintained healthy BMI values, regardless of red meat intake. Protein intake was significantly higher among individuals consuming red meat (77.58±26.84g in HH-R and 80.74±35.8g in LH-R) compared to individuals not consuming red meat (67.35±26.85g in HH-NR and 62.99±29.56g in LH-NR, p< 0.001), while carbohydrate intake was lower in red meat groups. Total fat and saturated fat intake in the HH-R was within recommended limits. The inclusion of red meat also improved micronutrient adequacy, with the red meat group showing higher selenium, vit-B12, zinc, calcium, vit-D3, and choline. Higher HEI scores, irrespective of red meat consumption showed lower odds of depression (log odds= -2.22), PTSD (log odds= -3.80), and bipolar disorder (log odds= -5.903). With gut microbiota, OTU richness and Shannon diversity, were highest in the HH-R and lowest in the LH-NR. B. caccae (FDR= 0.003) and C. hathewayi (FDR< 0.001) was higher in HH-R, while B. adolescentis and B. eggerthii was higher in HH-NR (FDR< 0.001).

    Conclusions: The inclusion of red meat in a high-HEI diet is associated with improved nutrient adequacy, mental health, and gut microbial diversity, with no observed adverse effects.

    Funding Sources: National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

    This fits into my current bias that red meat is not a problem, that carbohydrates and processed oils are problems associated with red meat consumption, this paper is accounting for that with the HEI (healthy eating index).

    The full paper is not available… yet, so nothing really to analyze. Articles like this really shouldn’t exist in the news… at least the author needs to read the real publication and not a abstract which is just opinion.