Laurie Endicott Thomas - Even Small Amounts of Any Animal-Source Foods Are Bad for You

A major study that has just been published in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows that eating a lot of red meat increases the risk of death, especially the risk of death from heart attacks and strokes and cancer. I'm glad that this message is getting out. However, I wish that people were told the whole story: Nutrition researchers have known since 1994 that eating even small amounts of any animal-based food increases the risk of death. There doesn't seem to be any safe level of intake. We know that from the China-Cornell-Oxford Project, a massive study that was undertaken in China starting in the 1970s. That study included some populations that were eating extremely small amounts of animal-based foods. It found that there didn't seem to be any "safe" level of intake of meat, eggs, fish, and dairy foods. 

Of course, people don't want to hear that they can't eat any meat. They want to hear that a little bit is okay. They especially want to hear that the foods they like can be part of a "healthy, balanced diet." Many people especially want to hear that they should dine on expensive seafood instead of eating cheap hot dogs. In reality, however, the scientific evidence has been showing for decades that eating any animal-source food poses a needless risk.

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