Processed meat, red meat, and poultry increase your risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Internal Medicine). Researchers followed meat, poultry, and fish intake for participants across six cohort studies and tracked coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart failure incidence rates and disease-related mortality. Two or more servings of processed meat, red meat, or poultry per week incrementally increased the risk for cardiovascular disease, compared with no consumption. Consumption of both processed meat and red meat increased the risk of death from heart disease. These results remained significant after adjusting for several covariates across study designs.
Zhong VW, Van Horn L, Greenland P et al. Associations of processed meat, unprocessed red meat, poultry, or fish intake with incident cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. JAMA Intern Med.