2024-07-06 12:13:55
(ANSA) – ROME, JULY 5 – Reducing consumption of processed meats such as hot dogs and sausages by about a third could prevent more than 350,000 cases of diabetes in the United States over a decade, according to a study published in Lancet Planetary Health.
Reducing processed meat intake by U.S. adults by 30 percent—the equivalent of about 10 slices of bacon a week—would also lead to tens of thousands of fewer cases of cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer, say researchers from the University of Edinburgh’s Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Experts have developed a simulation tool to estimate the health impacts of reducing consumption of processed meat and unprocessed red meat. The researchers used data from a national health survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create a simulated, representative sample of the U.S. adult population. This is the first simulation to estimate the effects of reducing consumption of processed meat and unprocessed red meat—from 5 to 100 percent—on multiple health outcomes in the United States. In addition to preventing more than 350,000 cases of diabetes, reducing processed meat intake by 30 percent would lead to 92,500 fewer cases of cardiovascular disease and 53,300 fewer cases of colorectal cancer over a decade.
The researchers also analyzed the impacts of reducing consumption of unprocessed red meat only and reducing consumption of both processed and unprocessed meat.
Reducing consumption of both by 30% led to 1,073,400 fewer cases of diabetes, 382,400 fewer cases of cardiovascular disease, and 84,400 fewer cases of colorectal cancer.
Reducing unprocessed red meat consumption by 30 percent alone—which would mean eating about one fewer beef patty a week—led to more than 732,000 fewer cases of diabetes. It also led to 291,500 fewer cases of cardiovascular disease and 32,200 fewer cases of colorectal cancer.
(ANSA).
2024-07-06 12:13:55