Processed Red Meat Increases Heart Failure and Early Death Risk in Men

Eating ham, salami and sausages might up heart disease and premature death risk in men, a new study has found.

According to researchers, eating processed red meat - even in moderate amounts, might increase risk of developing several health complications.

"Processed red meat commonly contains sodium, nitrates, phosphates and other food additives, and smoked and grilled meats also contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, all of which may contribute to the increased heart failure risk," said Alicja Wolk, D.M.Sc., senior author of the study and professor at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. "Unprocessed meat is free from food additives and usually has a lower amount of sodium."

 Data for the research came from The Cohort of Swedish Men study, which included 37,035 men aged between 45-79 years. None of the participants had heart failure, ischemic heart disease or cancer at the beginning of the research. The participants completed a questionnaire on food intake and lifestyle and were followed from 1998 to 2010.

During the study period, some 2,891 men were diagnosed with heart failure and 266 died from the condition.

Even after adjusting other factors, men who ate high amounts of processed red meat (75 grams a day or more) had a 28 percent increased risk of suffering a heart failure than those with low levels of red meat in their diet. Additionally, risk of death due to heart failure was two times higher in men who ate large amounts of red meat than others.

Researchers didn't find any increase in heart failure risk in men who ate unprocessed red meat.

The team said that they expect similar findings in a study conducted on women. Recent research has found a link between red meat and breast cancer risk.

Heart failure is when the heart cannot pump enough blood into the body. Health experts recommend people to swap red meat with healthy proteins such as fish, chicken or legumes.

"To reduce your risk of heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases, we suggest avoiding processed red meat in your diet, and limiting the amount of unprocessed red meat to one to two servings per week or less," said Joanna Kaluza, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Human Nutrition at Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland and lead author of the study. "Instead, eat a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grain products, nuts and increase your servings of fish."

The study is published in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure.