A new study that was released this year looks at the effect of both Animal and Plant protein on all-cause mortality as well as cancer and cardiovascular disease risk and the results are exactly what you would expect if you’ve been reading this blog for a while.
First let’s go over the methodology before we look at the results. This was a retrospective look at the NHANES surveys from 1988-1994. NHANES stands for National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and is a record of participants Medical History, Physical Measurements like Height, Weight, and Blood Pressure, Blood Labs like blood and urine samples, and a Dietary Intake survey. There are obvious problems with the dietary intake surveys because no one can really remember what they ate for the last year but at least this is something to look at. Then they combined all this with the mortality data through 2006. Why didn’t they go all the way through 2024? I have no idea but again. it’s something.
Animal Protein Might be Protective Against Cancer
After they crunched all these numbers what they came up with is that the usual intake of both animal and plant protein are not adversely correlated with all-cause mortality, cardiovascular risk, or cancer risk. Why is this important? Because you might remember one of the hot dietary advice trends from about a decade ago was protein was dangerous. In fact, I heard it said many times that if you wanted to live your longest life, the key was to limit protein.
The thought was protein taxed the kidneys, leeched calcium from bones making them weaker and more susceptible to breaks, and because it crowded out more nutrient dense foods like fruits and vegetables could cause malnutrition. In my mind it was one of those fun ideas that obviously came from vegans.
However, this study showed no adverse effects from either animal or plant proteins and actually showed a mild protective effect for animal protein on cancer. That’s right, eating meat could protect you from cancer. How about that!
An All Meat Diet Changed My Life
Just from a personal standpoint, as someone who used to believe all the “meat is bad” BS, I can’t tell you what a massive change it made in my health and weight when I started eating mostly meat. I firmly believe that no longer eating foods that raise my blood sugar has made not only my weight go down but my blood pressure and risk of both cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Watching my giant belly disappear as I changed my diet has been probably the most important thing to happen in my life and if I can give any piece of advice from anyone reading this who is struggling with their weight, switch to an all-meat diet for even a few weeks and watch what happens to your health!
