Red and processed meat consumption and risk of incident cardiovascular disease and mortality: Isfahan cohort study

Abstract

To investigate the cardiovascular risks associated with red and/or processed meat intake in a large population-based cohort study in Iran. A total of 5432 participants from the Isfahan Cohort Study (ICS) were enrolled. Diet was assessed using a validated, 48-item food frequency questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) for the CVD risk associated with red and processed meat intake. Median follow-up was 11.2 years. Compared to the first tertile, the highest tertile of red meat intake, either alone or in combination with processed meat was associated with a 50% reduced risk of stroke (95% CI: 0.31–0.77; 95% CI: 0.33–0.82, respectively), but increased risk of CVD mortality with corresponding HRs of 1.58 (95% CI: 1.06–2.35) and 1.47 (95% CI: 1.02–2.08), respectively. Red meat and red plus processed meat intake were inversely associated with stroke risk, but positively linked with CVD mortality.

Keywords:

• Meat
• cardiovascular disease
• coronary disease
• stroke
• death
• cohort studies

Acknowledgments

We greatly appreciate the help from Mrs. Mansoureh Boshtam with her assistance in data collection. We would like to express our thanks to the staff of the surveillance department that assisted us to find death records. The baseline survey was supported by grant number 31309304. The Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center, affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences funded the biannual follow-ups.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).