Introduction
Red meat, processed and unprocessed, is a favorable food staple of the people living in the Western countries including the US, Europe, Australia, and New/Zealand. In the US, it accounts for about 40% of the total daily red meat production [1]. Although there is a recent trend for decreased red meat consumption in the US, the trend is rising in the developing countries as their income is improving [2,3]. From a physiological point of view, red meat consumption has several nutritional benefits due to its content in protein, iron, zinc, folate, and vitamins A and B, but also has certain drawbacks due its high content in total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and saturated fatty acids [4], The latter ones have been responsible for the increased incidence of atherosclerotic heart disease (ASHD), coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), strokes, heart failure (HF), and all-cause mortality [5-10]. In contrast, consumption of white meat, like poultry and fish, and perhaps, pork are negatively associated with the incidence risk of CVD and all-cause mortality [11,12]. In addition, several studies have confirmed that lowering the serum LDL-C with treatment will decrease the incidence ASCVD as well as the incidence of primary and secondary CVD [13-17]. A recent analysis of alternative food preferences by the American people showed that about 2% of them consumed a vegetarian type diet for health reasons and these people were mostly educated with greater than high school education, and were mostly female, non smokers, and physically active [18]. In addition, there has been recently, an increased trend for a shift for plant-based meat and for vegetarian and vegan diets, even among athletes [19,20]. In order to get a better perspective on the current consumption of unprocessed and processed red meat and its association with CVD, CHD, stroke, HF, and all-cause mortality, a focused Medline search of the English language literature was conducted between 2010 and April 2020, using the terms, processed, red meat, unprocessed meat, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, all-cause mortality and 22 pertinent papers were retrieved. These papers together with collateral literature will be discussed in this review.