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.