A review of large-scale studies involving more than 1.5 million people, calls out meat for its connection to a host of mortality causes, but is based on “weak correlation data,” said Betsy Booren, vice president of scientific affairs for the North American Meat Institute.
The review was conducted by physicians from Mayo Clinic in Arizona, and is titled, "Is Meat Killing Us?"
The authors analyzed six studies that evaluated the effects of meat and vegetarian diets on mortality with a goal of giving primary care physicians evidence-based guidance about whether they should discourage patients from eating meat. Their recommendation: Physicians should advise patients to limit animal products when possible and consume more plants than meat.
But, the study is “another example of taking weak correlation data from a few studies and trying to make a broader conclusion from it,” Booren said. “The authors do not provide any reasoning for why they chose the studies included in their analysis, and they left out studies that contradicted their findings. It is also unfortunate that the authors chose not to include extensive research on the nutrition and health benefits of meat as well as potential health deficiencies from vegetarian diets, which the same authors documented in another paper.