Eating Red Meat Daily Ups Risk Of Mortality

Carnivores, beware: New resesarch from the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that eating red meat every day dramatically increases the risk of mortality, including death from cancer and other diseases.

NPR reports that those who ate beef, lamb, or pork every day had a 13 percent increased risk of death compared to those who ate little to no meat. Unsurprisingly, processed meats raised the risk even higher, up to 20 percent increased risk of death. It's time to cut back — the National Institutes of Health estimate that Americans' red meat habit may account for up to 1.5 million deaths every decade.

However, there's a silver lining to the latest news; researchers say a vegetarian diet isn't necessary to  decrease risk. Eating chicken, fish, and legumes can decrease your risk of death by up to 14 percent. Study author Frank Hu recommends cutting back red meat to every other day, while the American Cancer Society stands by its position to eat it only two or three times per week.

Bacon lovers: It's best to eat it and other processed meats only once in a while. Although researchers can't quite determine why processed meats increase the risk (it's thought to be because nitrates turn into a carcinogen in the body), most agree it's best to limit consumption.