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Editor’s Correspondence | Oct 8, 2012

Additional Ways to Diminish the Deleterious Effects of Red Meat

Shlomit Gorelik, PhD; Joseph Kanner, PhD; Ron Kohen, PhD

[+] Author Affiliations

Authors Affiliations: Institute for Drug Research, School of Pharmacy, The Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel (Drs Gorelik and Kohen); and Department of Food Science, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel (Dr Kanner).

Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(18):1424-1425. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3638.

We read with great interest the article by Pan et al¹ discussing the results of 2 prospective cohort studies addressing the issue of red meat consumption and mortality. The authors found a positive correlation between red meat consumption and an increased risk in total cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality. They also proposed the substitution of other healthy protein sources to lower mortality risks due to CVD and cancer.

Red meat is a major source of protein and other micronutrients in large populations around the world; therefore, it would not be easy to replace it with other (maybe more expensive) dietary sources. We would like to stress that there might be additional ways to diminish the deleterious effects of red meat rather than avoiding it. Red meat might undergo enhanced lipid peroxidation in the stomach, which serves as an endogenous bioreactor^{2 – 3} ; this process leads to the massive production of lipid peroxidation end products (eg, organic peroxides, reactive aldehydes) that in turn, may gain access to the blood circulation. Many of these deleterious compounds are also carcinogens and strong oxidants and might contribute to development of CVD and cancer.

We have demonstrated that the coconsumption of red wine rich in polyphenols with red meat can significantly decrease the stomach oxidation process of the meat products and prevent the absorption of meat-derived aldehydes to the plasma.⁴ Recently, we also demonstrated that malondialdehyde, one of red meat–derived aldehydes, can interact with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in plasma and modify it and thus might enhance the production of atherosclerotic plaque. Coconsumption of meat either with plant derived-polyphenols (eg, red wine or coffee polyphenols) can prevent the appearance of malondialdehyde in plasma and LDL modification. Thus, we suggest that the harmful consequences of consumption of red meat products might be partially diminished by the simultaneously addition of polyphenols to red meat meals. Treatment with polyphenols of red meat during its preparation (eg, cooking and processing) may also significantly contribute to prevent the hazardous and deleterious effects of red meat products and might lower mortality due to CVD and cancer.