According to a study recently published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism, eating a diet that is heavy in meat and dairy may be as harmful as having a steady smoking habit.
The study found that middle-aged people who had diets high in animal proteins from milk, meat, and cheese are more likely to die from cancer than someone who eats a low protein diet.
“There’s a misconception that because we all eat, understanding nutrition is simple. But the question is not whether a certain diet allows you to do well for three days, but can it help you survive to be 100?” study co-author Valter Longo, Edna M. Jones professor of biogerontology at the USC Davis School of Gerontology and director of the USC Longevity Institute in Los Angeles, said in a press release.
For the study, the researchers examined over 6,318 people over the age of 50. On average, about 16 percent of their total daily calories came from protein. Two-thirds of that amount was from animal protein.
The team divided the group into high, moderate and low-protein diet eaters. Protein could come from plant or animal sources. High-protein diets were made up of at least 20 percent protein. Moderate-protein eaters consumed 10 to 19 percent of their daily calories from protein. Low-protein diets consisted of less than 10 percent of daily calories from protein.
People who ate high-protein diets were 74 percent more likely to die before the end of the study than those who ate low-protein diets. Decreasing protein consumption from moderate to low levels reduced early mortality risk by 21 percent.
While the researchers stress that diets high in protein can be detrimental to middle-aged people, they encouraged people over the age of 65 to chow down on meat and cheese. The foods can make older people sturdier, and can make them less likely to develop diseases.
Evan Hopkins is a 24 year old writer operating out of Atlanta, GA. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys reading books, drinking coffee, and folk music.