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Originally Posted by EugeneOnegin
Once a week to me is fairly regular consumption. It's usually not the only meat a person eats, they're also eating chicken, shrimp, fish, etc.
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You can call it whatever you wish, but the studies on red meat are looking at consumption levels that are higher than once a week but still well within the range of normal eating patterns. Many people in the west consume one or more servings of red meat a day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EugeneOnegin
Many of these factors are adjusted for, but not all. The highest red meat eaters overwhelmingly tend to lead very unhealthy lives all around.
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If a study tracks a particular variable, the researchers will control for the variable to see if it makes a difference. Its the variables that the researchers don't track that are the problem.... But, as I said, you're always going to have confounding variables in human nutritional studies.
I'm not sure why you're listing a few studies, but human nutritional studies will always have different results due to the above. That is, the studies always have confounding variables and often they aren't the same variables......so voila differences in the studies. This is why you have to look at the studies collectively. If 10 studies show a positive relationship between red meat and heart disease and 4 studies are neutral, this taken together is a strong indication that red meat is a factor in heart disease. Of course, people that already have their mind set will use the 4 neutral studies to try to "debunk" the 10 studies....but that isn't how science works. This is, by the way, largely what Taubes does.....but why would one expect an engineer turned Journalist to have a good understanding of science?
I find the grass fed vs grain fed thing to be largely obfuscatory, you see similar results in Australia where all beef is grass fed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EugeneOnegin
As far as the Mediterranean diet, do you know of any studies comparing it to other diets generally considered healthy? I'm not aware of any, and it's not for lack of looking. I've seen a few studies where it outperformed certain low-fat diets but that's about it.
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There aren't many serious studies on the "Mediterranean diet" because its largely about marketing particular products. The studies are typically funded by the olive, etc industry.
Almost always, when I study looks at a "low-fat" diet it really does no such thing. The "low-fat" group in the study always ends up eating way more fat than they should.
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