Red Meat and Stroke

Red Meat and Stroke

According to a recent large Swedish study involving more than 30,000 women, eating red meat could increase women’s risk of stroke. There are many studies linking red meat consumption to increased risk of diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease and certain types of cancers. But there are very few studies that link red meat to increased risk of stroke.

Dr. Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and their team of researchers recruited 34,670 women, aged between 39 and 73 years old for the study.

All of the women were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at the beginning of the study, in 1997. During the 10 years of follow-up, 1,680 of the women had suffered a stroke.

When the researchers analysed the dietary information they found that those who ate at least 102 grams of red meat a day were 42% more likely to suffer a stroke compared to women who ate less than 25 grams of red meat daily. Those who ate 86 grams of red meat a day had a 22% greater risk of a stroke than the group eating the least amount of red meat.

There are potentially several mechanisms to explain the association between increased red meat intake and increased risk of stroke. The Swedish researchers suggest that it’s the high iron content contained in red meat that might accelerate the production of tissue-damaging free radicals that could be having an impact.