Enjoy a Juicy Steak and Forget About the Hotdog at Next BBQ

Summertime barbeques may need a menu adjustment according to a new study. Hot Dogs and other processed meats have been directly linked to heart disease and diabetes. Not to worry, hamburgers and steaks are getting a temporary free pass and many experts are no longer urging people to avoid red meat, for now.

Processed meats are packed full of nitrates during the preservation process. Regardless if the meat was smoked, cured or salted, the nitrates involved with those processes increased a person’s risk of developing heart disease by 42 percent. The risk of developing diabetes jumped up 19 percent. Although processed and unprocessed meat have the same amount of cholesterol and saturated fats, the unprocessed meat was not found to be a direct cause of heart disease.

Doctors have recommended a person reduce the amount of red meat in their diet because of the elevated risk of heart disease, when, in fact, it is the deli counter that should have been avoided. The latest research indicates a single hot dog every day is enough to raise a person’s risk of heart disease. One hot dog is equal to about 2 ounces of processed meat. However, a 4 ounce serving of unprocessed meat was not found to have any direct effect on a person’s risk of heart disease.

The study used results from 20 previous studies that included  more than 1 million people in 10 different countries. Renata Micha of the Harvard School of Public Health led the study. The results of this study have been published in the journal Circulation.