Red meat consumption and healthy ageing: A review

According to World Health Organization older individuals is the fastest growing age-group around the globe, thanks to the tremendous improvements in medical and pharmaceutical therapies, as well as in quality of life. Unfortunately, this raise in life span is accompanied by significant increase in disease burden, and consequent economical costs. Lifestyle modifications and effective prevention strategies have shown considerable benefits as regards the development of age-oriented chronic diseases. Among lifestyle factors, nutrition is a key component for achieving good health. Nevertheless, this parameter has insufficiently been investigated in older people. This is a rather important scientific gap, considering the westernization of nutritional habits observed the last few decades, with high red meat consumption and its processed products being an indispensable part. Moreover, its adverse impact in cardiovascular disease and cancer has been extensively investigated, while in recent literature, interest has been remarkably oriented towards its subtypes (i.e., fresh and processed); however, outcomes as regards the older population are controversial with a variety of them proposing moderation of red meat mainly the processed type, whilst others recognizing fresh red meat, especially the lean type, an important source of high quality protein so as to manage muscle tissue loss, a common implication of advanced-age discount. The aim of the present review was to present an overview of studies which have investigated the association between red meat and its subtypes, with chronic diseases, in middle and advanced age individuals.