Is Eating Red Meat Healthy?

Welcome to the positive corner of the internet. Every weekday, we make sense of the confusing world of wellness by analyzing the headlines, simplifying the latest research, and offering quick tips designed to make you healthier in less than 5 minutes. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free daily email here.

Today’s Health Upgrade

• An apple a day…keeps cancer away

• Hunger (reducing) games

• Study of the week: Red meat controversy

• Weekly wisdom

Health
An Apple A Day…Keeps Cancer Away

Before another person suggests that fruit isn’t healthy because it contains sugar, consider this:

New research indicates that eating more fruit could lower your risk of cancer.

The scientists used a sophisticated method called Mendelian randomization to analyze genetic data, offering a clearer picture of how fruit intake might influence cancer risk.

They used data from over 240,000 participants to determine if there was a direct relationship between eating fruit and preventing disease.

The researchers found that the risk of colorectal cancer decreased by approximately 12 percent for each additional serving of fruit per day. 

While more research is needed to understand the mechanisms at play, it might be as simple as fruits being loaded with nutrients. They are rich in fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants, all of which contribute to overall health and help reduce cancer risk. If you want to know your best options, other research suggests that citrus fruits, apples, watermelon, and kiwi are options linked to a lower risk of cancer. 

Training
Hunger (Reducing) Games

If you want to control your appetite, the type of workout you select could influence your hunger more than you imagine. 

Research suggests that full-body workouts are more effective at reducing hunger and helping you burn body fat. 

Yesterday, we shared that full-body workouts increase fat loss, but this study focused more on the relationship between exercise and diet. Researchers wanted to compare how appetite was affected by full-body resistance exercise (hitting all of your muscles) versus split-body resistance exercise (focusing on either upper body one day and lower body another day).

After their workouts, researchers measured participants' appetite levels, hunger hormones, lactate levels, and autonomic nervous system activity, which influences how you digest food and can influence appetite.

Participants who completed full-body resistance exercises reported significantly lower appetite levels and greater changes in appetite-regulating hormones, including higher lactate levels and greater autonomic nervous system activation.

The reason might be connected to the intensity and overall difficulty of full-body workouts that engage all your muscles. Prior research found that intense exercise increases lactate levels. While some people used to curse the “lactic acid” buildup as a reason why they got sore, lactic acid is actually a good thing that supports many of the positive benefits of exercise—including appetite suppression. 

It appears that the more lactate you produce, the more you lower ghrelin, which is the hormone that increases your appetite. 

In experiments on exercise intensity, moderate or lower intensity exercise did not affect appetite — and sometimes made people hungrier. However, when people performed intense exercise, they ate approximately 200 fewer calories per day. 

Add it all up, and full-body, intense workouts not only appear to make you eat less but—as we’ve pointed out—they also help you burn more calories and fat.

It’s a big reason why “The Foundation” in the Pump App is built around full-body routines. If you want to experience the workouts that have helped some people lose up to 100 pounds, gain strength and muscle, and build better habits, the Pump membership is on sale for just one more day. Start your free trial here, and join the village for as low as $6 per month

Study of the Week
A Red Meat Bait and Switch?

This week, many people are referencing a new study that appears to show eating red meat has no health risks. But we decided to take a closer look.

(Editor’s note: As someone who eats red meat, it’d be easy for me to celebrate this study…but our job is to provide an unbiased look at research and help you cut through the noise. We don’t care about being right; we want to get it right. -AB) 

Despite what many might want to believe, the research was not designed to determine the health benefits (or dangers) of red meat. The point of the research was to prove the effectiveness of a statistical model, and the study authors even pointed out that this research should not be used to interpret the health of red meat. 

If you want an accurate breakdown of why people interpreted the study incorrectly, check out this video. 

But that still leaves you wondering—is red meat healthy? The answer is complicated because some studies found it can be safe, while others suggest it increases disease risk.

It would be misleading to suggest that you must avoid all red meat in any amount. Red meat contains many vitamins and minerals and is a great protein source. However, higher consumption of red meat is also associated with higher LDL cholesterol (thanks to higher levels of saturated fat), which is linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular health issues and other diseases. 

If you want to eat red meat, your best bet is to be conscious of eating leaner cuts or opt for low-saturated fat options like Axis venison. More importantly, it’s wise to get bloodwork done to assess if your body's red meat consumption is well-tolerated (specifically look at LDL, triglycerides, and ApoB).

Even if you eat red meat, research suggests replacing some of it with fish, legumes, or nuts will improve health outcomes and decrease your likelihood of disease. 

Weekly Wisdom

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell