A new study recommends that men who eat lots of red meat are much more likely to have bowel issues, pain, and nausea than their mates who stick mainly eats chicken or fish.
Researchers studied for more than two decades of data on more than 46,000 men and found habitual red meat eaters were 58 percent more likely to have diverticulitis, a common bowel disorder that occurs when small pockets or bulges lining the intestines become chafed.
Meat Has No Fiber Content Thus It Will Lead Low Bowel Movement
"Earlier studies have shown that a high fiber diet is linked with a lower risk of diverticulitis, still, the role of other dietary factors in persuading risk of diverticulitis was not well considered," said senior study author Andrew Chan, a scholar at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
"Our statistics shows that diets in high red meat may relate to a higher hazard of diverticulitis," Chan added by email. Diverticulitis is common, developing in more than 200,000 hospital confinements each year in the U.S. at a cost of more than $2 billion, Chan and colleagues note in the journal Gut.
New cases are growing, and the exact causes are unfamiliar, although the condition has been linked to smoking, fatness, and the use of certain non-prescription anesthetics known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Researchers observed the data that was collected on men who were aged 40 to 75 when they joined the study in between of 1986 and 2012. Every four years' men were asked how often, typically, they ate red meat, poultry, and fish over the prior year.
They were given nine choices, ranging from 'never' or 'less than once a month,' to 'six or more times a day.' During the study period, 764 men cultivated diverticulitis.
Men who ate the meat were also most likely to smoke, more likely to often take NSAIDs, and less likely to eat fiber-rich foods or get intense exercise. Other factors that can influence the risk of diverticulitis, red meat was still linked with higher odds of developing the bowel disorder.
It's possible the higher cooking temperatures typically used to prepare natural meats may influence the structure of bacteria in the gut or inflammatory activity, though the exact reason for the amplified risk tied to these foods is unknown, the researchers note.
"Switching on a more plant-based diet, and higher fiber content diet that includes legumes, whole grains, nuts, vegetables and fruits, supplied with appropriate fluid intake, may go a long way in helping reduce of rabble-rousing bowel diseases, diverticulitis, and other chronic diseases," Heller added.
