The aforementioned studies
1-13 suggest that perhaps complete avoidance of meat could be best for improved health. However, several of the cohorts in these reviews examined the effects of white meat separately and revealed opposing results. In a 2009 cohort study,
14 those who consumed the highest quintile of white meat had a statistically significant decrease in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 0.92 [95% CI, 0.88-0.96]) and cancer mortality (HR, 0.89 [95% CI, 0.83-0.95]) compared with the cohort of the lowest quintile of white meat. Another cohort showed no significant effect on all-cause mortality with daily poultry consumption and noted a J curve in which the lowest HR for all-cause mortality was in people with low to moderate red meat consumption (10.0-19.9 g/d) with an HR of 1.00 (set at reference) rather than no red meat (0-9.9 g/d) at an HR of 1.07 (95% CI, 1.01-1.13).
15 In a review
16 of 2 US cohort studies, a substitution analysis estimated the effect of replacing 1 serving of red meat with 1 serving of either fish, poultry, nuts, legumes, low-fat dairy products, or whole grains. It showed a statistically significant lower risk of all-cause mortality with every type of substitution.
16 In the 2014 meta-analysis, when stratified by sex, white meat was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality in women (RR, 0.95 [95% CI, 0.91-0.99]).
2 A pooled analysis of Asian cohorts revealed an inverse association with poultry intake for all-cause mortality in men and women (
P=.02 and .03, respectively) and cancer mortality in women (
P<.01).
17 In addition, all-cause and CVD mortality in women were inversely associated with seafood intake (
P=.05 and .04, respectively). The associations of different types of vegetarian diets with all-cause mortality in a cohort from the previously described review
6 found the most benefit in the pesco-vegetarian diet (HR, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.69-0.94]).
18