Monday, March 23, 2009

Eat red meat - go blind?


Probably not.

Much as you might think that I only like to criticize red meat (for things like increasing the risk of cancers and death and such), here's a study that doesn't worry me too much.

It was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and it details a cohort study of 6,734 people aged between 58 and 69 and compared their incidence of age related macular degeneration (ARMD - a condition that can lead to central blindness) versus their consumption of red meat and chicken.

The findings?

People who ate more red meat were more likely to develop ARMD.

So why am I not concerned?

Because the group at risk was the group that reported red meat consumption greater than 10 times weekly.

10 times a week?

Who eats red meat 10 times a week?

You think maybe the folks who eat red meat at least 10 times weekly might in fact have some rather unique lifestyles that in turn may be responsible for the finding?

Cause and effect are tough things to suss out of a cohort study.