As a bit of a foodie one of my favourite channels on TV is the Food Network, and very recently there’s a new programme that’s caught my eye. It’s called Meat & Potatoes (although not so much about the potatoes). The ex-chef and cattle rancher Rahm Fama presents the show and spends his time trawling all the best meat restaurants of the U.S. Now, I can tell you from my own experience that if you ever visit a steak house in the U.S. be warned, in fact, don’t eat for at least three days before you go. The portions are usually enormous (by European standards), the steaks are like door steps and are enough to feed your whole family for a week!

Well, there’s now some bad news for all you carnivores out there – those dreaded researchers have been at it again. They now claim that eating even small quantities of processed meat such as bacon, sausages or salami on a regular basis can increase the likelihood of dying early by a fifth, and eating steak increases the risk of early death by 12%. The study by the Harvard School of Medicine found that cutting the amount of red meat in peoples’ diets to 1.5 ounces (42 grams) a day, equivalent to one large steak a week, could prevent almost one in 10 early deaths in men and one in 13 in women.

In reality this is nothing new, because it’s apparently down to the amount of salt (in the case of processed meats) and saturated fats. Replacing red meat with poultry, fish or vegetables, whole grains and other healthy foods cut the risk of dying by up to one fifth – again, nothing new. Either way, it looks like the health police look set to terrorise meat-lovers into submission….. Sorry, I have to finish now, I’m just off to enjoy my Full English Breakfast!

As a bit of a foodie one of my favourite channels on TV is the Food Network, and very recently there’s a new programme that’s caught my eye. It’s called Meat & Potatoes (although not so much about the potatoes). The ex-chef and cattle rancher Rahm Fama presents the show and spends his time trawling all the best meat restaurants of the U.S. Now, I can tell you from my own experience that if you ever visit a steak house in the U.S. be warned, in fact, don’t eat for at least three days before you go. The portions are usually enormous (by European standards), the steaks are like door steps and are enough to feed your whole family for a week!

Well, there’s now some bad news for all you carnivores out there – those dreaded researchers have been at it again. They now claim that eating even small quantities of processed meat such as bacon, sausages or salami on a regular basis can increase the likelihood of dying early by a fifth, and eating steak increases the risk of early death by 12%. The study by the Harvard School of Medicine found that cutting the amount of red meat in peoples’ diets to 1.5 ounces (42 grams) a day, equivalent to one large steak a week, could prevent almost one in 10 early deaths in men and one in 13 in women.

In reality this is nothing new, because it’s apparently down to the amount of salt (in the case of processed meats) and saturated fats. Replacing red meat with poultry, fish or vegetables, whole grains and other healthy foods cut the risk of dying by up to one fifth – again, nothing new. Either way, it looks like the health police look set to terrorise meat-lovers into submission….. Sorry, I have to finish now, I’m just off to enjoy my Full English Breakfast!