Red meat consumption may cause kidney failure

by Stepy — July 19, 2016

Red meat consumption may cause kidney failure

Red meat consumption may cause kidney failure, according to new research from Duke-NUS Medical School and the National University of Singapore.

Lamb, beef, and pork are considered red meat. While red meat is a great source of protein and can be included as part of a healthy diet, it must be consumed in moderation.

Last November, a study from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found that red meat increases the risk of kidney cancer significantly. The link between red meat and detrimental kidney health effects is already somewhat strong.

The new study abstract explained the following details:

Randomized controlled trials suggest that protein restriction may retard the progression of CKD toward ESRD. However, the effects of dietary protein intake level and the food sources of dietary protein on the risk of ESRD in the general population remain unclear. We investigated these effects in the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a prospective population-based cohort that recruited 63,257 Chinese adults aged 45–74 years from 1993 to 1998. We collected habitual diet information via a validated semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire and identified ESRD via record linkage with a nationwide registry. In all, 951 cases of ESRD occurred over a mean follow-up of 15.5 years. Regarding total protein intake, compared with the lowest quartile, the three higher quartiles combined had a hazard ratio for ESRD of 1.24 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.05 to 1.46), but the dose-dependent association across the quartiles was not statistically significant (P_trend=0.16). Red meat intake strongly associated with ESRD risk in a dose-dependent manner (hazard ratio for highest quartile versus lowest quartile,1.40 [95% CI, 1.15 to 1.71; P_trend<0.001]). Intake of poultry, fish, eggs, or dairy products did not associate with risk of ESRD. In substitution analysis, replacing one serving of red meat with other food sources of protein associated with a maximum relative risk reduction of 62.4% (95% CI, 33.1 to 78.9; P<0.01). Our study shows that red meat intake may increase the risk of ESRD in the general population and substituting alternative sources of protein may reduce the incidence of ESRD.

To simplify, participants in the study that ate the most red meat that the highest risk of developing end stage renal disease, which is a serious disease that requires kidney dialysis or transplant.

The study showing that red meat consumption may cause kidney failure was published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

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