According to findings from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), eating red meat may help overweight men to reduce dangerous tummy fat.
During the study, a diet high in protein, red meat and fibre was compared with one high in carbohydrate and fibre. More than 100 overweight and obese men participated in the study. Both diets were found to cause similar losses among the subjects, but the high protein diet was more effective at reducing abdominal fat levels.'Abdominal fat is a key risk factor for men for a range of diseases including colorectal and other cancers,' news.com.au quoted CSIRO dietitian Dr Manny Noakes as saying.
'The results also show that a range of indicators of bowel, kidney and bone health showed no difference between the high protein diet and the high carbohydrate diet,' the researcher added.
Independent nutritionist Rosemary Stanton, however, has warned that eating extra meat comes with its own risk, cancelling out the benefits.
She corroborated her proposition with released by the World Cancer Research Fund last month, which showed a higher incidence of many cancers, including colorectal cancer, with a high meat diet.
'You need to balance any short term effects on abdominal fat with the long term risk of increasing the risk of cancer. When you do that you have to wonder whether it's worth the risk,' she said.
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