Has ANY study shown eating lots of meat is good for longevity and health? page 3

[paleo-bunny]

The longest lived are the Mediterraneans and South-East Asians who both eat a lot of fish and vegetables but not huge quantities of meat. The Mediterraneans who live the longest also eat a hell of a lot of dairy.

[Bosnic]

It's more about source of calories than how much meat you're eating. Animal fat > sugar.

[Neckhammer]

Please remember that Eating/nutrition is only one aspect of the puzzle. I sincerely believe that these areas promote longevity due to the social climate. They respect and find use for their elders. They are revered and NEEDED. Bottom line is I've met a LOT of 80 somethings that simply don't seem all that interested in continuing life. They have nothing to look forward to or any way to contribute. We marginalize our elderly population and tend to look at them quite differently than these Blue Zone populations do. Sardinia is the place I wanna be. Do they eat some breads? Sure, but its all probably traditional preparation with plenty of activity to burn it off. Eat some meat, have some wine, enjoy huge gathering with friends and family that continue to respect your contribution and wisdom well into your 100's? I think that'll do it.

[jammies]

Please remember that Eating/nutrition is only one aspect of the puzzle. I sincerely believe that these areas promote longevity due to the social climate. They respect and find use for their elders. They are revered and NEEDED. Bottom line is I've met a LOT of 80 somethings that simply don't seem all that interested in continuing life. They have nothing to look forward to or any way to contribute. We marginalize our elderly population and tend to look at them quite differently than these Blue Zone populations do. Sardinia is the place I wanna be. Do they eat some breads? Sure, but its all probably traditional preparation with plenty of activity to burn it off. Eat some meat, have some wine, enjoy huge gathering with friends and family that continue to respect your contribution and wisdom well into your 100's? I think that'll do it.

While I really like the sound of this, in my personal experience it doesn't hold true. I come from an enormous family and we really love, respect, and value our older family members. They participate actively in raising grand-children and great grandchildren, work, have social lives, and never go a day without visitors.

But many of them are is pretty poor health - although I guess they have all lived in to their late 70's or early 80's. So maybe have this social network contributes to longevity - but I don't think it can stop the health implications associated with poor diet, etc. At least not in my circle of friends and family.

[Neckhammer]

While I really like the sound of this, in my personal experience it doesn't hold true. I come from an enormous family and we really love, respect, and value our older family members. They participate actively in raising grand-children and great grandchildren, work, have social lives, and never go a day without visitors.

But many of them are is pretty poor health - although I guess they have all lived in to their late 70's or early 80's. So maybe have this social network contributes to longevity - but I don't think it can stop the health implications associated with poor diet, etc. At least not in my circle of friends and family.

That makes complete sense to me....I think the social structure is what gets a person from 80's to centurion status ONLY if they entered that stage of their life in pretty good health. I'm not discounting the nutritional aspect, just pointing out some additional components. Nutrition is HUGE, but spiritual and social well being (which these societies provide)....I just feel like its the missing link when your talking about hitting that next level.

[paleo-bunny]

I agree that longevity is not just about nutrition. However, the OP was specifically about meat and longevity hence other variables need to be isolated.

[bob loblaw]

It's Loma Linda, not Linda Loma. Anyway, the 7th Day Adventists probably have a low-stress lifestyle. I think stress is the biggest killer of them all, something we rarely put at the forefront even in paleo/primal discussions, although Mark really does try to.

I think it would be great to live like a Central Asian or Mongolian person. They live in such beautiful lands. Huge mountains. Portable dwellings. Everything so decorated. I've been to Nepal. The rural people were poor but so content. Their country-side so austere but so beautiful. I could totally be an ex-pat there, at least for a while.

Their way of life was hard, but honestly, I find our way of life to be hard, too. It's hard in a different way. I was complaining to someone the other day that I find all this planned obsolescence to be totally exhausting. I really want off the merry-go-round of it. As soon as you barely manage to learn how to use something it doesn't work anymore and you have to start again. As soon as you learn a new way to do web development, it's obsolete and you have to learn another new way. I've got a really good computer, but it's old. I don't want a new computer. The newer ones have less functionality than mine. I have lots of really old software that I would never be able to use again. It takes several days whenever I have to get a new computer just to get all the settings right and install all the freeware that I use. I don't want to do that at an ever-increasing pace. At some point, I'm going to step off the bus and let you young-uns try to keep up with the insanity. It brings me no real value to my life and once I no longer need it to earn a living, I'm outta here. But for now I have to deal with the stress and the expense. It makes folding up my yurt and riding my horse to the summer pastures sound ideal.

Interesting take.

Myself, I have no interest in living long-term like a Mongolian. I love my modern comforts and luckily my livelihood doesn't depend on technology, technology is more of a fun hobby for me.

My dream is a ranch in the mountains of Idaho. But I definitely want my Air Conditioning, my Central Heat, my Truck, and my computer with high speed internet.

I agree 100% about stress. Stress is an absolute killer, that is for sure. I also think lack of sleep is another one that kills millions prematurely, but few are willing to do anything about it.

[Owly]

Too many people focus only on Blue Zone peoples' diets and forget other aspects of their lives. They all live in strong, close-knit communities where elders are highly valued and treated as full members of the community even in very old age. One of the big factors in longevity is social connection and the care and support of people around you.

I think their food does play a role--mostly whole, fresh foods, prepared in traditional ways. None of these groups are eating a lot of junk, processed foods, or refined sugars. That plays a role right there, sure. But food is not the only factor in health.

Also, the Sardinians eat a fair bit of meat and seafood.

But really, a lot of paleo/primal folks don't eat massive quantities of meat. I might eat meat once or twice a day (and I include fish as meat). I tend to eat a lot of eggs, often 4-6 per day either as an egg dish or in other dishes, and I eat loads of vegetables and some dairy in the form of cheese or sometimes whey protein. As a 155 lb woman at about 20% bodyfat, to hit the 0.7g of protein per pound of lean mass per day, I need about 87g, which is quite easy eating an 8-10oz steak and 4 eggs per day plus incidentals like a bit of cheese--add a can of tuna or some leftover chicken at lunchtime and it starts to approach the 1g/lb mark, but I can meet my minimum eating meat just once a day. That's not what I'd define as a "high meat" diet.

[bob loblaw]

That makes complete sense to me....I think the social structure is what gets a person from 80's to centurion status ONLY if they entered that stage of their life in pretty good health. I'm not discounting the nutritional aspect, just pointing out some additional components. Nutrition is HUGE, but spiritual and social well being (which these societies provide)....I just feel like its the missing link when your talking about hitting that next level.

It's definitely the total package. In the book "Blue Zones", it talks about that.

Maybe nutrition adds a few years, low stress adds a few years, family adds a few years, activity adds a few years, genetics adds a few (and likely more) years. You add it all up, you see how some live to 100 while most make it to about 75.

[Owly]

Also, many of these communities don't have a huge influx of outsiders marrying into the culture, so genetics will play a role too.