Red meat, most typically beef, but also including some others such as pork in spite of its white color after cooking, has had a bad reputation in recent years. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) classifies red meat as probably carcinogenic to humans, but scientists caution against misreading of the news. Consumers should not rush to conclude that eating even a moderate amount of red meat is bad. In fact, unlike certain things some of us may intentionally or unintentionally consume, e.g. tabacco, or mercury, which have no safe low limit, red meat with a moderate intake is good to us because it is very rich in nutrition, especially protein.
Now, a new research, published in Nature has just found that red meat, as well as fairy products, can boost cancer therapies. More amazingly, the research even found benefit in trans-fat, which we have for quite some time regarded as a heinous villain against our health. On the other hand, reading this research, we must keep in mind that red meat is said to boost certain cancer treatments and the specific type of trans-fat is involved, but this definitely does not suggest we should eat a significant amount of red meat or even a small amount of trans-fat, because (1) this research is still new, and (2) the cancer treatments in this research are specific, at least for now. Nevertheless, this research is something we may keep an eye on because it sheds new light on our conventional wisdom.
