The New York Times reported this week on a new comprehensive decade long study of more than 500,000 Americans that offered more evidence of what fitness professionals have been saying for years: our love of red meat has grave health consequences. The conclusion of this study was simple: people who ate more red and processed meat were likely to die sooner, mostly from heart disease and cancer, notably ovarian cancer, colon and prostate cancer.  

People who have questioned the link between cancer,  high blood pressure, strokes,and heart attacks and red meat have relied upon the fact that people that eat red meat are also engage in other high risk behaviors.  This is true.  Red meat eaters smoke, weigh more, eat more, eat less fruits, vegetables and fiber and hit the gym a lot less often.  But when the study controlled for the behavior correlation, they still found that red meat is correlated with cancer and heart disease even setting aside the covariant bad habits.

The answer for almost everyone is clear: eat less red meat.  Or get rid of it all together.