Associations between meat consumption and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in middle-aged and older adults with frailty

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the associations between different types of meat consumption and mortality risk among people with frailty.

DESIGN: Longitudinal study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: We included 19,913 physically frail participants from the UK Biobank.

MEASUREMENTS: We used the validated brief food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to measure meat consumption. Baseline diet data from 2006 to 2010 were collected, and participants were followed up until March 23, 2021. Cox proportional hazards regression models were conducted to examine the associations of meat consumption with mortality risk.

RESULTS: We identified 3,622 all-cause deaths, 1,453 cancer deaths, and 1,663 cardiovascular deaths during a median follow-up time of 11.2 years. Higher consumption of unprocessed poultry (per 25 g/day increment) was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.75-0.88), cancer mortality (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.74-0.96), and cardiovascular mortality (HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.63-0.81). Consumption of unprocessed red meat had a U-shaped relationship with mortality. Moderate consumption of unprocessed red meat 1.0-1.9 times/week was associated with a 14% (95% CI: 3 %-24%) lower risk of all-cause mortality than the lowest consumption frequency group (0-0.9 times/week). The hazard of cancer and CV mortality was also lower in the 1.0-1.9 times/week group, though the associations were not statistically significant. More frequent consumption of processed meat was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.07-1.34) and cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.02-1.42). Fish consumption was not associated with all types of mortality.

CONCLUSIONS: Higher consumption of processed meat, not fish, was associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. In contrast, higher consumption of unprocessed poultry and moderate consumption of unprocessed red meat was associated with reduced all-cause, cancer, and cardiovascular mortality. These findings warrant further investigation to establish optimal dietary patterns for frail individuals.