In this Nature Medicine study, researchers reexamined data from 37 large population studies to assess whether eating unprocessed red meat is meaningfully linked to chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Unlike many earlier reviews, the authors did not assume that eating more red meat automatically leads to proportionally higher risk—a common assumption known as a linear dose–response, where risk is presumed to increase steadily with each additional serving.

When the researchers accounted for uncertainty, differences between studies, and the possibility that risk does not rise in a straight line, the associations between unprocessed red meat and most health outcomes were classified as weak or inconclusive. No clear association was found with stroke, and links to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes were inconsistent and highly uncertain across a wide range of intake levels. The study concludes that current evidence does not strongly support placing limits on unprocessed red meat consumption and highlights how prior claims relied on assumptions rather than solid, consistent data.