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The reported links between red and/or processed meat consumption and negative health outcomes (e.g., increased cancer risk, increased mortality, etc.) are largely based on observational evidence. This 2015 review addresses a few of the consistent issues with this evidence.

“A group of 14 researchers just set off a firestorm with a new series of studies that upends years of nutrition advice about meat. Their five systematic reviews, published Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, suggest there’s no health reason to eat less red meat — not even the bacon and salami we’ve been told for years to cut back on. … But what’s really interesting about this new series is the argument that previously published guidelines have been, well, bad science.”

Coca-Cola and its proxies persistently attempt to influence science to shift the blame for obesity away from bad diets. One such proxy — founded by Coke and its loyal partner the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) — is Exercise is Medicine, an initiative designed to influence the medical establishment, cast doubt on the relationship between nutrition and obesity, and muzzle fitness trainers. To conceal this dubious history, ACSM claims it founded Exercise is Medicine with the American Medical Association, ignoring Coke's founding role. ACSM-affiliated scientists continue to repeat this false claim, despite CrossFit's repeated correction.

A new meta-analysis of large observational studies suggests reducing red or processed meat intake has little to no effect on mortality. Researchers used the GRADE methodology to evaluate 61 large cohort studies assessing the relationship between red and/or processed meat intake and cardiovascular or all-cause mortality. They found the evidence supporting any association between red and/or processed meat and cardiovascular or mortality outcomes to be of a consistently low quality and suggest that if reducing red and/or processed meat has any impact on mortality, the impact is very small.

This 2001 review analyzes the significance of a particular lipoprotein profile, hypertriglycermidemic hyperapoB, which is strongly correlated with diabetes and heart disease risk. The authors posit small, dense LDL particles increase diabetes and heart disease risk, and form as a consequence of insulin resistance. Accordingly, dietary and lifestyle factors that increase liver fat content and insulin resistance may increase heart disease risk, even if they do not impact total or LDL cholesterol.

A quick-and-dirty history of the ketogenic diet, from its origins in the treatment of epilepsy in the 1920s, through the 1970s when Robert Atkins published his first diet book, to its recent explosion into the mainstream via a motley assortment of controversial podcasters, bio-hackers, and cancer researchers.

This highly cited 1998 review links insulin resistance to increased heart disease risk. Dr. Scott Grundy, the review author, observed the “lipid triad” of high triglycerides, small LDL particles, and low HDL is common among those with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. These conditions may also be mechanistically linked. Insulin resistance leads to increased liver fat, which increases fat VLDL production — in other words, insulin resistance may directly cause the lipid triad.

In this talk at CrossFit’s 2017 Health Conference, Australian orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gary Fettke presents a history of the junk science behind prevailing nutrition guidelines. Fettke has come under attack for his critique of the mainstream: Because of his dietary recommendations (“low-carb, healthy fat”), Fettke was reported to Australia’s medical board. But “the message is too important to be silenced,” Fettke states. “I feel that the combination of fructose, refined carbohydrate, and polyunsaturated oils is toxic, inflammatory, and at the root cause of all disease that we look at.”