Eating red meat three times a week increases the risk of early death by 10 per cent, new research suggests.

However, little is known about how changes in the amount of red meat consumed can influence the risk of premature death.

To explore this further, a team of researchers from Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health in Massachusetts looked at the link between levels of red meat consumption over an eight year period with mortality during the subsequent eight years.

The researchers used data for 53,553 US registered female nurses, aged 30 to 55, from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and 27,916 US male health professionals, aged 40 to 75, from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS).

Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Show all 13 1 /13 Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Miley Cyrus The pop singer is a passionate animal rights advocate, telling Vanity Fair in 2019 that her diet also reflects her fashion choices: "I’m challenging the system more than ever. Choosing to live as a sustainable vegan activist means wearing more vintage (less waste; loving pieces for longer), playing with the newest eco-materials and technology, and making custom vegan pieces with some of my favorite designers." Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Alicia Silverstone The Clueless star went vegan shortly after wrapping the hit 1990s film and has been a passionate campaigner for animal rights since. Speaking in a video for Compassionate Meals in 2017, she said: "Knowing the truth about where our food comes from is just so disturbing to me. Once you see it, there’s no way to go back from that for me." Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Simon Cowell The music mogul revealed in a recent interview with The Sun that he decided to give up animal products earlier this year "on a whim", adding that he feels much better as a result. Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Venus Williams "I started for health reasons," Williams told Health in 2019. "I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and I wanted to maintain my performance on the court. Once I started I fell in love with the concept of fueling your body in the best way possible. Not only does it help me on the court, but I feel like I’m doing the right thing for me." Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Natalie Portman The American-Israeli actor decided to go vegan eight years ago after learning more about the environmental consequences of eating animal products. Speaking at an Environmental Media Awards benefit, 2017, she said: "Factory farming is responsible for most of the air, water, and land pollution - that disproportionately affects our poor communities as well. So we get to make decisions three times a day, what we do with our planet, and you can make a difference by even once a day or once a week choosing not to eat animals or animal products." AFP/Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Beyoncé While she chooses to refer to herself as plant-based as opposed to vegan, the 'Halo' singer underwent a 22-day vegan challenge with husband Jay-Z in 2013 and is believed to have maintained the diet ever since. Writing in the foreword of The Greenprint: Plant-Based Diet, Best Body, Better World by Marco Borges, the couple say: "We used to think of health as a diet – some worked for us, some didn’t. Once we looked at health as the truth, instead of a diet, it became a mission for us to share that truth and lifestyle with as many people as possible." Getty/Coachella Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman David Haye The British boxer extolled the virtues of veganism in an interview with The Daily Telegraph in 2016: "A lot of the meat that people eat has been genetically modified, or if it hasn’t then the food the animal’s been fed has been. That’s tough for a human being to process, so cutting it out made me feel immediately better and stronger than ever." Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Ariana Grande The 'Dangerous Woman' singer announced she was going vegan in November 2018. Speaking to The Daily Mirror in a recent interview, she explained: "A lot of the meat that people eat has been genetically modified, or if it hasn’t then the food the animal’s been fed has been. That’s tough for a human being to process, so cutting it out made me feel immediately better and stronger than ever." AFP/Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Ellie Goulding The British singer has been toying with veganism for a while, having been a vegetarian for seven years. Speaking to The Cut in 2018, she revealed that she will "never eat fish or meat again" and eats a predominantly vegan diet. Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Mike Tyson The former heavyweight boxing champion revealed he had become vegan in 2010. "I wish I was born this way," he told Fox News in 2011. "When you find out about the processed stuff you have been eating. I wonder why I was crazy all those years." Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Jessica Chastain The Zero Dark Thirty star decided to go vegan roughly 13 years ago because of low energy. Speaking to W Magazine in 2017, she clarified: "being vegan was not anything I ever wanted to be. I just really was listening to what my body was telling me." Getty Images Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Rooney Mara Mara has been vegan for eight years, telling Harper's Bazaar in 2018 "it’s better for your health and the environment.” Getty Celebrity Vegans: From Beyoncé to Natalie Portman Kim Kardashian Reality star Kim Kardashian West revealed that she has started eating a plant-based diet on Instagram in April 2019. Sharing two photographs of vegan dishes on her Instagram story, the 38-year-old wrote: “I am eating all plant-based when I am at home.” Getty

All of the participants were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at the start of the study.

Every four years the participants were asked to complete a questionnaire where they were asked how often they ate each food in the past year, ranging from “never or less than once per month” to “six or more times a day”.

During the study period, the total number of deaths from any cause reached 14,019 (8,426 women and 5,593 men). The leading causes were cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory disease and neurodegenerative disease.

After adjusting for age and other potentially influential factors, the researchers determined that eating both processed and unprocessed red meat 3.5 times a week or more over an eight year period was associated with a 10 per cent higher risk of death.

Similarly, increasing processed red meat intake, such as bacon and sausages, by 3.5 servings a week or more was associated with a 13 per cent higher risk of death, while increasing intake of unprocessed red meat was associated with a nine per cent higher risk.

The team also found that swapping red meat for healthier animal or plant-based alternatives was associated with a lower risk of death among both men and women.

For example, swapping out one serving per day of red meat for one serving of fish was linked to a 17 per cent lower risk of death.

As this was an observational study the authors point out some limitations, including that they did not look at the reasons for changes in red meat consumption which could have influenced the results.

However, they add that the data gathered covered a large number of people over a long follow-up period, with repeated assessment of diet and lifestyle factors, and consistent result.

The researchers say that the findings provide “a practical message to the general public of how dynamic changes in red consumption is associated with health”.

“A change in protein source or eating healthy plant-based foods such as vegetables or whole grains can improve longevity,” they write.

Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The study follows a call from University of Oxford researchers to implement a red meat tax on processed food like sausages and bacon.

In November 2018, the researchers claimed that raising the price of red meat by up to 80 per cent could prevent nearly 6,000 deaths a year and save the NHS more than £734m.