A study out from Imperial College London has revealed that those who continue eating meat often continue gaining weight.  Those who consumed more meat were more prone to gain weight compared to those who ate no meat but the same amount of calories.  The weight gain was also most closely tied to eating poultry, followed by processed meats and red meat.

The study followed 100,000 men and 270,000 women in 10 European countries.  Over a 5 year followup, they found that for every additional 250 grams of meat a person ate daily, their 5-year weight gain would be 4.4 pounds greater.  4.4 pounds isn’t a great deal of weight – but consider the benefits of cutting back on meat consumption. Those who reduced their meat intake by the same amount (250 grams) lost the same amount of weight as the gainers, around 4 pounds.

A few random interesting facts: Danes, Germans, Spaniards and Swedes were the biggest carnivores, with the Greeks eating the least meat.  Meat consumption in the United States has been steadily rising since World War II, with only one slight regression in the 70s.

Maybe you don’t care about gaining those 4.4 pounds ever 5 years or so, but consider the impact that meat-consumption makes on the planet.  If everyone ate a little less meat (say, indulging in Meatless Mondays), it could mean big wins for mother Earth. Researchers at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency believe reducing meat consumption around the planet could take $20 trillion dollars off the cost of fighting climate change.  Twenty TRILLION dollars.

Photo: Broiler King