Red alert: Red meat packed with peril

In 1984, a fast-food chain ran a TV ad showing three gray-haired ladies staring at a large bun with a small serving of something — perhaps a pickle — where there should have been a hamburger. Then came the now-famous catchphrase, “Where’s the beef?”

Well, if you often eat fast foods, the answer is, “Coursing through and clogging up your cardiovascular system.”

When researchers looked at data on 88,000 women and 37,000 men from The Nurse’s Health Study (19802008) and Health Professional Study (1986-2008), they found that one serving of processed red meat increased your risk of dying by more than 20 percent over the next 20-26 years and caused more than a 20 percent increase in cardiovascular disease and a 16 percent increase in cancer!

Are you one of 47 percent of Americans with at least one of these risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol or smoking? Or one of the 28.1 million diagnosed with heart disease? Adopting the following Diet Plus four days a week and the standard Diet for the other three can save your life.

Diet Plus: No animal proteins, oils or sugar. Enjoy nuts, whole grains, legumes, veggies and fruit.

The Standard Diet: No red meats, added sugars or processed foods. Stick with healthy oils like olive and omega-3s. If you’re combating heart disease, limit healthy fats to around 10 percent of total calories.

Vitamin D delivers newly discovered benefits

Vitamin D has more power to protect your happiness, heart and lungs than was previously known.

A study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that people with D levels in the top 25 percent had a 4.3-fold greater amount of cardiorespiratory fitness than those in the bottom 25 percent! That’s because vitamin D helps provide muscles with more oxygen.

Here’s how to make sure you get enough D:

From supplements: Adults under age 65 should aim for 600-800 IU of D daily to avoid deficiency, but children 9 and older, pregnant and lactating women and older adults can take as much as 4,000 IU. Our advice: Generally, you can take 1,500 to 2,000 IU of D-2 or D-3 daily. Best bet? Get a blood test and then take supplements to attain a blood level of 50-80 ng/dl.

From food: Fatty fish, such as salmon and ocean trout, mushrooms and foods fortified with vitamin D are good sources.

Email questions for Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen to youdocsdaily@sharecare. com.