A new study says people who eat red meat have a far higher risk of premature death. The study reviewed more than 100,000 cases over 20 years, which really is just a tiny amount of data. Nonetheless, here’s the news from the LA Times:

…adding an extra daily serving of processed red meat, such as a hot dog or two slices of bacon, was linked to a 20% higher risk of death during the study.

You might be thinking the researchers are nuts, and you might be right.

Eating a serving of nuts instead of beef or pork was associated with a 19% lower risk of dying during the study.

Not much is said in the article about researcher bias or data integrity issues. This is their best effort at a disclaimer:

…there can be a lot of error in the way diet information is recorded in food frequency questionnaires, which ask subjects to remember past meals in sometimes grueling detail.

But Pan said the bottom line was that there was no amount of red meat that’s good for you.

With that out of the way the reporter then highlights the cost savings from reducing risk.

…a plant-based diet could help cut annual healthcare costs from chronic diseases in the U.S., which exceed $1 trillion. Shrinking the livestock industry could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halt the destruction of forests to create pastures, [UC San Francisco researcher and vegetarian diet advocate Dr. Dean Ornish] wrote.

No word yet on whether eating less bacon could have a far greater impact on healthcare costs than patching Windows faster.