Red Meat Dose Equivalent

A Harvard Red Meat Study has been published.  More red meat means more risk of various ailments particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer.  One daily serving of processed red meat leads to a mortality risk increase of 20%, with unprocessed red meat leading to a mortality risk increase of 13%. 

We can derive a Red Meat Dose Equivalent (RMDE) for radiation.....

0.1 Sv is associated with a cancer risk increase of 1% (from BEIR VII).  But this is incidence, not mortality.  The mortality rate is typically half of incidence, or 0.5% (it really depends on the specific cancer).  So, 0.2 Sv leads to a mortality increase of about 1%.

And now we can determine RMDE's for any situation...let's look at the U.S. annual occupational exposure limit of 0.05 Sv.  A one time occurrence of receiving this dose leads to a direct increase in cancer mortality risk of .25% (.05/0.2 = 0.25).

This is a commensurate RMDE risk of increasing one's diet of processed red meat by about one daily serving every 80 days (20% /.25% = 80) or every 52 days for unprocessed red meat (13% / .25% = 52).

Or, if someone receives the dose limit for 20 years, his cancer mortality risk increase is 5% (20 x .25% = 5%).  This is an RMDE of eating a daily serving of processed red meat about 25% of the year for 20 years(5% /20% = 25%) or unprocessed red meat about 38% of the year (5% / 13% = 38%) for 20 years.

No need for RMDE here...the RIBS served here are vegetarian!