Q: I've heard that eating red meat causes heart disease, but surely you have to eat a lot of it to shorten your life?

A: Well, it depends on how much you consider a lot to be. The link you're referring to between red meat, processed meats and bad health came from research carried out over ten years on half a million middle-aged and elderly Americans. The study revealed that those eating 160g of this kind of meat each day increased their risk of contracting heart disease and cancer in the next ten years by 13 per cent.

To give this a sense of perspective, 160g is equivalent to a 6oz grilled rump steak each day or a combination of meats such as two rashers of grilled back bacon for breakfast (50g worth), a slice of ham in a sandwich at lunchtime (another 24g) and, for instance, some beef in a casserole, stew or stir fry (around 90g).

The scientists behind the study urged us to cut back on our meat intake. Experts suggest that if you eat meat twice a day, you should cut back to once a day, and that if you eat it once a day, to cut back to two or three times a week.

An important point to make here is that food surveys in the UK suggest that our average meat intakes are around 80g daily, which brings us, as a population, under this apparent “danger” zone of consumption. If you feel that you eat an above-average amount of red and processed meats, then you may want to make an effort to cut back. If you are enjoying normal quantities, however, you are probably fine to continue as you are and enjoy the odd bacon sandwich and Sunday roast.

Quite what it is in red and processed meats which may have been responsible for the results from the American study is unclear. Researchers can point to various potential culprits such as the saturated fat levels increasing bad, artery-clogging cholesterol. Or maybe it could be down to the fact that processed meats contain potentially carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines that may form in your stomach.

The best advice is probably to opt for the leanest cuts of read meat available and to be cafeful how many fatty sausages and burgers you consume.

It is also worth thinking about the way that you cook your meat. Grilling, frying and roasting all encourage the formation of so-called advanced glycogen end products, or AGEs for short, which have been linked to triggering inflammatory processes in our bodies including damage to blood vessels and raising blood pressure, both of which in theory could raise the risk of heart disease. Work on mice found that cutting the intake of AGEs by half increased their lifespans. Steaming, boiling and stewing meat are all methods of cooking that produce fewer AGEs and introduce less fat, which is a win-win combination.

Increase iron levels but avoid the fat

About 40 per cent of teenage girls and women in their early twenties in the UK fail to eat sufficient iron, a mineral that we need to prevent anaemia and to keep our energy and concentration levels up. Lean red meat gives us a highly absorbable form of iron that also helps the body to absorb iron from non-meat sources.

If you swap some meats for fish, opt for dark oily fish such as sardines, pilchards or mackerel, which provide iron and won't compromise your iron intake.

A 5oz steak has 8g of total fat, of which 3.8g is saturated and 3.4g is from the “good” monounsaturated fat.

A typical 100g sausage roll gives you 29g of fat, of which 11g is saturated.