Amer Heart Assn Sued for Promoting Meat As Heart Healthy

Detail of 2018.02.04 Checking American Heart Association Heart-Check for Grocery Store Foods 3121
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The Amer. Heart Assn is being sued for its “Heart-Check” certification mark on certain meat products. For a fee, AHA allows companies to display the AHA mark on certain meat products and market them as “heart healthy.” This is counter to AHA’s prior warnings about meat and misleads the public about the health effects of consuming meat. Recently a peer-reviewed journal published on behalf of AHA stated “higher meat intake [is] associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease [ASCVD].” This is consistent with AHA’s past recognition of the negative effects of red meat. In 2021, for example, the AHA stated that “in general, red meats (such as beef, pork, and lamb) have more saturated fat” than other protein sources and that “saturated fats can raise your blood cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease.”