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A lot of what we're learning is closely related to heart health. 

Your doctors have probably been telling you for years to limit red meat consumption to one or two times a week.  There's a lot of evidence that a diet high in red meat can affect things like colon cancer and heart disease. 

Now, in the American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers published the results of a study that examined the use of red meat and chicken as risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

This was a large study, involving almost 7,000 people in Australia.  They were 58-69 years old at the beginning of the study, when they started to report their food frequency.  They were all tested for AMD 8-10 years later, when they were 66-85 years old. 

People who ate red meat 10 times a week had a 47% higher risk for AMD than those who only ate red meat less than 5 times a week.  Remember that those are 10 "servings" of meat, which could easily add up if you are having meat for lunch and for dinner, or with your breakfast.

On the other end of the spectrum, people who ate chicken 3.5 times a week reduced their risk by 57% over those who only ate chicken 1.5 times a week. 

We already know that fish can reduce AMD risk, so this study supports a diet that favors chicken and fish over red meat. 

These findings need to be confirmed by more research, in different groups of people. 

"Red Meat and Chicken Consumption and Its Association With Age-related Macular Degeneration", Chong, et al, American Journal of Epidemiology 2009 169(7):867-876.