Once again we find ourselves faced with a terrifying study linking something we love to premature death. This time it’s red meat; a study in the US has linked the consumption of meaty goodness with heart disease and cancers.

The study, comprising of over 120,000 people over a 28-year period, has shown that each extra daily serving of processed red meat can raise mortality by a 20%, whilst unprocessed red meat didn’t come out much better at 13%. Broken down into specific causes, we’re looking at any kind of red meat causing the risk of death from heart disease to raise by 16%, and cancer by 10%. Scary.

Of course, the health experts have something to contribute, the World Cancer Research Fund for one advising us to completely avoid processed meat, and only consume red meat on rare occasions. Of course we all need protein, and so in its place the Fund suggests an exciting menu of chicken, fish and nuts.

I’m not disputing what can be done with these substitutes, as I’m sure even the most kitchen-phobic could rustle up something decent with enough time and a bit of help from Jamie or Gordon. However, its getting rather boring being told what not to eat. Its not the campaigns to end Britain’s shocking dependence on fast food that’s the problem, but the constant stream of health fads; cancer-causing and cancer-killing foods are splashed all over the media, the present red meat scare being the latest of many over the years. Yes, health scares make entertaining reading, and unfortunately it seems death sells, but is this the right way to look at life?

What was interesting was that as I read about the recent assault on sausage and steak, on the Guardian Word of Mouth site, another article cropped up on the sidebar. ‘Top five regrets of the dying’ (Yes, death does make good reading). The article was on a palliative nurse who had recorded the regrets of those nearing the end of their lives. As expected, the underlying theme was of not seizing the chance to be happy, not making the most of the little time we have.

The point is, instead of spending our lives censuring and abstaining in order to simply live longer, we should savor every moment in order to live happier. In the current climate it’s important to stress that this doesn’t mean living a life of obscene gluttony, as it’s pretty clear obesity doesn’t make anyone happy. This means everything in moderation; occasionally going for the bacon sarnie, the fillet steak, that bag of scratchings, and appreciating every last bit without the crippling guilt that these kind of food scares generate. Life is too short to live off chicken, fish and nuts. Go off and enjoy a sausage sandwich, because no one wants their dying regret to be ‘I wish I’d had more bangers and mash…’