Beef's role in a healthy diet

Abstract Text:

Although red meat has long been established as a tremendous source of essential nutrients, its posed contributions to heart disease, obesity, and various cancers have resulted in growing criticism of its role in the diet. This widespread criticism and posited associations to negative health outcomes have fostered an overall decrease in the consumption of red meats in the U.S. over the past several decades. Although this decrease hasn’t resulted in overt and direct improvements to human health, its absence has highlighted the vital nutritional role of lean, red meat in the diet. Concurrently, the entirety of the meat industry has steadfastly pursued investigating—and further, communicating—the nutritional profile and health value of red meats. A noteworthy example of efforts to demonstrate the nutritional advancement of red meats has been the remarkable progress on reducing the total available fat in consumed red meat products. Through targeted efforts in animal husbandry and processing innovation, the meat industry has reduced the total fat available from red meats by up to 70% in the past three decades. Furthermore, multiple industry efforts have addressed concerns regarding the fatty acid profile of red meats by demonstrating the relatively high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids and the cardiovascular neutrality of certain saturated fatty acids (i.e. stearic acid) in red meats. Likewise, although the value of red meat proteins has been long established, recent investigations of their role in weight loss and weight maintenance have highlighted their beneficial contributions to the diet and long-term health. Similarly, the exclusion of red meats in certain dietary patterns has been demonstrated to exacerbate iron deficiency and sarcopenia. Overall, the totality of data regarding the nutritional profile of red meat suggests that criticisms of its inclusion in dietary recommendations are unwarranted. Instead, the body of evidence suggests that negative health outcomes are complex, yet the inclusion of lean, red meats in a balanced diet can promote health and well-being. 

Keywords: health, nutrition, red meat