We all know that a vegetarian diet is associated with better health and longer life, whereas a diet with lots of meat, especially red meat, is linked to shorter lifespans and diseases like cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases.
Is red meat really that bad for your health? The truth is that there are really no studies done that will prove that consumption of red meat directly causes the diseases mentioned above. Results of studies just seem to suggest that red meat consumption may contribute to the likelihood of acquiring diseases.
So, what is in red meat that makes it look bad? Red meat contains a lot of heme iron, which is quite different from the kind of iron that is found in plants. The strongly absorbed iron content of red meat is linked to the increased risk of diabetes. Red meat also contains saturated fat, which is thought to cause different forms of cancer. Grilled red meat also produces carcinogens.
But meat has been part of the human diet for thousands of years. If the human race has lived with it for thousands of years, probably it is not as bad as how it is made to appear in some studies. Red meat is a good source of phosphorus, protein, iron, zinc, selenium, magnesium, and B vitamins, especially B1, B3, B6, and B12. Vitamins and minerals in red meat also are absorbed easily by the body. Although red meat contains carcinogens, it also has conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, which helps reduce the risk of cancer. Our body also needs important nutrients that only can be sourced from meat. As to the cholesterol and saturated fat in red meat, it could be good for our health because our bodies need some cholesterol and saturated fat. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Composition Handbook states that every day a body needs 1,500 to 2,000 mg of cholesterol and 8.7 grams of fat, which we can get from 3 ounces of red meat.
I guess the bottom line here is that red meat is not harmful if it is part of a balanced diet. Moderate amounts of red meat in your diet are not bad for your health. Just do not consume it in excess because it will surely be bad for you.
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This is an interesting post. I eat and enjoy red meat. In fact my body feels better with meat in my diet in spite of some of the fear mongering from the medical world. One of the things meat lovers can do to get healthier mest is eat grass fed beef, especially cattle that have been feeding recently on spring grasses. It is also important to avoid beef that have been given hormones and antibiotics. Two of the big nutritional differences are content of CLA (much higher in geass fed) and the omega 6:3 ratios. Grass fed beef have ratios very close to fish. grain fed are way out of wack, as high as 20:1 vs .2:1 grain vs grass. The last point is that vegetarianism has many benefits but there are some definite dangers they have to fight. I would be happy to share references and studies with anyone interested.
I do not feel like red meat is a threat at all to human health ( unless you got hit in the head from a piece of red meat that was thrown from the empire state building ).I have read enough about the healthiness of meat and saturated fats that I am no longer afraid. I do try to eat grassfed meat for the very reasons that Bob shared. I especially eat red meat for its richness in magnesium and B6, which work synergistically with each other. Thanks for this post.