Did You Know Red Meat Isn’t Bad For You?

Red meat has been the blame for bad health for decades now. Apparently, eating a mammal’s nutrient dense flesh is going to infect your body, give you cancer, and put you in a grave before you meet your grandchildren.

If you didn’t catch my sarcasm in the last sentence, I’m alluding to the fact that red meat isn’t as bad as you’ve been taught to think. In fact, it’s probably not that bad at all. And while I’m quite the steak enthusiast, you don’t have to take my word for it.

Let’s dissect the research together to see the honest verdict on red meat.

Defining Stuff First Just So We’re on the Same Page

When talking about red meat, I’m referring to the muscle tissue of mammals. Beef is an obvious example, but this also includes pork, lamb, veal, goat, or any Bambi like game meat you can think of.

Moreover, I’ll be calling minimally processed red meat, unprocessed and heavily processed red meat, processed. You can think of processed red meat as meat that’s been significantly altered through salting, curing, fermentation, or smoking (1). These distinctions are crucial for context and simplicity. In reality, all meat is processed to some extent, so truly unprocessed meat won’t ever enter your mouth unless you’re a farmer.

If I say red meat without distinction, I’m referring to both processed and unprocessed. Ok, now time for the article!

What’s Concerning About Red Meat?

Red meat has accumulated a horrendous reputation despite being quite innocent. Red meat’s undeserved reputation starts with it’s perceived saturated fat content. While some cuts do contain higher ratios of saturated fat than other protein sources, saturated fat is not something to worry about in an overall healthy and calorically reasonable diet as I’ve discussed in the past. Same goes with the tag along nutrient of cholesterol.

So the fat content or even the nutrient content isn’t the concern with red meat. In fact, red meat is extremely nutrient dense providing rich amounts of nutrients commonly deficient in people like protein, zinc, high quality iron, B vitamins, and more.

The concern with red meat comes from 3 specific factors that do have some truth to them:

1 – Carcinogenic Properties

Red meat possesses carcinogenic properties meaning it has the potential for cancer to form (2,3,4,5). This risk also increases with heavy charring or frying (6,7,8). However, practically speaking, the overall risk is low because red meat also possesses anti-carcinogenic properties (29).

On a similar note, you’re exponentially more likely to die from alcohol or tobacco use as opposed to red meat (1).

The world health organization has even declared red meat’s carcinogenic relationship as associations at best and not causal (1). This means there’s a link probably due to other contributing factors instead of a direct cause.

I mean, think about it. If red meat independently caused cancer, everyone biting into a hot dog at a football game would be administered to the hospital before the final touchdown.

The link between red meat and cancer exists because people who tend to eat more red meat also tend to simply eat too much food, smoke/drink more, eat minimal vegetables, and exercise less (9,10). And yet headlines decide to blame red meat when people get cancer? Go figure.

Furthermore, beyond simply living a healthy lifestyle, you can also counteract red meat’s carcinogenic properties with anti-carcinogenic pairings by doing the following:

  • Eating vegetables, vitamin C rich foods, or high polyphenol produce alongside meat or abundantly within your diet (11,12,13,43,44).
  • Marinating meat in antioxidant rich herbs, spices, hibiscus extract, citrus fruits, garlic, onions, olive oil, beer, and/or wine (14,15,16,17).

2 – Heme Iron

The second knock on red meat is the heme iron in it although all animal products contain heme iron like poultry and fish.

Nonetheless, iron as a whole is one of the more interesting micronutrients. Getting too little can diminish health and getting too much can increase your risk of certain diseases, particularly colon related (18,19,20).

Heme iron is the best source of iron in terms of bioavailability (absorption) and absolute amount. This is why it’s often linked to iron toxicity because to overdose on iron, it’s realistically only going to happen from eating too many animals carcasses not leafy greens. However, red meat is far from the highest sources of heme iron especially compared to shellfish and poultry organs, but it seems red meat still poses the greatest risk at least in observational studies (25).

Nonetheless, it’s quite difficult to even reach risky levels of heme iron or total iron in most people considering iron is one of the biggest deficiencies in the world especially in women and children (26). Children rarely get enough and women’s iron needs are significantly greater than men, especially when menstruating, pregnant, or lactating.

On top of this, athletes have even higher needs and thus are more likely to be deficient (27,28).

So while heme iron is riskier in red meat and overconsuming iron can be a concern in sedentary men, it’s usually extremely difficult to overdose in most populations.

The upper tolerable limit in average adults is 45 mg per day which is about 7 ribeye steaks (21). Furthermore, Heme also denatures when warm (like during cooking) and is discarded quickly from your blood (22,23,24). Additionally, calcium may play a protective role against heme (20). Overall, excess heme iron shouldn’t be a concern, but you can always get bloodwork to be safe.

3 –Epidemiology

Many headlines will tell you studies prove red meat is life threatening, but these are only epidemiological studies.

Epidemiology studies can’t actually prove anything. They don’t control for variables and simply observe populations thus causation can’t be drawn from them.

Red meat seems bad in these studies because as I mentioned earlier, people eating red meat also tend to live unhealthy lives as well.

It’s no surprise red meat is correlated with many health issues especially associated with processed red meat like commonly consumed hot dogs and fast food burgers (30,31,32,33,34).

In fact, epidemiology also reveals red meat only appears bad when you don’t account for veggie intake (43,44). Unless you’re doing the idiotic carnivore diet, you eating a varied well balance diet alongside red meat is fine.

Correlation Does Not Equal Causation

When looking at more controlled, comprehensive, and higher quality recent studies, a more accurate picture is painted.

  • A 2012 meta-analysis of 124 randomized controlled trials looking at lipid effects found beef to have no difference from fish or poultry (35).
  • A 2016 meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found there was no difference in any health marker between eating less than or more than half a serving of red meat per day (36). Progressively higher red meat intake did not influence risk factors.
  • A 2019 meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found there was no health difference between higher or lower doses of red meat in various diets (37).
  • A 2019 randomized controlled trial found red meat to have the same health effects as white meat (38).
  • A 2019 systematic review of randomized controlled trials found eating above the recommended red meat limit of half a serving per day didn’t negatively influence glycemic control or inflammation (39)
  • A 2019 review concluded any anti-meat recommendation is only based on weak cherry picked studies and that avoiding meat can do more harm than good (40).
  • A 2019 review looking at systematic reviews and meta-analyses found the evidence against processed red meat to be extremely poor (41).
  • A 2019 review (most comprehensive to date) found processed and unprocessed red meat don’t need to be avoided as there is no major risk (42).
  • A 2021 meta-analysis found meat consumption is correlated with better mental health (45). Meat consumers had less depression and anxiety than meat abstainers.

Long Live the Steaks!

So now that steaks and chops have been pardoned from their evil reputation, here are the key takeaways:

  • Red meat is rich in many crucial nutrients. it’s not mandatory to have in your diet for maximizing health or muscle growth, but it is a deeply practical, nutritious, and tasty option for those who wish to include it.
  • If you do eat red meat, it’s best to marinade it with polyphenol rich ingredients and to consume them within a fruit/vegetable rich diet. Minimizing excessively charred meat and sticking mostly with unprocessed cuts is wise too.
  • Most people need to worry about getting more iron not less especially women and athletic populations who have higher iron needs. Heme iron toxicity shouldn’t be concerning unless you’re a sedentary man with a BBQ addiction. If you have any doubt, you can always check with your doctor.
  • If you’re trying to lose weight, lean cuts are best as they’ll contain the fewest calories. Cuts with the word loin or round are usually pretty lean.
  • Achieving and maintaining a healthy body composition and lifestyle will do far more for your health than avoiding red meat.
  • Avoiding red meat completely can be harmful to your health if you’re not careful about nutrient deficiencies. Eating key types of poultry and seafood will be a good alternative. In the case of a vegan diet, supplements will be needed for practical reasons.
  • Red meat can be a part of an overall healthy and calorically reasonable diet while providing benefits with minimal risks.
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