Red meat: Good or bad for health?

Red meat is defined as any meat that comes from mammalian muscle. This includes beef, lamb, pork, goat, veal and mutton.

Red meat contains numerous vitamins and minerals that are essential for a healthful, balanced diet. As an example, a 100-gram portion of raw ground beef contains around 25 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin B-3, and 32 percent of the recommended daily allowance of zinc.

Red meat is also high in heme-iron – which is absorbed better than plant-derived iron – vitamin B-6, selenium as well as other vitamins and minerals.

However, more of us are now opting for plant-based foods over meat-based products because we believe that they are more healthful. In December 2016, a position paper from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics claimed that a plant-based diet can lower the risk of type 2 diabetes by 62 percent, as well as reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

When it comes to red meat intake, cancer is perhaps the most well-established health implication. 

In October 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report concluding that red meat is “probably carcinogenic to humans,” meaning that there is some evidence that it can increase the risk of cancer.

A high intake of processed meat is associated with a greater risk of colorectal cancer, according to the WHO.

It is thought that cooking red meats at high temperatures – through frying or barbecuing, for example – is what contributes to an increased cancer risk. 

Another issue is kidney failure.

Diabetes and high blood pressure are among the most common causes of kidney failure– whereby the kidneys are no longer able to filter waste products and water from the blood. One study reported a dose-dependent link between red meat consumption and risk of kidney failure. For example, participants who were in the highest 25 percent of red meat intake were found to have a 40 percent increased risk of kidney failure, compared with those in the lowest 25 percent. 

Some studies have also associated red meat consumption with heart disease.

A 2014 study of more than 37,000 men from Sweden, for example, found that men who consumed more than 75 grams of processed red meat per day were at a 1.28 times greater risk of heart failure than those who consumed under 25 grams daily. 

Thus public health guidelines recommend limiting red meat consumption. The American Institute for Cancer Research, for example, recommend eating no more than 18 ounces of cooked red meats each week to reduce cancer risk, while processed meats should be avoided completely.