Health & Fitness

Is Red Meat Bad for You?

Photograph by Sam Kaplan

The New York Times ran an op-ed by well-known physician Dean Ornish, warning that the dietary evils of red meat are greater than we’d thought. “For reversing disease . . . a plant-based diet seems to be necessary,” Ornish urged. One week later, in the same paper, a leading pediatrician argued the opposite — that not only is the case against red meat overblown, sound research shows it can even be healthy.

So which is it? Should you cut red meat from your diet? Or can you dig in to a steak without worrying that a trip to the cardiologist is right around the corner?

The answer: It depends on how much meat you eat. Red meat can be both good and bad. We know that it is one of nature’s most efficient delivery systems for essential nutrients such as vitamin B and zinc. On the other hand, there’s ample evidence suggesting that consuming red meat (beef, lamb, goat, and bison) in large quantities can lead to inflammation and chronic disease. And the jury is still out on how much saturated fat — which fattier cuts of meat have in abundance — you can eat and not pay a health cost.

Now we have a better idea of what constitutes the ideal amount. Every five years, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, a team of more than a dozen of the country’s best minds in nutrition, combs through the latest data on healthy eating and delivers an updated set of rules. Last winter, the draft of its new report argued that red meat can be part of a healthy diet, provided that it is consumed in moderation. Moderation, according to Harvard professor of nutrition and committee member Frank Hu, means no more than 16 ounces a week. That’s not a lot — only a four-ounce serving every other day. This would be a significant adjustment for most Americans, who consume an average of one to one-and-a-half servings of red meat daily. But consider the health payoff. Hu’s study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that cutting daily red meat consumption to half a serving a day could lower the risk of dying of chronic disease by 10 percent.

It’s worth noting that cleaving a good portion of red meat from your diet isn’t going to hurt your protein levels, either. Yes, the body needs protein to build lean muscle, fuel a high metabolism, and keep you sated. And beef is a great source of that protein. But chances are, you’re probably getting more protein than you need already. Wayne Campbell, a professor of nutrition science at Purdue and another committee member, says of all the nutrition issues the team covered, “protein intake was the least of our concerns.” Simply making a swap for poultry or fish will keep intake steady. Both have the same amount of protein as red meat.

Along with staying under a weekly portion quota, there are other ways to make eating meat nutritionally sound. We consulted the country’s leading health experts to parse the latest clinical trials and research and to provide a simple set of guidelines. They aren’t hard to follow. Especially when you know that sticking to them not only improves your own health, it supports more humane treatment of animals and comes with a lower environmental cost, too. Here’s what to do.

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Consider the Source

Some nutritionists believe that grass-fed beef is less inflammatory and better for the heart and brain than the grain-fed variety. So always look for beef, or any type of meat, from “pastured” animals, which spend their lives grazing and consequently have high levels of healthy omega-3 fats. If that’s not available, go for “grass fed.” Those animals may have been raised in pens but at least were fed a grain-free diet. Beef labeled “organic” is antibiotic-free but can come from animals raised in pens and fed corn. At the bottom of the food chain are the factory-farmed products, which come from animals raised in pens, fattened with genetically modified grain feed, and shot full of antibiotics. (When in doubt, lamb is a good bet. Even if you buy it in a run-of-the-mill supermarket, lamb won’t be factory-farmed, and the animal most likely grazed on grass.) The overarching goal should be to buy smaller quantities of higher-quality meat. Price should be a wash — you’re paying more per ounce but consuming fewer ounces.

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Avoid Processed Meats

Bacon, sausage, salami — these cured meats had the strongest toxic effect in Hu’s study, reducing longevity twice as much as nonprocessed meat. Processing introduces more salt and saturated fat, Hu explains, as well as nitrite preservatives, which the gut turns into potentially cancerous compounds. “Eat as little processed meat as possible,” he says. “Not more than once or, at most, twice a week.”

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Go for Variety

Don’t stress about the cut or type of red meat. “If you’ve done your due diligence on sourcing, then choosing the ‘best’ kind of meat mostly comes down to personal preference,” says Kathie Swift, nutritionist and education director for Food As Medicine, a nutrition-training program for physicians. That’s not to say all meat is the same. The saturated-fat content varies wildly, from six grams in a three-ounce serving of beef to three grams in the same amount of bison. But the new thinking in integrative medicine is that saturated fat from properly raised animals has positive health effects, especially for the brain. Mainstream researchers also accept that saturated fat isn’t the villain we once thought it was — though they still note a correlation between high amounts of it and heart disease. The bottom line: Know yourself. If your weight, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure are fine, odds are your four ounces of short ribs aren’t killing you. And if you’re going to put a lot of thought into which type of meat to eat, choose outside the norm, says Seamus Mullen, chef-owner of ?New York City’s Tertulia. He recommends organ meats such as liver and sweetbreads, which are dense in vitamins and minerals, and less-common cuts such as shank and shin for collagen, which may build and strengthen nails and hair.

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Be Careful What You Eat It With

A recent study from Tufts found that the more red meat people ate, the more likely they were to gain weight. However, when people ate their red meat with more vegetables, rather than refined carbs, that weight gain was blunted. This serves as another reminder that if we must demonize a food, let it be white bread, french fries, and sugary drinks. “I’d rather see people make a positive change in their diet by cutting back on junk food,” says Purdue’s Wayne Campbell. “And not worry about whether their serving of meat is three or four ounces.”

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Think of Meat as a Flavoring

Even the belief that meat must be the main dish on the plate is a passé way to cook and eat, says Mullen. He suggests pairing a few ounces of good beef with a thickly cut vegetable like eggplant or umami-rich portobello mushroom. Or slice your meat razor-thin over sauteed veggies, which makes four ounces seem to go a long way. Swift notes that soups, stews, and chilis are classic meat-stretchers. Combine meat with a chewy grain like barley in any of these, and you’ll get the “mouth feel” of beef. Or use meat more as a flavoring, adding a few chunks to a slow-cooked meal that features a hearty vegetable like sweet potato.

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Cook It Low and Slow

Bad news. That crusty, blackened char on an expertly grilled steak can contain a carcinogenic family of compounds called heterocyclic amines, or HCAs, which form when meat is cooked over high heat. As with processed meats, you should limit the charred beef you eat. Instead, embrace the slow-cooked meats — the osso buco, the six-hour brisket — which are just as delicious.

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