Beef: Health
When it comes to addressing the associated health effects of eating beef, there are two primary categories to address: 1) the effects caused by the general voluntary consumption of beef and 2) the effects of the beef industry’s production of beef upon human health.
Voluntary Consumption of Beef
The average American eats 67 pounds of beef annually (out of the average of 195 pounds of total meat consumed1), which is about three ounces each day (out of a total 8.5 daily total meat ounces. The USDA calculates the average breakdown of this to as approximately 28 pounds of ground beef, 13 pounds of steak, nine pounds of processed beef (such as smoked sausage, corned beef, or jerky), eight pounds of stew beef, seven pounds of beef dishes, and five pounds of other beef cuts (such as hot dogs).2 While 60 percent of the beef eaten is purchased from a store for the purpose of cooking and eating at home, an average of more than 14 pounds of ground beef (more than 50 percent) is eaten outside of the home in restaurants, including fast food.3 The USDA found that the closer an individual is to the poverty line, the more ground beef is eaten.4
While consuming beef can help fulfill the recommended daily amount of protein, and provides its consumers with vitamin B12, iron, and zinc, eating too much beef can cause breast and colorectal cancers due to its high saturated fat content, as well as cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure and cholesterol. The USDA recommends that individuals consuming 2,000 calories eat 5.5 ounces of lean meats and beans each day.5 Americans are definitely eating way more meat than is recommended from a health perspective—and it’s definitely not all lean.
A study published in March 2009 by the National Cancer Institute found a 30 percent increased risk of fatality directly correlating with the consumption of red and processed meats.6 Beef contributes an average of 11.7 percent of a person’s saturated fat intake7 , and a significant contributor to the high saturated fat content of beef results from the corn based feed that the majority of U.S. beef cows eat.8 However, the USDA rewards corn-fed cows by grading the produced cuts of meat by their marbling.9 Grass fed beef contains less saturated fat and more omega-3 fatty acids, which are considered healthy, but do not marble as well.10
The overall cost of diet-related illnesses (e.g., cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cancer) is approximately $840 billion annually11 —the same amount Congress allotted for the Wall Street bailout in 2008, and nearly $200 billion more than the Social Security budget. While it is important that the beef industry begin changing the diet of its cows to produce beef that is not as laden with saturated fat (in addition to changing it for the purpose of reducing methane emissions, water use, and more), it is even more critical for Americans to just stop eating so much beef and other meats. Yes, we live in a land where you can quickly stop and get a burger for less than one dollar sometimes twenty-four hours a day, but just because it’s cheap initially does not mean it’s saving you money in the long-term when you consider the health risks you are creating for yourself.
Learn how the beef industry is putting human health at risk.
Footnotes
1. Agriculture Fact Book 2001-2002. U.S. Department of Agriculture. March 2003. 15 (pdf).
2. Christopher G. Davis and Biing-Hwan Lin. “Factors Affecting U.S. Beef Consumption. United States Department of Agriculture. Oct 2005. LDP-M-135-02. 2,4,7.
5. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. 53. (pdf)
6. Rob Stein. “Daily Red Meat Raises Chances Of Dying Early.” Washington Post. 24 March 2009.
8. Micahel Pollan. The Omnivore’s Dilemma. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.75.
Mark Bittman. “Rethinking the Meat Guzzler.” New York Times. 27 Jan 2008.