By Dr Laura Wyness, PhD, RNutr
SENSATIONALISED headlines surrounding the dietary impacts of red meat have led to a society where consumers are increasingly cautious of eating meat.
Recently, there has been a substantial shift in the dialogue surrounding what constitutes a balanced diet, with a wealth of conflicting information on foods like red meat.
Spikes in vegetarianism and veganism has fed the idea that cutting meat from the diet entirely is the healthiest choice. Consequently, most age, sex population groups now have a red meat intake below the UK Government’s recommended maximum 70g day intake (NDNS, 2019).
However, this may be contributing to worrying statistics when looking at the data from the UK’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey. It revealed inadequate iron intakes in women and girls, with more than half (54 per cent) of teenage girls between 11 and 18 and more than a quarter (27 per cent) of adult women aged 19 to 64 with iron intakes below the lower recommendation (NDNS, 2018). Iron is one of the most important nutrients found in red meat and is essential in making red blood cells which carry oxygen around the body. Too little iron can result in a lack of energy, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and susceptibility to infections.
Vegetarians are more likely to have lower iron stores than meat eaters. Although vegetarian and vegan diets encourage a rich intake of vegetables and grains, the nutrients from red meat are readily absorbed by the body. Including some red meat in the diet can actually enhance the absorption of iron from plant sources.
Within the context of a healthy diet, red meat provides a rich source of high quality protein and essential nutrients including iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin D and vitamin B12.
Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) is encouraging those conscious of their red meat intake to consider the source of their meat instead of removing it from their diet. Complementing a diet rich in vegetables and wholegrains with Scotch Beef PGI, Scotch Lamb PGI or Specially Selected Pork that’s from a traceable source will have a positive impact on health. For example grass-fed beef has been shown to contain less fat overall than grain-fed beef. It also has many beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants such as vitamins A and E (Daley et al 2010; McAfee et al 2011).
Red meat also provides nutrients that are more easily absorbed by the body than from non-meat food sources, making it an efficient way to ensure you’re getting the vital vitamins and minerals needed to function well. This can be particularly important for older adults and those with a small appetite or recovering from illness as it’s a nutrient-dense food, providing large amounts of nutrients in a small portion.
This aligns with QMS’s Meat with Integrity campaign which aims to raise public awareness of the Scottish red meat industry’s stringent animal welfare and sustainability credentials. By showcasing the industry’s world-renowned quality assurance schemes, QMS hopes to give consumers the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about the meat they are consuming, allowing them to incorporate the best quality red-meat into a flexitarian diet and encouraging them to eat better meat when they decide to do so.
For more information about Meat with Integrity and for recipe inspiration visit www.scotchkitchen.com
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here