Red Meat: Good Source of Vitamins?
Earlier this month a new study determined a link between red meat and cancer. This no doubt sent every steak and potato loving American into a tizzy. Now, I don’t know why, but for many people eating steak is the next best thing to godliness—evidently the creator wears a cowboy hat, listens to country music, and throws a mean lasso.
So our nation’s love affair with steak prompts me to ask this question, “Is red meat crucial to human nutrition?” Surely if so many people crave it, there must be something essential about it. Something vital, maybe it’s loaded with important nutrients? According to Jacki Donaldson of The Cancer Blog it is:
And a lot of those nutrients are readily available in plants. Take zinc and iron for example: Romaine lettuce has more zinc than sirloin and all three, broccoli, Romaine lettuce, and Kale, contain more iron than sirloin. And what about the “complete protein” theory? Dr. Fuhrman’s colleague Jeff Novick tackles it in this previous post: Complementary Protein Myth Won't Go Away!
So our nation’s love affair with steak prompts me to ask this question, “Is red meat crucial to human nutrition?” Surely if so many people crave it, there must be something essential about it. Something vital, maybe it’s loaded with important nutrients? According to Jacki Donaldson of The Cancer Blog it is:
Red meat contains a lot of iron. And while iron also comes from vegetable sources, meat contains more iron than most foods and is best utilized by the body in this form.Anyone remember Nutrient Density of Green Vegetables? Check it out. You’ll see that on the average 100-calories of certain green vegetables, like broccoli, Romaine lettuce, and Kale, trounces the nutrient-density of 100-calories of sirloin.
Red meat also contains B vitamins, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, selenium -- and protein, critical for muscle and organ health. Protein from red meat is complete, meaning it contains all the amino acids the body cannot make on its own. Protein helps the body repair and renew.
And a lot of those nutrients are readily available in plants. Take zinc and iron for example: Romaine lettuce has more zinc than sirloin and all three, broccoli, Romaine lettuce, and Kale, contain more iron than sirloin. And what about the “complete protein” theory? Dr. Fuhrman’s colleague Jeff Novick tackles it in this previous post: Complementary Protein Myth Won't Go Away!
but then it isn't just a matter of content, but of bioavailability. it is well known that the iron in red meat is more readily available than plant-derived iron.
A vegan with a varied diet, taking/drinking/eating some vitamin c with every big source of iron would have iron levels comparable to, or well exceeding, the RDI.
My wife recently had a double lung transplant. Previously no issues with magnesium levels but levels are now low and being supplemented with pills. Coincidently my wife has not eaten any red meat for nearly two months, previously havign red meat 4-5 times a week. Is there is link between red meat and magnesium levels...and would levels drop so quickly.