The Role of Beef in the American Diet - International Meat Secretariat

The Role of Beef in the American Diet
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with a variety of potentially beneficial effects, including inhibition of
mammary carcinogenesis (12), inhibition of mutagenesis (13), increased
muscle mass and decreased body fat (14), inhibition of the development
of atherosclerosis (15,16), and increased bone density (17). It remains to
be clearly demonstrated whether CLAs have these same beneficial
effects in humans.
IV. Beef in the Heart-Healthy Diet
The federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the
dietary guidelines published by the American Heart Association (AHA)
advise all healthy Americans (except those under the age of two years)
to limit their intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol to reduce the risk of
atherosclerosis and its consequences, including coronary heart disease
(8,18,19). * People often interpret this recommendation to mean that they
should eliminate red meat from their diets — or at least severely restrict
it — and eat poultry or fish instead. In a survey conducted for a food
industry trade group in 2000, 22% of consumers reported that they were
eating less red meat and 9% reported that they were eating more poultry
in an effort to make their diets healthier (20). However, dietary changes
of this type may not be necessary — or even desirable.
Current Dietary Recommendations
Contrary to what many people think, the federal and AHA dietary
recommendations do not call for the replacement of red meat with poultry
and fish. Instead, they call for:
1. Limiting intake of meat, poultry, and fish to moderate amounts. The
recommended intake of these foods is approximately two threeounce
servings per day. A three-ounce serving is about the size of a
deck of cards.
2. Cooking without added fat. Broiling, boiling, and roasting are
preferable to frying.
3. Removing easily separated fat. This means trimming all visible fat
off red meat and removing poultry skin and the visible fat under the
skin.
* In September 2002, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee that establishes
dietary reference intakes for the U.S. released a new report that made no quantitative
recommendations on saturated fat and cholesterol intake but instead called for
keeping consumption of these two food components as low as possible while maintaining
a nutritionally adequate diet. The report also stated that total fat should account for
between 20 and 35% of total calories; this is a change from previous advice that it
should not exceed 30%. The new NAS recommendations have not yet been incorporated
into the Food Guide Pyramid, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, or the Daily
Values used in food labeling.