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

I. Executive Summary
• Beef is a highly nutritious food. It is particularly valuable as a source
of zinc, iron, and other minerals; B vitamins and choline; and protein.
Beef also contains components that may have health benefits,
such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
• Lean beef, in moderate servings, fits well in a heart-healthy diet and
can be used interchangeably with other lean red meats and lean poultry
and seafood. It is not necessary for people to substitute poultry
and fish for red meat in their diets in order to meet the U.S. government’s
and American Heart Association’s dietary recommendations
for saturated fat and cholesterol intake.
• Only about one-third of the fatty acids in beef are cholesterol-raising
fatty acids. About half of the fat in beef is monounsaturated fat,
which does not raise cholesterol levels. The amount of trans fatty
acids in beef is small, and the potential physiological impact of these
fatty acids is not the same as that of the cholesterol-raising trans fatty
acids in hydrogenated vegetable fats.
• The results of some scientific studies have linked high intakes of red
meat with increased risks of colon or prostate cancers (though probably
not breast cancer). Other studies, however, have had conflicting
results.
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