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!