Finally, a scientist of impeccable credentials tells us that red meat consumption is deficient in many parts of the world, and that’s bad. And, she goes on to tell us red meat is actually good for all of us.

Not since Nina Teicholz’ seminal book, The Big Fat Surprise, has there been such a resounding declaration that red meat is good, not bad for humans. Alice V. Stanton, PhD, MB, BCh, BAO, BSc, Professor, Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Medicine & Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland, (how would you like a string of credentials like that after your name?) made such a pronouncement almost in an offhand manner — as if the attendees at the 2024 International Livestock Congress (ILC) in Houston two weeks ago should have known such a thing all along.

To say that her presentation bolstered the collective conscience of the cattle producers, beef industry veterans, agriculture educator luminaries and Ag student attendees at the conference, justifying their belief that red meat is good for you, is an understatement.

I listened in fascination to Dr. Stanton, and her message was clear: Humans need the nutrients often found only in red meat. She was particularly adamant that red meat and dairy is terribly deficient in the diets of the very young, causing growth stunting among other maladies.

As a caution for all of us wanting to raise only our best and brightest children, Dr. Stanton told the ILC attendees that, “Primary school test scores of children after five semesters of receiving animal-sourced foods (meat and dairy) were significantly higher than those of the control groups (receiving only plant-based foods or no additional nutrition).”

In her ILC presentation, Dr. Stanton quoted liberally from her peer reviewed study, “Meat on Human Health and Nutrition, Reflections on ‘Too Little’/‘Too Much," wherein she challenges much of the EAT Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems study’s conclusions that everyone should dramatically reduce their intake of red and processed meat. Dr. Stanton’s key take home messages were:

Scientists, policymakers and all involved in the food system should be extremely wary of global health estimates that:

1. Are not rigorously and transparently evidence-based.

2. Ignore the protections against nutrition deficiencies and chronic diseases afforded by animal-source foods.

The relationship between red meat and disease burden is U-shaped:

1. Excess red meat consumption (>4 portions or 500 grams (remember 452 grams equal 1 pound)/week may be associated with small (5-15%) increases in colon cancer.

2. Insufficient red meat consumption (<2 portions/week) is associated with very large (100-1000%) increases in anemia, stunted childhood growth and cognition, osteoporosis and sarcopenia.

Consumption of nutrient-rich animal-sourced foods, in appropriate evidence-based quantities, should continue to be included in national and international guidelines for a healthy balanced diet.

All of these benefits from primarily meat and dairy (but not necessarily processed meat) sourced diets, accrue to those who consistently consume such foods.

It is so hard to get those who would buy our beef products to listen to our message without their eyes glazing over to such fact-based evidence, particularly in the face of our detractors who spew their fearmongering diatribe of how bad red meat is for those who would dare consume it. As we all know, these alarmists’ real purpose is to rid the earth of food animal production.

Our beef industry has become satiated with greed rather than hungering for growth. We concentrate our efforts on the nonintegrated cattle-to-beef production continuum “islands” or “silos,” each focused on making their profits from the next island rather than all coalescing to market beef.

Why is it that we have distinct yet distant and disparate scientists giving us fact-based information that we cannot effectively communicate? Rather than publish such information as a purchase incentive to our consumers, we invite these scientists like Dr. Stanton or Nina Teicholz or Dr. Frank Mitloehner, UC Davis’s greenhouse gas guru, to preach to our inside industry choir of zealots at various meat industry conferences.

This science-based information must be the cornerstone of our consumer media messages. The “wave on a rock” communication method led by social media is best. We must show over and over why red meat and dairy are good for all of us, particularly our children, and can be bought, prepared and consumed in good conscience without guilt or worry.

Beef: It's good (not bad) for you!

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