Discussion: Do we need meat in our diets?

What I find the most interesting points of contention in the topic of 'meat vs vegetarian: which diet is healthier' are the 2 claims that (1) humans must eat meat in order to get certain nutrients and (2) vegetarians/vegans are generally healthier. Both are claims put forward while also backed by scientific evidence, so I personally tried to conclude why such claims are the case.

I did have a theory a while ago that the reason why non-meat-eaters are often healthier than meat-eaters is that few vegetarians/vegans eat junk food on a regular basis. But there has to be something else behind the research, since I have personally witnessed very fit dancers constantly eating McDonald's due to the massive amounts of calories needed.

I found this interesting article that detailed the pros and cons of eating meat, or kinds of meat. Pretty much everyone can tell you that meat is eaten for the protein, but the specifically beneficial nutrients of red meat are vitamin B12, zinc and iron. The article recommends using lean cuts of red meat in order to avoid consuming excessive fat and also explains that the best way of cooking red meat is to bake or broil. The article also provides the common-sense advice to avoid eating grilled or charred meat too often, but I never knew why this was a bad idea: it turns out that high-heat treatment of meat produces cancer-producing compounds. So even an article trying to encourage people to eat meat as part of a healthy diet recommends not eating fried meat too often. There is also the recommendation to try and find common meat-types that are not preserved with nitrites, as frequent consumption of them can also cause cancer.

What I also found good about the article was its list of red meat alternatives, including white meat, fish, tofu and beans. It doesn't provide specific amounts regarding how much of each you should eat in a week, because let's face it, each person is different, but it really does give the sense that red meat really doesn't have to be eaten that often, nor should it be in most cases.

Anyway, the fact that the article discussing meat nutrition also recommends eating beans and tofu as valid sources of the same nutrients led me to wanting to find non-meat sources of iron. Why iron? Because in the discussion of whether vegetarians/vegans are lacking essential nutrients in their diets, there is always the claim that iron is necessary (which is true) and substantial amounts of it cannot be found in vegetables. So I found this article, which helpfully provides graphs showing the amounts of iron in each food type. It also explains that more iron is absorbed when vitamin C is included in a meal (such as can be found in tomatoes), so while the tables helpfully reveal the impressive amounts of iron in spinach, lentils and soybeans, compared to the poultry (ha ha) amounts in meat, there is little in the article to stop the ardent meat-lover from saying: 'I'll just have more veggies with my meat-meals then'.

This makes me laugh a little, as reading both articles led to my conclusion that one of the healthiest meals you can cook is a minced meat with spinach and chopped tomato spaghetti bolognaise, with wheat pasta to make it healthier. Or you can just have strips of lean meat in a spinach and tomato salad, thereby cutting out the carbs if you're trying to shed weight.

The overall conclusion from reading both of these articles is that eating different foods every day really is the key to a healthy diet. In all fairness, that statement produces the instant reaction of "well, duh!", but it's important to know why variety is key. Indulging in too much fried meat means consuming too many nitrites and carcinogens (that cause cancer), while indulging in meat-free meals that contain a mix of veggies and beans adds some variety to your food and a boost of iron, protein and vitamins without the fat.