Red Meat Research Paper

Words: 461
Pages: 2

Americans eat way too much red meat. Red meat is meat that is red when raw, such as beef, pork and sheep. The average American adult eats 5.8 ounces of meat, while the USDA recommends 3.3 ounces of meat each day. This shows that the average American diet is unhealthy, and needs change. Americans should eat less meat, not only for their personal health but also for the sake of the environment and economy. To begin with, eating red meat detrimentally affects your health. In fact, Professor Walter Willett, of the Harvard School of Public Health, found in one of his studies on how meat affects the human body that those who consumed higher amounts of red meat had a higher risk of total mortality, cardiovascular mortality and cancer mortality. If meat is so bad for us, why do we still consume so much of it? This can be explained by the latest “public health concern” about Americans not getting enough protein. In reality, according to Harvard Health, the average American consumes 5-10% percent more than the daily recommended protein intake.This statistic speaks and shows that we have some wrong ideas about nutrition. Even if we reduced our meat …show more content…
Specifically, animal agriculture takes up many of our resources. Based on a USDA study, the water, land and crops used for animal agriculture could potentially soon run out. The supply for these resources is not catching up to demand. We need to be able to take care of our earth to live on it. Even restricting your meat consumption by a small amount can help the environment. Furthermore, eating too much red meat can affect the economy. The amount US taxpayers spend yearly to subsidize/promote red meat is 30 billion dollars. Contrastingly, for fruits and vegetables it is less than 17 billion dollars per year. If less money is used towards meat and more towards fruits and vegetables, we would see an improving economy, improving environment and improving