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The case for animal source foods
Animal source foods are evolutionarily appropriate
Micronutrient deficiencies are common in populations with low animal source food intake
Iron deficiency is common even in high-income countries
The best sources of iron and other commonly lacking nutrients are animal sources foods
Plant source foods contain far lower amounts of commonly lacking nutrients
But there are also some reasons for concern
In general, I think the evidence suggests that moderate consumption of minimally processed animal source foods in the context of a healthy diet is compatible with optimal health for most people.
But high amounts of endocrine disrupters and carcinogenic or mutagenic compounds in processed red meat are not good for anyone. And there are certain people for whom high amounts of saturated fat, cholesterol, heme iron, and lactose can be problematic.
But I think nutritionism may not be the best approach
Because it tends to give a pass to ultra-processed foods and fails to take into account overall diets and the food compounds we don’t know much about
This summarizes my perspective of the evidence
To clarify, I think on average processed red meat is likely a net negative. But there is a large range of types of processed red meat, and there are likely processed red meats that are neutral or even a net positive.
