A balanced healthy diet incorporates a combination of plant and animal foods. This is not an either/ or proposition.

Whilst ultra-processed animal replacement foods can substitute, they are not environmentally superior or of directly equivalent nutritional value to real animal foods.

What’s so great about meat and other animal foods?

Meat and dairy products provide nutrient dense, high-quality protein and critical macro and micronutrients. They allow essential amino acids and micronutrients such as B12, calcium, iron, vitamin D and zinc to be efficiently absorbed to provide essential nutrition for healthy bodies.

This is particularly important for vulnerable groups such as babies, children, teens, pregnant and lactating women, the obese and the aged.

Why can’t I meet all my nutrition needs eating a plant-based diet?

Available evidence suggests consumption of red meat in three to four healthy, balanced meals a week in line with Australian Dietary Guidelines, is important for micronutrient adequacy and reducing risk of chronic diseases.

It would take nearly 3.5 cups of black beans to equal the protein in an 85 gram serving of beef, with double the calorie intake.

It would take 795 grams of cauliflower or 595 grams of Portobello mushrooms to deliver the same iron as 85 grams of beef, and iron is harder to absorb from vegetables than from meat.

Non-meat diets require supplementation to meet nutritional needs, which is difficult enough in developed societies and often impossible in lower income developing countries.

Plant based foods help people live longer healthier lives?

A plant-based diet is low in B12, which is only naturally found in animal foods and is essential to brain health.

Diets low in B12 can cause severe nerve damage, stroke, dementia and developmental delays in children.

What about the studies that show that meat causes cancer?

Scientifically incorrect statements linking red meat and processed meat to cancer, have been widely spread in public media. The link is tenuous, based only on a hazard analysis, not a full risk assessment.

Crossing a road is a hazard – a severe risk if a major freeway, but of no risk if a bush track. Risk relates to dose, genetic, environmental and behavioural factors – including tobacco, alcohol, obesity, lack of physical activity, overall diet, excess ultra-processed carbohydrates, prior personal or family history, genetics, etc.

Less than 0.2% of deaths and severe illnesses are linked to excessive red meat intake in the 2017 Global Burden of Disease Study.

Keywords: human diet, evolution, anthropology, nutrition history.