Are nutrition guidelines fair to beef and dairy products?
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 05/19/2010 3:36 PM
E-mail article | Print version
AMES, Iowa — Beef and dairy products have an undeserved reputation in America, according to an associate professor at Iowa State University.
Lance Baumgard says people link the saturated fat and cholesterol in ruminant animal products to cancer and heart problems, but not all science supports those relationships.
"It's just considered dogma that butter and steak cause heart attacks," he said. "...There are a variety of papers — dozens of papers — -that show an association with saturated fat intake and human disease. My only point is that there are also dozens of papers that do not support that hypothesis."
Baumgard works in the college's animal science department and has been following scientific literature on the topic since 2001. He notes some studies show eating animal products can help people be healthier. It's been suggested calcium in dairy products can lower the incidence of obesity, and that conjugated linoleic acid in ruminant animal products can help prevent cancer in rats and mice.
Baumgard isn't trying to get people to give up their cholesterol medication, but he wants them to know about the disagreement in science and to challenge their doctors and nutritionists by asking if they are aware of it.
Dietitian says choose variety, moderation
Sara Wolf, a registered and licensed dietitian at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and a contributor to the recently published book, "The Mayo Clinic Diet," recommends people eat many different types of foods, with everything in moderation.
"As a health care provider, I'm not comfortable just saying we don't have to worry about dietary fat with chronic disease. It's hard to take a nutrient on its own and say 'this' doesn't contribute to 'that'," she said.
While the direct link between fat and human disease may not be found in every study, Wolf said science has learned dietary fat has a huge correlation with obesity, and obesity is correlated with disease, such as breast cancer.
"It's difficult to study this information and keep it in perspective...If it was an easy answer, we'd definitely have it out there and fix it," she said.
In terms of animal products, she suggests low-fat options and cooking methods that allow fat to drip off food as much as possible. She also promotes portion control. A serving of meat should be the size of a deck of cards.
What nutrition guidelines say
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, most recently published in 2005, say a healthy diet is mostly made of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat or fat-free dairy products. It includes lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs and nuts. It is also low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium and added sugars.
The guidelines say people should choose sources of polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fatty acids — such as fish, nuts and vegetable oils — more often than sources of saturated fat or trans fat. In 2005, cheese, beef and milk were the country's top three sources of saturated fat, the type that is most important for Americans to decrease.
Other guidelines, such as those from the American Cancer Society, say to limit intake of processed or red meats.
A need for change?
Minnesota Beef Council executive director Ron Eustice thinks America's nutrition recommendations need to change. They are political and haven't helped the country avoid a high obesity rate, he said.
"Nutrition science is always evolving so it's imperative that we continually re-evaluate nutrition recommendations," he said.
Through the beef checkoff, the council has spent approximately $1.8 million over the past two decades in research, mostly on nutrition. These studies have found positive results for beef from a health standpoint, he said.
"Nutrition guidelines that limit red meat intake or suggest that other protein sources are healthier than beef are not considering the whole story," said Eustice.
Beef has nutritional benefits includingiron, zinc, protein and B-vitamins, making it a calorie-efficient way for Americans to get nutrients, he said. Twenty-nine lean cuts of beef exist, including sirloin and tenderloin steaks. Beef contains saturated fat, the type to limit in a diet, but half of the fatty acids in beef are mono-unsaturated fat, the healthier type.
The council works with many health groups and sponsors the American Heart Association's annual Heart & Stroke Gala in Minnesota. Lean beef has been offered for 16 years at the event, and more than 90 percent of attendees, who include cardiologists and company executives, choose to eat it, said Eustice.
Consumers receive mixed messages about nutrition and that's confusing, said Colleen Zenk, a certified dietary manager who works for the Minnesota Beef Council. Her job is to educate health care professionals and consumers about beef nutrition. She is interested to see what the revised Dietary Guidelines for Americans will say. They are expected to be updated this year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Mayo Clinic's Wolf doesn't consider the nutrition guidelines to be unfair to animal products because they promote variety.