Red meat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This page is about food. For the comic strip, see Red Meat.
Red meat refers to meat that appears red before cooking, including all meats derived from mammals. This encompasses beef, veal, lamb, mutton, venison, pork, goat, rabbit, kangaroo, and buffalo meat (that is, meat from bison) and beefalo). The United States Department of Agriculture considers all meats derived from livestock to be red meats[citation needed].
Red meat derives its color from its myoglobins, a protein that carries oxygen to an animal's muscles. Significantly, red meat does not refer to how well a piece of meat is cooked or its coloration after cooking. A steak or hamburger is a red meat whether it is served rare and bloody, or cooked until it is brown or gray, or even burnt to a crisp. So is pork, which turns pale to white when cooked, despite marketing slogans to the contrary.
In contrast, animal proteins derived from birds (e.g., chicken, turkey, duck, and pheasant), fish, reptiles (alligator meat), amphibians (frog legs), crustaceans (lobster, shrimp, crab) and bivalves (oysters, clams, mussels) are not red meat, not even when they are red or reddish-colored, such as salmon, red snapper, or cooked lobsters and shrimp.
[edit] Nutrition
Many nutritionists consider red meat unhealthy because of its high content of saturated fat, animal protein and cholesterol. Some studies have linked consumption of red meat with colorectal cancer. A large study conducted at Harvard University demonstrated a link between consumption of red meat and certain kinds of breast cancer[1]. Links between red meat and dozens of other "diseasese of affluence" are also suspected. Still, some nutritionists [2] suggest that red meat is a source of important nutrients that may be eaten as frequently as once a day so long as lean cuts are used.
The food guide pyramid has been criticized for not distinguishing between red meat and other types of meat. The newer My Pyramid recommends lean forms of red meat. The healthy eating pyramid recommends that red meat be consumed sparingly.
While red meat is rich in iron, vegetarians who choose not consume red meat based on health, environmental and/or animal welfare reasons stress that many other dietary sources of the mineral are widely available. Red meat also contains proteins, minerals such as zinc and phosphorus, and vitamins such as niacin, vitamin B12, thiamin and riboflavin.
