How often and how much meat should you eat?

Meat is a great source of protein, but some people worry about its effects on their health. Should they avoid meat altogether or just stick to lean cuts?

Meat is an important part of our diet. In fact, Americans consume nearly 100 pounds of beef per person each year. The average American eats about 20 pounds of chicken, pork and fish each month.

We are likely to see similar numbers in other parts of the world, even if the type of meat changes. Too much meat consumption is harmful to health, see Appendix.

While meat has many benefits, it also contains saturated fat and cholesterol.

If you want to lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, you should reduce your consumption of processed meats and choose lean meats instead.

When eating meat, you should stick to the following recommendations:

• Some experts recommend limiting meat consumption to no more than three times a week.
• The recommendation of nutritionists is not to eat meat every day and not to eat more than 300 to 600 grams of meat and sausage per week.

However, you should never radically change your diet! If you want to reduce the consumption, discuss this change with your doctor and he or she will advise you in detail on the subject of nutrition.