In my previous post, I illustrated that the optimal intake of protein for a healthy person on a 2,000 diet is about 100 grams or so, which is nearly double the RDA. Keeping with the theme of “Are We Really Eating Too Much Meat?” I’m going to look now at how protein Americans are eating, then I’ll look at how much meat Americans are eating from a few different data sources.
1. How Much Protein Are We Actually Eating?
Answer: Not enough.
According to NHANES, which uses 24 hour dietary recall surveys, the average woman eats 1825 calories a day, with 16% from protein, 49% from carbs, and 34% from fat. Men eat 2477 calories, with 16% from protein, 47% from carbs and 34% from fat. (note: these numbers are lower than other estimates, probably because people like to lie in dietary surveys.) This self reported data says on average, men are eating 2477 calories a day, and women are eating 1825 calories per day. Men and women are eating about 16% of calories from protein, at the low end of the ADMR range of 10% – 35%. This source (coincidentally, written by Robert Wolfe) also puts protein about 15% and also criticizes the RDA for protein for being too low.
If you read my previous post about human protein needs, I explain the recommendations for protein vary greatly, but in general, at least 20% of calories from protein is a good goal. Protein is the most satiating of the macronutrients, and intakes of 15% – 30% of caloric intake can be quite helpful in regulating appetite by increasing leptin sensitivity and inducing weight loss and increasing blood sugar control. In this meta-analysis, high protein diets of 25% – 32% of calories compared to the control groups of 15% – 20% (which is still higher than the RDA), showed beneficial effects on weight loss, HbA1C levels and blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes. Also, I do think there’s something to the protein leverage hypothesis – increase the percentage of protein in the diet and total caloric intake actually goes down – especially when you pull out the soda and other junk food. This post highlights two studies looking at relatively high protein diets, showing them successful regardless of carbohydrate or fat intake.
The amount of PROTEIN we’re eating is too low. Now, let’s look at meat, specifically.
2. How Much Meat Are We Actually Eating?
Answer: It depends on what data you’re looking at, and what you consider “meat.”
Some of the information out there only counts “red meat” as “meat,” leaving out chicken, seafood, eggs and milk. Other data may include chicken but leaves out seafood. Some numbers are based on meat “availability,” meaning ALL THE MEAT PRODUCED (including non-edible parts), while other numbers factor in “loss” (what’s trimmed off at the slaughterhouse, loss in the grocery stores, loss in homes.) So, as you can see, the real number is quite difficult to obtain.
Meat as % of Calories, Based on Food Balance Sheets
National Geographic developed a series of great interactive charts that show caloric consumption by country and broken out by category and food type. Their data is from the FAO, which uses “Food Balance Sheets,” to estimate food consumed, also based on availability and adjusted for loss, however the FAO admits that this is not a completely accurate picture of actual consumption. According to their charts, the average American eats a daily total of 3641 calories, (or, at least has access to 3641 calories) which is a much higher number than the NHANES number of 2141 average daily calories per American.
I personally have a hard time with the large discrepancy between the FAO (food availability) and NHANES (self reported) caloric intake numbers. The FAO total number of calories (3641) seems much higher to me than what people are actually eating. The charts here also show 373 calories from milk, that would be 4 cups of milk per day, equaling about 30 grams of protein. Also, at 469 calories of meat, this would mean we’re getting about 120 grams of protein per person, which I doubt. Add in the milk, and this increases our total protein intake to 150 grams a day. I’m just not convinced we’re actually eating this much in total calories, or this much in protein, and question the accuracy of their loss adjustment – it doesn’t seem realistic.
However, looking at this data, it shows our total meat intake is 13% of our total caloric intake, and the dairy & egg category is 14%. By percentage, this number could be more realistic — Although the FAO says they adjust for loss, and their meat doesn’t include livestock feed, it does include things like pet food, which includes a lot of meat, so I’m not buying these numbers as fact.
What does seem to make sense is the meat availability by tons (meaning total production) to give a sense of how our production has shifted. When looking at total tons available, over the 50-year span, chicken availability has increased 421% in the United States. Worldwide, chicken production has increased over 1,033%, while worldwide beef production has remained flat, 0%.
USDA Meat Availability Charts
Similar to the FAO, the USDA looks at meat availability. There is one big number that many meat-phobic folks like to use for per person meat consumption: 250 pounds per year. I’ve even seen many “real food” folks cite this number in an argument that we need “less meat, better meat.” This gigantic number comes from the USDA meat availability chart, which in the case of red meat, includes the whole carcass (bones, kidney, attached internal fat,) and for chickens, includes skin, fat, liver, gizzard and neck. This sounds like we’re eating 11 ounces of meat a day, but this is based on what’s available, not what’s actually consumed.
The USDA has a different set of numbers when adjusted for loss (what’s removed at the processor, loss at the grocery store, loss in homes), to estimate what actually is consumed.
This data shows only 27 pounds of chicken per person in 1970 compared to almost 60 pounds per person, per year in 2014. Not only are we eating more chicken, but we’re eating more sweeteners, grains and a lot more oils today. When you add total red meat plus poultry and seafood, the number is 134 pounds per year, only 0.36 pound per day. That’s 5.76 ounces of meat. This is exactly the recommendation of the US Dietary Guidelines “My Plate.” I think 0.36 pounds of animal protein (not eggs or milk) per day is much more realistic for what Americans are actually eating, on average. This would be about 45 grams of protein from meat per day.
We’re Eating Too Little Protein; Not “Too Much” Meat
To summarize, we’re eating a very low amount of protein, about 16% of total calories. It should be at least 20% of caloric intake, which means at least 100 grams of protein on a 2,000 calorie diet. When looking at meat consumption, it’s important to account for loss; from “availability” (carcass weight, pet food, other non-edible outputs from meat processing) to what actually makes it home to the consumer and into our bodies. There seems to be no incredibly accurate ways to tell exactly how much meat we’re eating, but the number is likely between 5 and 6 ounces per day, which is consistent with what the US Dietary Guidelines recommends, and is too low compared to the ADMR. Americans (and the rest of the world) are eating a lot more chicken than ever before. We’re also eating more grains, sweeteners, and vegetable oils.
Takeaways
We’re getting sicker and more overweight each year in America. We need to eat better food, and less of it in total. In order to reduce obesity, increasing protein and reducing grains, sugars, and vegetable oils (this means reducing intake of processed foods) is the right way to go. When choosing the right sources of protein, I argue that beef (and other herbivores like lamb, goats and bison) are better choices from an environmental and animal welfare perspective than other sources of animal protein. Animal protein is also a much more efficient source of protein from a caloric perspective than consuming protein from vegetarian sources, which I will dive into in my next post. We’re not eating too much protein, nor “too much” meat. We need less food, better food. Next, you’ll learn what proteins are optimal for human health, animal welfare, and the environment.
In my next installments in this series, I’ll cover:
What are the best vegetarian sources of protein?
Why don’t women eat more red meat?
And in case you missed it, read my previous posts:
How Much Protein Do We Really Need?
Meat is Magnificent: Water, Carbon, Methane and Nutrition
Why is it Necessary to Eat Animals?
It’s Impossible to be Vegan: Lessons from a 10yr Old Girl
How Much Feed Does it Take to Produce a Pound of Beef?
Another meat industry bullshit.
Abusing animals other species.
Slaughtering billions of land and sea species.
Not stating the health issues involved, cancer cause meat and dairy.
Hiding the truth, from billions of people just to make profit.
F**k u all meat dairy industries.
Haikus are supposed to be 5, 7, 5 – but great try!
Here’s one:
all life comes from death
humans are omnivores and
return to the soil
Haahaa oh that is excellent!
While I agree with the point of eating less, claiming that eating beef, lamb, bison is environmentally responsible is misleading bordering on irresponsible. Here’s a 3 minute animated video explaining the environmental costs of meat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDsSnpYZrw
Also, if a person’s diet is 16% protein, eating more meat goes against the conclusion of eating less.
If one eats less carbs, fat, etc, the percentage of protein consumed automatically rises. If the average caloric intake lies between 2141 and 3641, eating more of anything is probably not the answer.
The erroneous statistics in that video border on comical. I have no idea where they pulled those statistics and find it fascinating that they do not cite anything, as I did – please follow the links in the post and look at the data I show to back it up.
I’m not sure what you’re meaning when you say eating more meat goes against the conclusion of eating less. I pretty clearly say we need to cut out sugar, vegetable oils and processed foods, and that we need to be taking in a larger % of protein. You can certainly get your protein from beans or broccoli, but you’ll just have to eat A LOT MORE of them to get the same amount of protein you get in about a very small serving of meat.
Thank you for your informative factual article. I love reading the vegan comments – I put it down to the fact that something must be lacking in their diets that affects reasoning abilities. Keep up the good work.
Your math is a bit off. 373 calories of milk would only come to 4 cups if it’s skim milk. Many people drink 2% or whole milk, which is about 120 to 150 calories per cup respectively.
Self-report surveys should always be taken with a huge grain of salt. Most people aren’t even close to accurate when it comes to food consumption – partially due to not being honest and partially due to significantly underestimating how much they really eat.
Yes, I should have clarified that I based that on skim.
Another, bigger math problem: 0.36 pounds of meat and poultry per day = 163 grams of meat per day, not 45 grams as you stated. If Americans are really eating .36 pounds of meat and poultry per day, they are getting more than the 100 grams of protein from meat per day that you recommend.
You’re confusing amount of meat and amount of actual protein in that meat. 0.36 lbs would be 163 grams of total meat, but only about 45 grams of protein in that meat.
Is it like the sound of one hand clapping when The Reference Checker gets…Reference Checked??
Great! What about Dr. Rubenheimer’s presentation we saw at AHSNZ claiming that protein reduces lifespan?
I don’t remember exactly what he said. I’m not sure though, if it could have really been meat protein in an isolated instance, and instead perhaps looking at diets high in protein that also had lifestyle factors that influenced reduction in lifespan (stress, sleep, smoking, eating processed foods in addition to “high protein”) – these observational studies leave a lot to be desired and can’t really show cause, and I doubt he was referring to a randomized control trial, but I could be wrong.
Appreciate the research,however I have a question. I don’t see any specific detail regarding waste. It seems that USDA data accounts for loss in production, at the retail level, and during cooking, however there is no mention of the 20-25% waste for animal products that are not actually eaten by consumers. (Interestingly, far more waste seen with fruit, veg, grain–the plant foods!). Do you have any information re: waste at the consumer level ?
Consumer level waste is estimated in the USDA numbers – they discuss this briefly (not really in great detail) on their site, in their methodology section. There has been less research into meat waste than produce waste, and from what I’ve read, much of the waste comes from “processing” – however, in the case of beef, much of beef by-products are used in other sectors, so it’s not really fair to call it waste (leather, bones, fat, etc) This paper explains how difficult it is to estimate meat food waste: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5101388/