Dr Jacqueline Rowarth, who has been a vegetarian for nearly 50 years, on why eating more red meat can be better for your diet as well as the environment.
A month into 2024, and for some people the festive season is already a distant memory.
For others returning to their work-life normality, New Year’s resolutions about fitness, eating and drinking, and achieving more life balance are becoming difficult to maintain.
Returning to pre-New Year behaviour and saving good intentions for a blitz later in the year might seem attractive.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO — Australia’s government-funded research institute) has done the calculations to assist.
The recommendations, based on research, include eating to requirement, cutting down on “empty calories” and reducing waste.
These actions are the easiest to take and are good for you and the environment.
Of interest is that the researchers recommended increasing the consumption of red meat.
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They looked beyond the greenhouse gas emissions, commonly promoted as a reason to give up animal products, and investigated the impact of various types of food on scarce water resources and cropping land.
The CSIRO-recommended diet had an increased intake of red meat (75g raw weight a day, up from the average intake of 61g) while cutting down significantly on non-essential food (empty calories, junk food) and food waste.
The point is to eat quality food that gives the essential dietary requirements without excess energy, thereby creating the best chance of staying healthy.
Health warnings about removing animal products from the diet were published in the lead-up to Veganuary.
Dr Jacqueline Rowarth says grains, seeds and pulses have a place in the human diet, but using them as a replacement requires care — and supplements.
Researchers from Nottingham University found even four-week diets “significantly decrease” the intake of certain nutrients in former meat eaters — that is, if they don’t take dietary supplements.
The scientists didn’t say don’t take up the “no animal products” challenge, but they did say to prepare appropriately and have the necessary supplements on hand.
Temptingly, several articles have appeared during the break suggesting people on plant-based diets will lose weight more rapidly than those on an omnivore diet.
But the result is pretty much a no-brainer — if you think about what you are eating and cut back on food intake, you will lose weight … and at some point, you will run out of weight to lose.
At the end of last year, a study involving identical twins (and turned into a Netflix documentary) on an eight-week diet that was either vegan or omnivore found heart health improved for the vegan.
But the indicators were consistent with weight loss.
A secondary analysis of diet in overweight adults published by American researchers also at the end of last year (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition) found minimising the consumption of animal products and oil “may be an effective weight-loss strategy in overweight adults”.
The starting point is important — the participants were already overweight and were eating more than the CSIRO research recommends.
Fewer Kiwis shunning red meat
New Zealanders appear to be recognising a balance.
Over the past year, the number of vegans in New Zealand has decreased, and fewer Kiwis now say they are planning to reduce meat consumption.
Similarly, the International Food Information Council report indicates the number of people following a plant-based diet has decreased and the number of people focusing on a high-protein diet tops the action list.
This is good for the meat industry, and the CSIRO research suggest it is also good for the environment.
What is often forgotten in the discussion about diet is that grains, seeds, nuts, fruit and vegetables require not only flattish land where machinery can operate, but agrichemicals and water.
Ruminants are changing the food that humans can’t eat (even in feedlots most of what the animals eat is not digestible by humans) into high-quality protein that is accessible for human digestion.
Grains, seeds and pulses generally don’t, hence the results of the CSIRO research.
They have a place in the human diet but using them as a replacement requires care —and supplements.
Another aspect of food choices is price, and again the results are clear — buying ready-to-eat food is stretching the budget.
The latest Stats NZ release on the Food Price Index showed that in December 2023, the 4.8 per cent annual increase was due to price rises across the five broad food categories, with the biggest increase in price in restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food.
The 7.1 per cent increase covers the increase in wages and salaries (remembering that the minimum wage increased again in April and tends to have a knock-on effect), which to Q3 (latest data) increased by the same amount — 7.1 per cent.
Restaurant and ready-to-eat meals are now 26.9 per cent of the food expenditure by a household, increasing every year — 23 per cent in 2014, for example.
Perhaps the real New Year’s resolution should involve more of starting cooking from scratch.
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Dr Jacqueline Rowarth CNZM HFNZIAHS, adjunct professor, Lincoln University, is a director on the boards of DairyNZ, Ravensdown and Deer Industry NZ. She has been a vegetarian for nearly 50 years.
