UK Nutrition Committee Recommends Reducing Red Meat Intake

The U.K. Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) has issued a
February 25, 2011, Health and Iron Report recommending that the general
population eat no more than 500 grams of red and processed meat per week,
or 70 grams per day. At the request of the Committee on Medical Aspects of
Food and Nutrition Policy, which in 1998 linked red and processed meat to
colorectal cancer risk, SACN undertook “a comprehensive review of the role
of iron in human nutrition,” including “potential adverse effects both of iron
deficiency and of iron excess.” It ultimately concurred with the earlier findings
that “high consumers of red and processed meat should consider reducing
their intakes because of possible links with a risk of colorectal cancer.”

SACN particularly noted that adults consuming more than 90 grams of red
and processed meat per day “should consider reducing their intakes” to
reflect the population average of 70 grams per day (cooked weight), a dietary
change that would have “little impact on the proportion of the adult population
with low iron intakes.” The advisory committee also emphasized the need
for more research geared toward updating the dietary reference values for
iron, and cautioned that some population groups—toddlers, girls, women of
reproductive age, and some adult groups older than age 65—were still at risk
for iron deficiency and anemia.

SACN also recommended “a public health approach to achieving adequate
iron status based on a healthy balanced diet that includes a variety of foods
containing iron.” According to the report, “This is a change to current dietary
advice that iron-rich foods should be consumed at the same time as foods/
drinks which enhance iron absorption (e.g., fruit, meat) but should not be
consumed with those that inhibit iron absorption (e.g., tea, coffee, milk).” See
The Telegraph and SACN Press Release, February 19, 2011.