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Not All Red Meat Is Equally Bad For The Heart!

It is now common knowledge that sea fish is excellent for the health of the heart as it is the only source of the sea source omega-3 fatty acids in our food and it protect us from the coronary artery disease.

It is also a common belief that all red meat viz. mutton, beef, and pork are bad for the heart while the white meat, viz. turkey and chicken, are fine for the heart.

Researchers now label all meat, red as well as white, as equally bad for the health of the heart.

But it will be impractical to expect all the non vegetarian people to turn vegetarian overnight.

But even amongst the meats, the amount of calories, the total fat, the saturated fat, the cholesterol and the protein contents of meats vary.

So we can still grade the available meats according to their calorie, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and the protein contents.

The most commonly consumed red meat in our country is what is called mutton, which in fact is not one kind of meat. Both goat and lamb meat are called ‘mutton’, and not many people know exactly which meat they buy as mutton.

Nutritionally goat meat is much better than lamb meat.

Goat meat is actually lower in calories, total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol than not just lamb, pork and beef meats, but also chicken meat. This makes goat meat the healthier red meat, even better than chicken.

A 100 gm serving of cooked goat meat contains about 142 calories compared to chicken 185, beef 207, pork 209 and lamb 205 calories per 100 gm.

Goat meat has 3 gm of total fat, 0.93 gm of saturated fat, 75 mg of cholesterol and 27 gm of protein per 100 gm serving.

Chicken meat has 4 gm of total fat, 1 gm of saturated fat, 85 mg of cholesterol and 31 gm of proteins per 100 gm.

Turkey meat has 3.6 gm of total fat, 1 gm of saturated fat, 109 mg of cholesterol and 21 gm of protein per 100 gm.

All other meats fare even more poorly in comparison to goat meat.

Additionally, goat meat has higher levels of iron than the other meats. It has 3.8 mg iron per 100 gm serving while beef has 3.4 mg, pork has 3.1 mg, lamb has 1.6 mg and chicken has 1.7 mg of iron per 100 gm.

Goat meat also has higher levels of potassium and lower levels of sodium than the other four types of meat. Thus it is a healthier option for people with hypertension, heart and kidney disease.

Thus goat meat is superior to all the four other types of meat including chicken meat.

So other than fish, goat meat is the best meat to consume. As always, eating moderately is the key.

One can consume 250 gm goat meat in a day, and still satisfy the upper safe limit of cholesterol consumption allowable to a person with high cholesterol levels viz. 200 mg.

Thus, if you are a mix food person, you should consider fish, goat, and chicken as the non-vegetarian options in your food, in that order. You can keep off the lamb, pork, and beef.

Other than providing you a very good source of proteins and iron, goat meat also provides you a vital nutrient in vitamin B12, which is completely absent in vegetarian food. This is significant since many Indians suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency. Iron from flesh sources is also absorbed better than that from the vegetable sources. Thus goat meat also helps prevent anaemia.

Hence eating goat meat in moderation is a good option if you are a mixed food person.

And it is perfectly fine if you are a pure lacto-vegetarian as long as you take balanced nutrition, eat ample vegetables, especially leafy vegetables, and fruits and drink ample skimmed milk. Milk provides the necessary high quality proteins as well as all the vitamin B 12 you need.

Read the articles The Basics Of Nutrition and Can I Eat A Whole Egg on this website for more information.