When most people think of red meat, they probably imagine beef.

There are many different beef products and cuts of beef, ranging from hamburgers to rib eye steaks.

While mainstream health advice often dictates selecting the leanest cuts of red meat, fatty cuts of beef are perfectly healthy.

Nutrition Facts

Here are the nutrient values for ground beef meat per 100g.

Benefits

• Despite fearmongering over the fat content of beef, the main fatty acid in beef is none other than oleic acid. If you haven’t heard of it before, then it’s the main fat in olive oil (and known as “heart healthy”).
• Beef contains a wide variety of beneficial compounds that include creatine, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and glutathione.

Concerns

• Excessive beef consumption can increase circulating iron to unhealthy levels in some individuals. These high levels can increase the risk of various cancers and cardiovascular disease. This risk is especially the case in those with a genetic mutation called hemochromatosis, which causes over-absorption of heme iron.
• Overcooking beef (burning) can lead to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs). Both of these compounds are carcinogens, but we can minimize their risks by sensibly cooking meat.