The Role of Red Meat in Healthy and Sustainable New Zealand Diets report shows that human and environmental wellbeing does not have to be traded off when it comes to consuming moderate amounts of pasture-raised red meat.
B+LNZ’s head of nutrition Fiona Windle says the last report reflected how the evidence had changed over time. It had new sections on food systems and sustainable nutrition, and had more detail on NZ farming practices.
It navigated through the science around red meat, outlining red meat’s key nutrients and micronutrients, and summarised the latest findings around red meat consumption and the risk of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes and mental health.
It also looks at farming practices and red meat production in NZ, its greenhouse gas emissions, effect on land use and impact on water quality and biodiversity.
It is the fourth edition of the report, having last been updated in 2015.
“It’s a new edition on the back of two decades of having a report that underpins our nutrition messaging,” Windle said.
For farmers, the report showed there is strong evidence to support the role of red meat in diets.
“It’s helping to reassure New Zealanders that they can continue to eat red meat in a way that they can feel proud to support a product that is raised sustainably and is good for them and their family and that the evidence is supporting that,” she said.
A new survey by Colmar Brunton showed that around three-quarters of New Zealanders believe that red meat is good for health and wellbeing.
“I think farmers can feel reassured there is still a strong recognition of red meat’s place in the diet and the latest report helps support the evidence to drive that message,” she said.
There were often polarising arguments around whether red meat should be eaten from an environmental and nutritional standpoint. Windle says the report presented the evidence from a NZ perspective for people to use as a reference document during these arguments.
She hoped it would be used to inform discussions and be used as a reference document by policy makers and those who are influential in the industry.
The report was released at the Homeland restaurant in Auckland where a panel of academics and nutritionists outlined its findings to a packed audience.
Lincoln University Professor Derrick Moot says international academia have largely realised that NZ red meat is farmed differently than in most countries.
“While our voice may not always be heard on a global scene as to what we are doing, academia overseas know what we do, are proud of what we do and try to learn from us,” he said.
Riddet Institute deputy director professor Warren McNabb says people advocating for a more plant-based diet forgot that our normal diet was about 85% plant-based and 15% animal based.
“What you are seeing is this clash between the environmental consequences of animal farming and perceived health imbalances that are bringing more interest to plant-based products and consequently there’s been a lot of products appearing in the marketplace,” McNabb said.
He says from a health perspective, the differences in the amounts of trace elements and micronutrients between plant-based diets and animal products was critical.
Animal products are reasonably concentrated in nutrients while plants generally were not.
From a nutritional perspective, dietitian Andrea Braakhuis says “the very dull message of moderation” was key when asked about red meat’s place in the diet.
“It’s a very difficult sell when we’re up against celebrities selling diets or up against entertainment posed as science leaning towards propaganda, that’s a really hard job for us to get that across,” she said.
When the panel was asked how they could fix NZ’s food system, have better conversations around nutrition and tell farming stories better if given a blank cheque, Moot says we need to educate our own population about our agricultural systems.
“My blank cheque takes anyone that wants to, to any farm system they want to see in NZ and then it says, let’s compare that to what’s happening elsewhere,” he said.
“Let’s inform and reintroduce the population to what we do as an industry and stop being embarrassed that we are the only OECD country that’s based on agricultural production.”
