If you're a Mongolian adult with type 2 diabetes and eat a lot of meat, your body might store more iron — and this could be because meat adds extra iron to your system.

In Mongolian adults with type 2 diabetes, eating meat affects both ferritin levels and heart disease risk, but ferritin doesn’t seem to be the reason for that link.

Eating more red meat—like beef or lamb—might help women of childbearing age in rich countries keep healthier iron levels, especially if they eat between a small steak and a large one every day.

In Mongolian adults with type 2 diabetes, high ferritin levels don’t seem to be linked to body-wide inflammation — they might just come from eating a lot of iron-rich foods instead.

Even if vegetarians eat more iron than meat-eaters, they might still be more likely to be low on iron because the kind of iron in plants isn't as easily absorbed by the body.

Eating red meat every day might help your body store more iron than eating chicken or fish — one study says people who eat red meat daily have nearly a third more stored iron in their blood.