What’s the cheapest way to eat healthy?
The Role of Beef for the Lowest Cost and Adequate Provision of Bioavailable Nutrients in Modeled Diets at a Population Level in the United States
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists used math to find the cheapest way to eat all the right nutrients. They found that beef and other animal foods often give the best nutrients for the least money, especially when you consider how well your body can use them.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 5Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists used math to find the cheapest way to eat all the right nutrients. They found that beef and other animal foods often give the best nutrients for the least money, especially when you consider how well your body can use them.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 5Publication
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Claims (5)
Eating meat, especially beef, gives your body all the nutrients it needs to survive and thrive — and your body can actually use them well.
If you plan meals based on how well your body can actually absorb nutrients—like iron and zinc from meat—instead of just counting total nutrients, it ends up costing 50% to 89% more each day to meet your needs.
Beef gives you key nutrients like protein, B-12, and zinc for less money than other foods when you consider how well your body can actually use them — at least in theory, according to diet models.
When figuring out the cheapest way to eat healthy, models show that most people in the U.S. end up with foods like beef, milk, eggs, and fish in their diet — meaning animal foods often make the most sense when you want good nutrition at the lowest cost.
It might be really hard for women between 19 and 50 to get enough iron and zinc from affordable, everyday foods—even if they're trying to eat the cheapest healthy diet possible.