Does eating meat help your body have more iron?
Is Higher Consumption of Animal Flesh Foods Associated with Better Iron Status among Adults in Developed Countries? A Systematic Review
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Meat, especially red meat, has a special kind of iron that your body can use easily. This study looked at whether people who eat more meat have healthier iron levels.
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 520 / 100
Evidence Score
The highest quality evidence. These studies systematically search, appraise, and synthesize results from multiple individual studies, providing the most reliable summary of current knowledge.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Meat, especially red meat, has a special kind of iron that your body can use easily. This study looked at whether people who eat more meat have healthier iron levels.
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 520 / 100
Evidence Score
The highest quality evidence. These studies systematically search, appraise, and synthesize results from multiple individual studies, providing the most reliable summary of current knowledge.
Publication
Authors
Jackson J, Williams R, McEvoy M, MacDonald-Wicks L, Patterson A
Related Content
Claims (6)
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're a premenopausal woman, especially an endurance athlete, eating more meat might help keep your iron levels up and reduce your chances of being low on iron.
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.
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.
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.