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The risks of frequent consumption of processed meats 1:32
(CNN) - The coronavirus pandemic began to affect American hamburgers in early May.
On May 5, the fast food chain Wendy's announced that some menu items were not available; An analyst estimated that nearly one in five Wendy's franchises was meatless.
This became known after some meat processing plants in the United States had temporarily closed due to the new coronavirus.
That's because meat-packing and food-processing workers are getting sick and some are dying from covid-19.
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About 20 meatpacking and food processing workers have died from the disease, according to the International Union of Commercial and Food Workers of the United States (UFCW).
As a result of the pandemic, 22 meat packing plants have closed in the past two months. With the plants closed and stockpiled, some farmers are desperate enough to put their animals up for sale through the Craigslist website.
The closings have reduced pork slaughter capacity by 25% and beef slaughter capacity by 10%, according to the UFCW. Some supermarkets, like Costco and Kroger, are limiting the amount of meat that consumers can buy.
Prices are also rising. But despite the grim news, the potential to cut meat consumption as a result of the shortage could have a silver lining to Americans' health.
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The health benefits of eating less red meat
Americans eat a lot of meat. The average adult ate three to four servings per week from 2015 to 2016, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
That's not far from the maximum of three servings a week recommended by the World Cancer Research Fund International / American Institute for Cancer Research in a 2018 report. But at least a third of American adults eat at least one serving of red meat. every day, far exceeding the limit.
Reducing your intake of beef and pork is good for your health, said Lilian Cheung, director of Health Promotion and Communication in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
"An optimally healthy diet should be low in red meat," said Cheung, who has a doctorate in Nutrition. "There is a lot of data that [meat] increases the risk of colorectal cancer, other cancers, heart disease, diabetes and the increased risk of dying from these things."
Some of these health conditions are especially severe during the pandemic.
"With covid-19, the underlying conditions of heart disease and diabetes increase the risk," said Cheung. "It becomes much more vulnerable and increases the risk of death and complications."
In a 2011 study, which Cheung cited, researchers found that for each additional daily serving of red meat that participants ate, the risk of type 2 diabetes increased by 12%.
The numbers are clear: eating less meat is good for you.
But if you are considering reducing your meat consumption, Cheung noted that it is important to be careful about what you are going to eat instead. Making sure you get enough protein, vitamins, and minerals is key. This is what you need to know.
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Can you get enough protein without eating meat?
While many consumers wonder if they would get the right protein without eating meat, Cheung said that for most Americans, it shouldn't be a concern.
(Lack of protein is a serious threat in some developing countries or in times of famine, Cheung noted, as severe protein malnutrition can cause a nutritional disorder called kwashiorkor. It is very rare in the United States.)
The National Academy of Medicine recommends eating a little more than 7 grams of protein for every 9 kilograms of body weight. If you weigh 63 kilograms, that translates to about 50 grams of protein a day.
Cheung said it is easy to achieve that goal even without red meat.
Instead of red meats or processed meats, Cheung recommended eating fish, legumes, nuts, and seeds, all of which are healthy and rich in protein. Poultry, including turkey and chicken, are another good option.
"Poultry is fine," said Cheung. "There are no negative (health) effects seen with poultry."
It is important that Americans do not replace fresh beef and pork with processed versions, Cheung said, as those foods can bring additional health risks.
Processed meats like bacon, sausages, and deli meats are high in sodium; eating too much salt correlates with heart disease, kidney disease, osteoporosis, and cancer.
In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) considers processed meats to be carcinogenic, citing evidence that shows that consumption of processed meats causes colorectal cancer. There are also associations between processed meats and pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer.
How to get enough vitamins and minerals
While most Americans are getting plenty of protein, Cheung said there are other vitamins and minerals that are key and found in red meat; These should be replaced if the intake of red meat is reduced, especially vitamin B12 and iron.
"Iron can be a problem because other foods don't contain as much iron as red meat," he said, adding that the mineral is easily replaced with supplements. "Taking a multiple vitamin that contains iron is easy and not very expensive." Increasing your intake of iron-rich foods like green leafy vegetables, oysters, lentils, and soy is another good option.
For strict vegetarians or vegans, Cheung said it's worth making sure they get enough vitamin B12, too.
This vitamin, which supports the function of the brain and nerve cells, is found in beef, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy, so simply reducing beef won't be a problem. Fortified products like nutritional yeast, breakfast cereal, and enriched plant-based milks also contain B12.
If you are not getting enough of this vitamin in your diet, Cheung recommended looking for a vitamin B12 supplement.
Are vitamins more effective intravenously? 1:42Adjust your kitchen routines
Whether you're avoiding eating meat for health reasons, or simply to cut your grocery expenses during the pandemic, making the change will mean creating new habits in the kitchen.
When considering a diet change, it's worth making it easy, said Brian Kateman, editor of "The Reducetarian Cookbook." Kateman's cookbook proposes easy ways to trade animal proteins for plant-based foods.
"If you're a person who likes to make burritos, make a burrito," he said. Instead of beef or pork, he suggested adding more vegetables or avocado. "It's so much smarter to just eat the foods you're used to and do a one-on-one exchange."
When you're hungry for a snack, Kateman recommends looking for a handful of walnuts. "Walnuts have a lot of protein," he said. But for maximum nutrition at a low cost, Kateman said legumes, which include lentils, beans and peanuts, are hard to beat.
Both tofu and tempeh are made from soy, which is also a legume. If you're not familiar with how to make them, Kateman suggested experimenting with edamame, green soybeans that is available in the freezer sections of many grocery stores and can be eaten boiled.
Some recipes from Kateman's cookbook are available online; He recommended starting with a homemade vegetable tart or the bowl of high-fiber broccoli pesto noodles.
It doesn't matter what you decide, but both Kateman and Cheung emphasized that reducing your meat intake doesn't require a big change in your lifestyle.
"We make food choices every day, generally three times a day," he said. "Many people think that meat consumption is all or nothing, but that is not true."
