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Meat is good for you Get the balance right Recipes Downloads Welfare Teachers Women and girls lack iron Meat is traditionally viewed as an important source of iron. Data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey show that over 40% of woman aged 19 to 34 years have iron intakes that are likely to be too low for their needs. Indeed, the same survey found that up to 16% of women (and 4% of men) were clinically deficient in iron. In surveys of children, 16% of pre-schoolers were found to have inadequate iron intakes. This rose to 50% in teenage girls. The main source of iron in the UK diet is cereal products, which contain the ‘non haem’ variety of iron that is known to be poorly absorbed by the human body. In contrast, meat, which contributes a fifth of iron intakes, contains ‘haem’ iron which is well absorbed. It could be said that the iron in meat is nutritionally superior to the iron in cereals and vegetables. Certainly, in the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, people who ate red meat were more likely to have a good iron status.

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