American men have a meat problem.
Meat provides many beneficial things: It is a good source of protein and vitamins and minerals like iron, zinc and B12. But eating too much—especially processed products and red meat—is linked to health problems. Research links processed meat such as sliced ham and bacon to heart disease, stroke and some types of cancers, and unprocessed red meat might raise the risk of diabetes.
And today, American men are eating far more food in the meat, poultry and eggs category than federal guidelines recommend , largely because they are chowing down on red and processed meat.
Men 20 years old and older eat about 40 ounces of meat, poultry and eggs each week, compared with the 28 to 33 ounces the U.S. government recommends for most men up to age 60. Young and middle-aged men eat even more. High-protein diets such as keto remain popular, while the “carnivore” diet where people eat only or almost exclusively meat has gained traction, too.
Men eat 23 ounces of red and cured meats each week, compared with women’s 13.4 ounces, according to federal data.
“Men associate meat with strength and power, particularly red meat,” says Rob Velzeboer, a researcher in the Men’s Health Research Program at the University of British Columbia, who was the lead author of a paper on men, meat and masculinity published in the spring in the American Journal of Men’s Health.
He notes that public-health messages encouraging people to consume less meat may be counterproductive for many men. “It comes across as a threat” to their freedom and, by extension, their masculinity, he says.
A meaty love affair
Some studies have found that men with more traditional views of masculinity eat more meat. Men say they enjoy the taste of meat more than women say they do and associate eating meat with strength, research has found.
“There’s the idea of social dominance of a human man dominating other animals,” says Daniel Rosenfeld, a social psychologist in the department of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles who has studied what drives gender differences in meat consumption.
Men who ascribe to two particular aspects of stereotypical traditional masculinity, supporting the use of violence and placing high importance on sexual virility, eat more meat than other men, according to a study of 557 Australian and English men published in 2024 in the journal Ecology of Food and Nutrition.
Other men say they eat a lot of meat because they feel leaner and fitter when they do.
Eddie DeLaRosa eats grass-fed steak about four times a week. “My body craves red meat,” says the 55-year-old certified personal trainer in New York City. He avoids processed foods and eats a lot of vegetables like kale and spinach.
This spring, he ate even more meat for a month when he tried a version of the carnivore diet ahead of a beach vacation. “I was going to Jamaica in a couple months and wanted to get ripped up,” he says. He felt more energetic and lost weight but says the diet was “boring” and he craved vegetables.
Health concerns
Doctors and researchers are most concerned about processed meat , which includes cured and smoked products. The meat is typically loaded with sodium and often includes nitrites, preservatives used to prevent bacteria growth and extend shelf life. Excess sodium increases blood pressure, which raises the risk of heart attack and stroke. Studies have linked nitrites to colon cancer. The World Health Organization has classified processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans.”
Some studies have shown that unprocessed meat consumption is associated with heart disease and premature death. Other research has found a modest link or no link to cardiovascular disease.
Steak and hamburgers have high amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol, and red meat increases LDL, or the “bad” cholesterol, says Dr. Walter C. Willett, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
There are also more studies showing that meat consumption raises the risk of diabetes. Scientists aren’t sure why, but some researchers believe that the heme iron in red meat is at least partly to blame. Heme iron can cause inflammation and may damage the pancreas and reduce the secretion of insulin, says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and professor of nutrition and medicine at Tufts University.
Choose your meat wisely
If you do like steak and burgers, how much should you eat? One hamburger a week or one 12-ounce steak a month is a good limit for red meat, Willett says. And choose unprocessed meat over processed products like bacon, deli meat and sausage.
If you cut back on meat, don’t swap in ultra-processed foods loaded with sodium and sugar that dominate the typical American diet. Lower amounts of ultra-processed foods in meat-heavy diets is one reason that people often feel good on them, at least in the short term, says Mozaffarian.
“Unprocessed red meat is probably better for you than most packaged and processed starch and sugar-rich foods. But it’s not better for you than seafood and fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds,” he says.
For some men, cutting back on meat is a nonstarter.
Brandon Bauch of Austin, Texas, eats meat pretty much every day, usually steak or chicken and occasionally bacon. He often cooks it in his backyard grill or smoker. Bauch is so known for making a meal of a hunk of meat, and only meat—no vegetables, no other sides—that his wife made him a platter that says “Meat on a Plate.” He cooks pork or beef for his goldendoodle, Poppy, a few times a week, too.
“It’s just kind of how I was raised,” says Bauch, 53, who was born in Texas and works in the mortgage industry. He points to Austin’s wealth of good barbecue joints.
“I think we were made to eat meat,” he says.
Write to Andrea Petersen at andrea.petersen@wsj.com
