Britons have reduced their meat consumption by 17% in the last decade, but they will need to double those efforts if the country is to achieve the targets for healthy diets as well as sustainable food production that were set out in the National Food Strategy earlier this year.
Global warming and land degradation are major contributors to meat production. Consuming a lot of red and processed meat can increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other types of cancer.
For these reasons, the government-commissioned national food strategy for England recently recommended that people try to cut their meat consumption by about 30% within the next decade.
Cristina Stewart, a researcher in health behaviours at the University of Oxford, and her colleagues looked into the National Diet and Nutrition Survey dietary data to find out how much meat the UK is currently eating. The annual exercise requires a representative sample of the population, to keep a food journal for four consecutive days.
The analysis was published in Lancet Planetary Health. It found that participants' average meat consumption fell from 103g to 86g per day between 2008-9, 2018-19, and a decrease of 17g or 17%. This is equivalent to eating two-and-a-half times as many pork sausages per week.
The absolute consumption of red meat decreased by 13.7g and processed meat fell by 7g, respectively. White meat consumption increased by 3.2g.
Stewart stated: Stewart believes that the reductions we are seeing are positive but they were moving slowly. If we keep reducing our intake at this rate, we won't be able to reach these dietary goals.
White meat has a lower environmental impact than red meats. However, plant-based protein still has a lower impact. Stewart said that we hope this analysis will help us to better understand meat consumption patterns and trends, and to design public health policies to accelerate the reduction.
Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian with the British Heart Foundation said: It is encouraging to see people eat less red meat and processed meat. However, we know that there are still people who eat more than the 70g daily recommended limit, which puts them at higher risk for developing cardiovascular and circulatory disease.
To get the most out of all the protein options available, we need to look beyond meat. You can reduce the amount of processed and red meat by including plant-based protein sources like beans, lentils and nuts, and using them to bulk out your meat dishes.
The team also examined differences in total meat intake between subgroups of population. They found that white participants consumed more meat than those of minority ethnic groups regardless of income.
Stewart said that this was surprising as a lot literature suggests that lower socioeconomic status people eat more meat and red meat.
Surprise was also the fact that the highest meat-consuming people were born between the 1980s and the 1990s, while those born after 1999 were among the few who ate more.
Stewart stated: According to various surveys, younger people consider climate change and the environment more important than ever before. They also tend to be more concerned about reducing meat consumption. The subgroup was aged 19 and under. It could also be that the food they ate for the first few years of this survey was more reflective of their family's preferences than their individual preferences. It was surprising, however.
