Fewer Vegetarians Out There Than You Think

Sometimes because of all the social media hype and talk of Meatless Mondays, I get the impression that there are a lot of vegetarians out there. However when I was visiting with National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Executive Director of Human Nutrition Research Dr. Shalene McNeill she shares that that isn’t the case.
McNeill: “It is a very small percent of the population that is actually eating a vegetarian diet. Just last week on the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans meeting where they were having a public webinar — one of the things that were brought out even among those report being vegetarian a lot of them are still eating some meat in their diet. So aren’t many strict, strict vegetarians out there.
In fact according to NCBA ’s Consumer Beef Index report — only about 1 percent of U.S. consumers say they are strict vegetarians. Worldwide the rates are about 2 to 3 percent. Dr. McNeill shares another interesting vegetarian statistic.
McNeill: “There have been surveys conducted of vegetarians and we think of vegetarians becoming vegetarians for health reasons but actually the number one reason that vegetarians say they start eating meat again is for their health. They say they felt like they just needed it — that they felt better when they were eating meat. So health is the biggest reason that vegetarians go back to eating meat. So I think that is super interesting.”
I for one am happy to welcome them back to the carnivore table. Animal protein like beef provides important essential nutrients like zinc, iron and B vitamins.