Red meat?

Absolutely!

That’s the conclusion of Healthline, which is the world’s fastest-growing health-information site with over 200 million people going there every month and a medical network of over 100 professionals covering more than 50 specialties.

Here are some of their findings:

1. Red meat is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat.
It is loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and various other nutrients that can have profound effects on health.

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2. Eat more real red meat, but not processed meat.
A massive review of 20 studies including 1,218,380 individuals found that processed meat was associated with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. However, no similar association was found for unprocessed red meat.

In the EPIC study, a very large observational study including 448,568 people, processed meat increased the risk of death, while no effect was seen for unprocessed red meat.

Processed meat is anything that has been preserved by curing, salting, smoking, drying or canning—so sausage, hot dogs, salami, ham, jerky, canned meat, etc.

3. Choose the right red meat: grass-fed beef.
Cattle that consume a natural diet of grass — rather than grain — produce meat that is higher in healthy omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants.

4. Cook your red meat right.
When meat is cooked at a high temperature, it can form harmful compounds.

These include heterocyclic amines (HAs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and advanced glycation end-products (AGEs).

These substances can cause cancer in animals.

If meat really raises your risk of cancer, which has yet to be proven, this may be the reason.

But this doesn’t only apply to meat, other foods can also form harmful compounds when heated excessively.

Here are some tips to ensure your meat doesn’t form these harmful substances:

1. Use gentler cooking methods like stewing and steaming instead of grilling and frying.
2. Minimize cooking at high heats and never expose your meat to a flame.
3. Do not eat charred and/or smoked food. If your meat is burnt, cut away the charred pieces.
4. If you marinate your meat in garlic, red wine, lemon juice or olive oil, it can reduce HAs significantly.
5. If you must cook at a high heat, flip your meat frequently to prevent it from burning.

4. Bottom line, according to Healthline:
When you look past the scare tactics and sensationalist headlines, you realize that there is no strong evidence linking red meat to disease in humans.