Dietary Guidelines Confirm Beef’s Nutritional Benefits

DENVER (Jan. 13, 2005)  Nutrient-rich foods should play a prominent role in a healthy diet, according to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A key message conveyed by the new Dietary Guidelines is that Americans should select nutrient-rich foods from all food groups and lead more active lives, rather than rely on special diets as a path to good health.   

Calorie-for-calorie, lean beef packs more nutrients into fewer calories than many other animal proteins, and today’s beef is leaner than ever before.  A total of 19 cuts of beef qualify as ”lean” under government labeling guidelines, according to the USDA Nutrient Database. Many of these cuts are 20 per cent leaner than USDA data indicated just 14 years ago.

Research funded by America’s beef producers through the national Beef Checkoff Program has helped showcase the nutritional quality of beef, and educate the public about beef’s nutritional benefits. These efforts were coordinated on behalf of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).  The NCBA serves as one of the Beef Board’s contractors for checkoff-funded programs.

“The Dietary Guidelines confirm that people can not only enjoy the flavor and quality of lean beef but they can also feel good about it being part of a healthy diet,” said Cattlemen’s Beef Board member Wade Zimmerman, a Sugar City, Colo. cattle producer and chairman of the beef industry’s Joint Nutrition and Health Committee. “Eating beef is a pleasure - but not a guilty pleasure - when incorporated into a balanced diet of nutrient-rich foods.   

“Beef producers should be very pleased with the place beef holds in these very sensible and realistic Dietary Guidelines. It is gratifying to see these guidelines promote a diet that Americans can actually stick with, and enjoy their favorite foods while still leading a healthy lifestyle.”

Editor’s Note: Formal reference for USDA Nutrient Database is:

USDA Nutrient Database, Release 17, www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp

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The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval. The checkoff assessment became mandatory when the program was approved by 79 percent of producers in a 1988 national referendum vote. Checkoff revenues may be used for promotion, education and research programs to improve the marketing climate for beef.

Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the NCBA is the trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.