Not long ago, news media were abuzz with a study by NutriRECS that concluded that consuming red meat was not so unhealthy as everyone had long supposed (Johnson et al., 2019; Kolata, 2019). Unfortunately, the research exhibited many flaws – including hidden conflicts of interest and inappropriate and biased methodology (Harvard School of Public Health, 2019; Parker-Pope & O’Connor, 2019; Zhong et al., 2020). But one core premise of the study was particularly striking. The NutriRECS panel considered just two factors: personal preferences and health risks. They assumed that the only science relevant to dietary choices was nutritional content or long-term health effects – a view widely promoted by others as well (see “The Science of Beef” lessons from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture or Diana Rodgers and Robb Wolf’s recent book, Sacred Cow). Hence, this month’s Sacred Bovine.
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