Iron deficiency, and the anemia it causes, remains a persistent global health issue that can only be exacerbated by a war on meat waged by climate alarmists, whose hostility to animal protein is a manifestation of an anti-human ideology.

Growing up in South Asia, I observed a dietary practice in India where doctors prescribed moderate consumption of red meat for individuals with severe anemia, especially women during pregnancy. According to the World Health Organization, more than 40% of children and pregnant women in India and parts of Sub-Saharan Africa are anemic. 

The most common symptom of anemia is persistent fatigue, a product of the inability of iron-starved red blood cells to adequately supply oxygen to the body. The cardiovascular system is stressed significantly by the condition.

Studies in 204 countries between 1990 and 2019 show that the most prevalent cause of iron deficiency is a dietary lack of heme iron, a form of the element found in meat.

“Meat is acknowledged as a vital iron source due to its heme iron content, which is more readily absorbed than non-heme iron from plants,”  reports an article published in the U.K., where anemia is said to be a long-standing problem for the elderly, teenage girls and women of childbearing age. Meat’s heme iron also boosts the absorption of non-heme iron from foods eaten during the same meal, according to research.

Cooked beef has the highest heme iron content, followed by lamb, pork and chicken.

According to 2021 data from the Institute for Health Metric and Evaluation, anemia rates were worst in Western sub-Saharan Africa, where 47% of the population suffered from the condition. Other severely affected regions were South Asia and Central sub-Saharan Africa, both with incidence rates of about 36%.  Conversely, the incidence of anemia was less than 7% in North America, Western Europe, and Australasia, where the consumption of red meat was higher.

However, red meat, especially beef, gets no love from the climate-obsessed, who claim that methane, a byproduct of a cow’s digestion, threatens to warm the atmosphere to dangerous levels — an alarm that has no scientific basis.

The evidence is overwhelming that the climate scare is supported by a gross exaggeration of the warming potential of methane as well as that of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, the last being a critical plant food without which no life could exist.

Even some of those concerned about a manmade climate emergency acknowledge that methane emissions from animal husbandry are not a significant factor. Yet, that didn’t stop the governing council of certain Melbourne suburbs from encouraging a switch to “plant-based diets” to avert a “looming climate and ecological crisis.”

“There is substantial evidence to suggest that the emissions associated with current dietary patterns—particularly the high and increasing rate of consumption of animal products—are likely to make it impossible to limit global heating,” warned the Yarra City Council in an 81-page document.

The hot air passed by even the largest herd of cattle could not be more offensive than that produced by such poppycock.

Atmospheric methane has a short lifespan of just 12 years. Through a natural process, it is converted to carbon dioxide, which is utilized as plant food by way of photosynthesis. Eventually, methane emitted by cows circulates back to them in the form of grass and other forage. The warming effect of any additions of the gas — whether from animals, decaying vegetation or industrial activity — is so small as to be undetectable.

Human civilization took many centuries to perfect the art of agriculture and animal husbandry to the point that enough iron-rich food could be produced for a world of 8 billion people. Having accomplished this remarkable feat, some would impose a meatless dystopia of malnutrition in response to a non-existent climate crisis.

This is, of course, intolerable.

This commentary was first published at BizPac Review on July 20, 2024.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, U.K., and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, U.K.