Over the past 50 years, agricultural activities has been significantly increases to keep up with the growing population of the world. A regular meat diet of human mostly consists of beef, pork, lamb and chicken. Meat is recognized to be a significant part of the human diet because it provides good source of nutrients, including great amount of proteins and micronutrients such as iron, vitamin B12 etc. However, meat intake should be restricted as research shown that meat, especially processed meat, are a risk factor of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Meat are identified as the richest source of proteins. Proteins, made from amino acids is an essential component to muscles building in human. However, as the human body can only produce 60% of the amino acids compulsory for protein synthesis, the missing 40% has to come from external diet (de Castro Cardoso Pereira et.al, 2013). Meat is the ideal source as it consist of all the essential amino acids. However, studies found that these amino acids could also be obtained by combining legumes and wheat gluten in diet. By substituting meat with other protein food sources, such as fish, nuts and low-fat dairy products in diet have also concluded to significantly lower the risk of mortality (Harvard, 2014).
Iron is a vital component in the human body. It is known to present in a wide range of foods. In accordance to many findings, iron deficiency can results in impairment of biological functions, particularly in the growth and development of children. Heme-iron, which is only available in animal foods, is the better form of iron as it is high in bioavailability and can be easily absorbed by the human body (de Castro Cardoso Pereira et.al, 2013). Non-heme iron, which is an inverse to heme-iron, is mostly found in legumes, dairy products and cruciferous vegetables. Even though, legumes such as beans are the only source of iron in some population, this intake is not highly recommended, as some studies have shown that legumes may weaken iron absorption as they consist of non-digestible carbohydrates (de Castro Cardoso Pereira et.
