Boosting beef demand: research

I can speak from very personal experience that research creates beef demand.

A new study from Kansas State and Michigan State universities, reported elsewhere in this issue, documents this, pointing out that in the 2002-2005 period, the Atkins Diet raised beef demand by 2%. I have been on maintenance from the Atkins Diet that I started six years ago, and remain at the same 155 pounds that I dropped to from 205 at that time.

I eat a heavy meat and protein diet, along with lots of salad and vegetables. I never did like sweets, can do without potatoes and buy low-carb bread and pasta. That was the essence of the Atkins Diet. It fit the way I liked to eat anyway and came along at the right time.

Subsequent studies have shown that it is easier to stick with, and that a low-carb regime does cause the body to burn fat.

I could tell at the time that a lot more beef was being sold to Atkins dieters. I'm glad for this academic research to document what I knew to be true. What is funny is that there were hundreds of low carb products for sale back in the Atkins heyday. Most were expensive and tasted bad. The low-carb bread and pasta are all that have endured, primarily because they taste like the real thing, and are heavily prescribed for diabetics.

But the major point is, yes, the beef-consuming public is swayed by scientific research and marketing of it like the Atkins Diet did. The fact that the Atkins Diet alone, a tiny corner, really, of the whole food melieu, drove beef consumption up 2% by itself, shows the potential for scientifically documenting other health-giving properties of beef, and getting these facts popularized among the consuming public, as the Atkins diet did.