(P05-011-23) The Cost of Substituting Red Meat or Processed Meat for Other High-Protein Food Sources

Objectives: A common recommendation to improve diet quality is to substitute red meat and processed meat products with poultry, fish, or plant proteins. However, the cost of those protein substitutions has not been well described in the literature. The objective of this study is to investigate the affordability of substituting meat with other healthier alternatives, we examined the association between substituting 1 ounce equivalent (oz. eq.) of red meat or 1 oz. eq. of processed meat with other specific protein sources, including poultry, seafood, eggs, and plant proteins, on overall food expenditures.

Methods: We used data from the USDA’s National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS). High protein food acquisitions of red meat, processed meat, poultry, plant proteins, seafood (high in omega-3 and low in omega-3), were identified and standardized by Adult Male Equivalents. Survey adjusted generalized linear models were done. We investigated the effect of substituting 1 oz. eq. of red or processed meat with an equivalent amount of other protein foods, including poultry, seafood, plant proteins, and eggs, on total food expenditures by simultaneously including both protein items as continuous variables in the multivariable model.

Results: Replacing red meat or processed meat with equivalent amounts of other sources of protein, including poultry, eggs, and plant proteins, had no significant effect on total diet cost. However, replacing red or processed meat with fish and seafood was associated with a 5% increase in total diet cost and a 12% increase when replacing meat with seafood high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Conclusions: Following the dietary guidelines recommendations to replace red and processed meat with other healthier sources of protein, such as poultry, and plant proteins, could be cost-neutral, but replacing them with fish, and seafood (particularly seafood high in n-3), may significantly increase the total household diet cost.

Funding Sources: DOA was supported by a Center for a Livable Future-Lerner fellowship. CLF had no role in the design, methods, analysis, interpretation, writing or decision to submit this study.