The carnivore diet, an eating plan that restricts intake to only animal products, has gained traction as a means to eliminate carbohydrates and potentially improve gut health. However, the restrictive nature of this diet raises concerns about its nutritional adequacy and potential for nutrient deficiencies. This article delves into the nutrient profile of the carnivore diet, exploring its benefits, risks, and whether it can truly sustain long-term health.
What is the Carnivore Diet?
The carnivore diet, or carnivorous diet, is a type of eating plan that only allows for animal products, including meat, fish, poultry, and eggs. Essentially, anything not directly from an animal is off-limits for people who subscribe to a carnivorous diet. This includes all plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds.
The carnivore diet plan is most notably promoted by Shawn Baker, an MD and Orthopedic Surgeon. There are few people who eat a meat-centric diet. One example is the Alaskan native population: their traditional diet is meat-centric, including seal, whale, fish, poultry, eggs, and polar bear meat.
Potential Benefits of a Carnivore Diet
Anecdotally, some people report feeling better on the carnivore plan with weight loss, but that could be due to their reduced intake of carbohydrates and food in general. Hitting your protein goal often means that you will also hit your targets for the ‘cluster’ of nutrients that tend to accompany high-protein foods. Increasing your intake of the amino acids and the nutrients that come with them will increase your satiety and allow you to eat less while still feeling full.
The Allure of Elimination
Many individuals are drawn to the carnivore diet as a way to eliminate processed foods, highly processed vegetable oil, refined carbohydrates, and sugars. These are all sound dietary advice. Eliminating grains is another benefit for some people. The Carnivore Diet offers numerous benefits compared to standard Western diets filled with nutrient-poor and hyperpalatable foods. The carnivore diet can actually be very simple.
Read also: The Carnivore Diet: An Autoimmune Solution?
Nutrient Deficiencies on a Carnivore Diet
The primary concern with the carnivore diet lies in its potential for nutrient deficiencies. As the carnivore diet is so restrictive, there are very few benefits to this diet. A well-thought-out carnivore diet can be highly nutritious. While some non-starchy vegetables may contain more nutrients per calorie, we can’t and don’t eat very much of these foods.
Vitamins
The carnivore diet falls woefully short for B1, folate, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin K. Vitamin C is a controversial nutrient. While only 10 mg per day is required to prevent scurvy in people following an omnivorous diet it’s not hard to find people recommending mega doses of Vitamin C.
Vitamin B9 (Folate) is vital for healthy growth and development. Without vitamin B9, living cells cannot divide. Vitamin A is much more bioavailable from animal sources, and the amount of Vitamin A in our food system has been on the decline since the introduction of the 1977 US Dietary Guidelines. However, very few people on an omnivorous diet are not getting the minimum DRI For vitamin A. Vitamin A is also thought to be one of the nutrients you can overdo from food.
Minerals
There are some serious shortfalls here--calcium, magnesium, potassium, copper, and manganese are all in short supply on the carnivore diet. Strict vegans may be at risk of anemia.
Potassium is the second most significant nutrient for satiety after the amino acids that make up protein. The Recommended Daily Allowance for potassium is 4.7 g per day. If you are following a strict carnivore diet and cannot get close to your potassium intake, this is one of the few nutrients we recommend supplementing. Magnesium is another core electrolyte and micromineral. It is abundant in plant foods but, like potassium, relatively harder to get from animal foods.
Read also: The Carnivore Diet's Impact on Sleep
Fiber
The carnivore diet can lead to nutrient deficiencies, including fiber. With less fiber, people tend to have a less healthy ecosystem. The friendly bacteria that live in your gut and promote your own health and wellness need fiber to thrive; the fiber that your body cannot digest is their food. Because the keto diet largely eliminates fruit, starchy veggies and whole grains, you’re missing the fiber that only occurs in these foods.
Addressing Nutrient Deficiencies
While the carnivore diet presents several nutritional challenges, there are strategies to mitigate potential deficiencies:
Prioritizing Nutrient-Dense Animal Foods
Discover a realm where nutrient-dense meats reign supreme. Is beef the crown jewel of nutrient density, or do other carnivore diet staples hold the throne? Delve into the carnivore diet micronutrients, unmasking the nutrient profiles of various meats. The foods listed below contain more of the nutrients that Paul is currently getting less of. The foods towards the top of each list are more nutrient-dense.
Incorporating Organ Meats
While some people choose non-starchy green vegetables to supply them with harder-to-find nutrients, others add organ meats or seafood to round out their nutritional profile. It all depends on your preferences.
Supplementation
If you are following a strict carnivore diet and cannot get close to your potassium intake, this is one of the few nutrients we recommend supplementing. Paul mentioned that he supplements with magnesium and potassium (i.e.
Read also: Troubleshooting Carnivore Diet Diarrhea
Considering Seafood
While Paul does not consume seafood due to concerns about toxins like mercury, some seafood (or omega 3 supplements) would be helpful to get his ratio below 4:1 and ideally closer to 1:1. People who are creating the most nutrient-dense diets using Nutrient Optimiser tend to consume a significant amount of seafood which contains a broad range of nutrients that are harder to get from foods that are grown in nutrient-depleted soils. Seafood tends to contain a large amount of selenium, which helps with the detoxification of mercury. So long as you are not eating a lot of the fish at the top of the food chain (e.g. shark, marlin etc) the benefits of seafood (which contains a lot of other beneficial nutrients) are likely to outweigh any concerns about mercury toxicity.
Individual Considerations
Individual macronutrient needs can vary based on factors such as age, gender, activity level, and health goals. The nutrients in green indicate he is already meeting the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) for many of the essential nutrients.
Activity Level
It’s worth noting here that both Paul and Shawn are consuming a LOT of calories, so they tend to get more nutrients to support their massive amounts of activity. A lower nutrient density diet may be more of an issue for someone consuming a similar diet of mainly muscle meat, but with less total energy intake.
Pre-Existing Conditions
If you find it hard to digest food groups like carbohydrates, the answer isn’t to eliminate them entirely. The key to long term relief is understanding why they are hard to digest and addressing the root cause. We have worked with hundreds of clients with IBS, SIBO, GERD, Celiac disease, food sensitivities, and it is rare that anyone had to eliminate all carbohydrates to get symptomatic relief.
Alternative Diets
If the carnivore diet seems too restrictive, there are alternative diets that offer a more balanced approach to nutrition:
Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) Diet
AIP stands for Autoimmune Protocol. The AIP plan can be low in carbohydrates and includes animal protein, healthy fats, most vegetables and fruit (but not all nightshades). The AIP Diet eliminates grains and dairy. Nuts and seeds are typically eliminated at first, and may be reintroduced.
Keto Diet
This is a diet that is extremely low in carbohydrates and high in fat - has been used for a variety of purposes and has the most evidence to help people with epilepsy. The Keto diet is also used for weight loss.
The Importance of a Balanced Diet
Ultimately, we want our clients to be on the broadest diet possible with the fewest symptoms. And while carefully implemented elimination diets can be helpful, we want to make sure that the interventions are doing more good than harm.
The Benefits of Phytochemicals
It turns out that the phytochemicals, which protect the plant from their environment, that are denigrated by advocates of the carnivore diet, are actually protective for us as well. There is a very deep scientific literature supporting the use of these phytochemicals for our benefit. Astaxanthin, curcumin, EGCG in green tea, boswellia resin, vitamin C, beta-carotene and all the rest of the carotenoids, phytates, flavonoids, and the thousands of "medicinal" roots, seeds, and leaves containing perhaps millions of beneficial compounds. The list is very, very long.
tags: #carnivore #diet #cronometer #nutrient #deficiencies