On Thursday, February 25, 2016, Dr. Eric Berg gave a presentation at South Dakota State University on “Eating Like a Pig: The Role of Meat in the Human Diet” as part of the University’s Speakers series. Berg, a Professor of Meat Science from North Dakota State University, discussed a variety of topics including how the USDA Food Pyramid was developed, limitations in human nutrition research, how the US diet has evolved throughout the years, and how those changes have significant implications on human health.
Presentation by Dr. Eric Berg, Professor, North Dakota State University.
The Importance of Balanced Nutrition
Berg also emphasized the importance of eating a diet balanced in all the essential food groups. His research on human health utilized pigs as a model since pigs and people are omnivores, and their anatomy and physiology are very similar. His research demonstrated that pigs do very poorly when fed a typical human diet that lacks balanced protein. In fact, pigs fed this diet were stunted and exhibited extra intramuscular fat compared to pigs fed a typical pig diet.
“We’ve known for 100 years that it is not just protein that’s important, but the amino acids that make up the protein,” Berg says. “Corn can be high in protein, but it is low in availability of essential amino acids. We would never just feed corn to pigs, but balance their diet with a legume like soybeans to balance essential amino acids and then add vitamins and minerals.”
Unfortunately, human nutrition lags behind animal nutrition. “We snack ourselves into non-nutrition,” Berg says. “We may have a whole-grain bagel for breakfast and then snack on something else for lunch. As a result, our diet is out of balance.” The biggest source of balanced protein is meat, including red and processed meat, according to Berg. All the essential amino acids are contained in a serving of meat.
About Dr. Eric Berg
Berg is widely recognized for his meat research, which spans 26 years of work. Last year he was asked to testify at hearings for the USDA Dietary Guidelines Advisory committee at the National Institute of Health. Dr. Berg was sponsored by the SDSU Swine Club.
