The latest video in the North American Meat Institute’s Meat Mythcrusher series explores the differences in iron absorption between meat and vegetables. While the total amount of iron in meat compared to vegetables is similar, Lindsay Chichester, extension educator at the University of Nebraska, explains the difference between heme iron found in meat and non-heme iron from vegetable sources in the latest video.

“Our bodies can more easily absorb the iron in the heme form from meat than from vegetables in the non-heme form,” Chichester says. “For vegetarians, you need to eat 1.8 times the amount of non-heme iron to get the amount from one serving of meat.”Chichester adds eating meat with vegetables helps increase the absorption of iron from both sources.

The video also discusses the importance of iron for a variety of populations including young children, pregnant women and older adults as well as the health consequences of iron deficiency.

The newest Meat MythCrusher video is the 46th in the six year old series featuring interviews with meat scientists who bust some of the most common myths surrounding meat and poultry production and processing. Other video topics include myths surrounding meat nutrition, antibiotic use in livestock, “Superbugs” in meat, Meatless Monday, hormone use in animals, ammonia in ground beef, grass-fed beef and more.