SCOUTING REPORT | Beef benefits, disgusting ticks, scaring wolves, making young readers

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At the height of grilling season, South Dakota State University brings good news to steak and burger enthusiasts. A study by school researchers finds evidence that red meat can improve nutrients that support mental health and favorable gut microbial diversity.

“What was really compelling was the significant nutritional benefit we saw in healthy eaters who consumed red meat,” said Samitinjaya Dhakal, an assistant professor in SDSU’s School of Health and Human Sciences. “This suggests the public health message shouldn't be about complete elimination, but rather about building a high-quality diet into which lean red meat can fit.”

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The research is based on a database of 4,915 adults in the American Gut Project, the largest open-source microbiome initiative so far. The test subjects were broken into four groups based on their diets and red meat consumption. Categories were based on the United States Department of Agriculture’s Healthy Eating Index. One category included healthy eaters who included red meat in their diets, healthy eaters who don’t eat red meat, low-health diets with red meat, and low-health diets without red meat.

The key, the study concluded, was a healthy diet.

“What we saw is that people following a high-quality diet maintained a healthy weight, regardless of whether they ate red meat or not,” Dhakal said. “But within that healthy context, the red meat consumers showed a benefit not just in protein intake, but importantly, in meeting their needs for brain health-critical nutrients like zinc, selenium, vitamin B12 and choline.”

Those in higher eating indexes had lower rates of depression, PTSD and bipolar disorder. The research was presented this summer at Nutrition 2025, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition. It took place in Orlando, Florida.

“Our findings support a less rigid approach to healthy eating,” Dhakal said. “It shows that focusing on overall dietary pattern is a more powerful tool for long-term well-being than just rigidly eliminating specific foods.”

In more red meat news, a story that could be horrifying for some. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning that as many as 450,000 people in the country now have a disease that makes them allergic to red meat and other foods. Known as alpha-gal syndrome, the disease is thought to be transmitted by ticks, a disgusting insect known to torment dogs, cats, humans and other animals.