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Interestingly, ~12% of humans in the US are responsible for ~50% of beef consumption. > The US is the biggest consumer of beef in the world, but, according to

Interestingly, ~12% of humans in the US are responsible for ~50% of beef consumption. > The US is the biggest consumer of beef in the world, but, according to new research, it’s actually a small percentage of people who are doing most of the eating. A recent study shows that on any given day, just 12% of people in the US account for half of all beef consumed in the US. > Men and people between the ages of 50 and 65 were more likely to be in what the researchers dubbed as “disproportionate beef eaters”, defined as those who, based on a recommended daily 2,200 calorie-diet, eat more than four ounces – the rough equivalent of more than one hamburger – daily. The study analyzed one-day dietary snapshots from over 10,000 US adults over a four-year period. White people were among those more likely to eat more beef, compared with other racial and ethnic groups like Black and Asian Americans. Older adults, college graduates, and those who looked up MyPlate, the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) online nutritional educational campaign, were far less likely to consume a disproportionate amount of beef. High steaks society: who are the 12% of people consuming half of all beef in the US? - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/20/beef-usda-climate-crisis-meat-consumption https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/20/beef-usd... - October 20th, 2023 Demographic and Socioeconomic Correlates of Disproportionate Beef Consumption among US Adults in an Age of Global Warming - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/17/3795 https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/17/3795 | https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15173795 https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15173795 - August 2023 (my observation of this is that we can sunset quite a bit of US beef production and still be fine from a food supply and security perspective, as consumption greatly exceeds healthy consumption limits in the aggregate)

psunavy03 10mo ago
[flagged]
- toomuchtodo 10mo ago
  I'm simply observing the trajectories we're on due to climate change, input costs, and the aging out of beef cattle ranchers (in this context, projected beef supply, cost, and downstream consumption patterns from those inputs). We simply have to do nothing as the economics shrinks beef herds over time, pushing prices up. Think consumption death spiral as the the affordability of beef dwindles. Beef ranchers are uncertain of the future, so they are sending more heads to slaughter, capitalizing on very favorable prices, versus expanding their herds for the future. What does this do to future herd sizes and therefore supply and cost to the consumer? Add the gestational period of cattle to that mental model. When these processing plants close, how long will it take to build new ones or start mothballed ones back up if herd sizes increase years from now? Will you be able to find communities who will accept these plants again? Where will you find the workers? More US Beef Plants May Close as Cattle Herds Keep Shrinking - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-19/more-us-beef-plants-may-close-as-cattle-herds-keep-tightening https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-19/more-us-b... | https://archive.today/vccTl https://archive.today/vccTl - December 19th, 2025 What happens to a small Nebraska town when 3,200 workers lose their jobs - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46362052 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46362052 - December 2025 ("Tyson says it’s closing the plant [Lexington, Nebraska] to “right-size” its beef business after a historically low cattle herd in the U.S. and the company’s expected loss of $600 million on beef production next fiscal year." Beef prices have soared in the US — and not just during grilling season - https://apnews.com/article/beef-prices-record-high-cattle-steak-cows-e9fc33bbaec6a76fb243e277bbbb7c0e https://apnews.com/article/beef-prices-record-high-cattle-st... - July 21st, 2025 Droughts, complicated by climate change, result in US beef herd hitting historic low - https://investigatemidwest.org/2024/03/13/droughts-complicated-by-climate-change-lead-to-historically-dwindling-us-beef-herd/ https://investigatemidwest.org/2024/03/13/droughts-complicat... - March 13th, 2024 U.S. Cattle Inventory Smallest in 73 years - https://www.fb.org/market-intel/u-s-cattle-inventory-smallest-in-73-years https://www.fb.org/market-intel/u-s-cattle-inventory-smalles... - February 5th, 2024 (think in systems)
  - xp84 10mo ago
    Since this is a market economy, I assume equilibrium will eventually be reached. Lower supply raises prices, new entrants see an opportunity to make money raising cattle, prices start to come down.
    - toomuchtodo 10mo ago
      Supply won’t increase for at least half a decade, as my comments communicate.
- Dylan16807 10mo ago
  Don't be like that. They're just looking at how the numbers change with/without this semi-outlier chunk of the curve.
  - Onawa 10mo ago
    They were referencing the last paragraph of the OP, about being able to safely sunset a large portion of beef production.
    - Dylan16807 10mo ago
      Looking at a theoretical shift in production is not "wanting to stand in loco parentis". It would be safe. That's a different question from how we make decisions, or who makes those decisions.
      - toomuchtodo 10mo ago
        Precisely. I'm saying if we let the production capacity evaporate, which appears to be the trajectory we're on, there will be no harm. Will people be sad or have strong feelings about a luxury good being unaffordable? Potentially, and that's unfortunate.
parliament32 10mo ago
> defined as those who, based on a recommended daily 2,200 calorie-diet, eat more than four ounces... daily. This sounds like.. not very much. I eat 6-7oz of ground beef with breakfast alone, pretty much daily! Are people really eating less than ~1/2 cup of meat over all their meals combined?
- ronjakoi 10mo ago
  I haven't had any meat in about 20 years. But I also don't live in the US.
- SecondHandTofu 10mo ago
  Beef, not meat. Surely you jest and you know that that's a huge amount and you're on some high-calorie gym diet?
  - zmgsabst 10mo ago
    6oz of beef is only 44g of protein; a moderate gym load would require more for many adult men. Typical might be more like 75-100g. (Recommendations I’ve heard is 2g per 1 kg of muscle mass; roughly 40% of your weight at moderate fitness.) I’m a large guy (190cm/100kg); I lose weight eating a pound of bacon for breakfast and a pound of chicken for dinner, if I’m even moderately exercising (3x cardio, 3x strength each week). Thirty minutes a day, split between strength and cardio is hardly “top athlete” and more “recommended amount”. That’s not to say anybody is wrong, merely our experiences may be as varied as humans are — ie, we may legitimately have different needs.
    - stinos 10mo ago
      6oz of beef is only 44g of protein It's their breakfast. Chances are rather small they don't get any protein intake for the rest of the day.
    - smaudet 10mo ago
      > That’s not to say anybody is wrong Except the people hallucinating that we need to eat more meats. A couple of people requiring more caloric/protein intake doesn't make it reasonable for everyone to take in more The advice to cut processed foods is solid and is something we have been saying for decades.
throwmeaway820 10mo ago
> A recent study shows that on any given day, just 12% of people in the US account for half of all beef consumed in the US By itself, this figure doesn't really mean much. On any given day, less than 1% of people have birthdays, but that doesn't mean there's a small percentage of people who are having most of the birthdays The following paragraph is more valid, but the 12% figure still seems dubious.
- awesome_dude 10mo ago
  > By itself, this figure doesn't really mean much. On any given day, less than 1% of people have birthdays, but that doesn't mean there's a small percentage of people who are having most of the birthdays Yeah, it just means that half the beef eaten per day goes to the 12% having a BBQ, etc, not that only 12% of the population have access to half the beef available each day
  - immibis 10mo ago
    Do you have a BBQ on 12% of days? Is this how it goes in America?
    - genewitch 10mo ago
      i'm over 40; this is anecdotal, but I've talked to a lot of people all over the country; however i'm not asserting this is 100% factual: in the US most days include a meat in at least 1 meal. Now, i'm framing this as "fish, eggs, fowl". Cereal with milk, bagel with cream cheese, not meat, but meat adjacent. Waffles have eggs. we love "deli meats" in the US, every store has a deli counter where you can get meat sliced right before your own eyes; or you can go to the 4-8 door cold case where the pre-sliced meats are. And dinner, well i can think of a couple of vegetarian dishes that are "staples" like red beans and rice (can be vegan/vegetarian), or pasta with marinara (vegetarian). When presented with something like the Mediterranean diet, most americans would balk at the bird and rabbit food they were now expected to eat. I can expand, but yes, meat is like, a huge deal in the US. Especially beef. part of it is our chicken and pork is kinda bland and merely "just food" but our beef ranges from "ok if i'm real hungry" to "really very good, actually". Fish is hit and miss, depends where you live in the US as to how popular it is. also most of the cow is used for food in the US, very little is wasted, to my understanding. brain, eyes, tongue, glands, lungs, etc are all sold, bones sold as fertilizer, hide is obviously leather, and so on. for the record i wish animals were treated better, in fact, i have been searching for a local beef farmer for a decade and all the ones i run in to sell their beef to texas!
jncfhnb 10mo ago
> A recent study shows that on any given day, just 12% of people in the US account for half of all beef consumed in the US. This phrasing strongly suggests it’s not the same 12% every day. In which case… it’s probably not that noteworthy.
- immibis 10mo ago
  is it normal, in the USA, for half of all people to only eat beef once every 8 days? They also found a demographic correlation, which isn't easily explained by random sampling.
  - jncfhnb 10mo ago
    > is it normal, in the USA, for half of all people to only eat beef once every 8 days? Thats not the implication of 12% of Americans eating 50% of beef by consumed by all Americans that day. If I had to make up some numbers it’s probably that, on any random day, 12% of Americans ate 50% of the beef (a large burger), 28% of American ate the rest of the beef (bit of lunch meat), and 60% of Americans did not eat any beef.
- glenstein 10mo ago
  The phrasing strongly suggests exactly the opposite. Essentially, the whole framing of the linked guardian article is that there is a specific population which are the "disproportionate beef eaters".
  - yxwvut 10mo ago
    And from the study linked, that framing/suggestion would be incorrect (at least for the numbers given). "the 12% are not the same every day" is an accurate interpretation. They asked about what people ate _yesterday_...
    - glenstein 10mo ago
      Again, the whole premise of the article is that there really is such a thing as disproportionate beef eaters (DBE), and it spends time talking about this group explicitly. So the wording doesn't suggest otherwise, it explicitly suggests this is a real group. Regarding the study this is a both can be true situation. There can be (1) a population who is disproportionate in their beef eating, and (2) a study about 12% doing the most on any given day can count in favor of that group being real and (3) not everyone from the daily 12% is part of the DBE group. It's more likely a venn diagram overlap, and where it doesn't overlap, people who aren't part of the DBE are incidentally in that 12% while being closer to average in the aggregate over the longer term. Those facts can all sit together comfortably without amounting to a contradiction.
xp84 10mo ago
[flagged]
- bruce511 10mo ago
  Not sure why the downvotes, it's a coherent post, and certainly there is a perception that food, and particularly beef, is a partisan issue. Of course Democrats haven't actually taken any steps to penalize beef farming or consumption. But that doesn't stop Republicans claiming they want to. And if beef consumption drops, well, we just get the (Republican) health dept to recommend it. I would agree that comments like "sunset beef production" intrinsically sounds bad to those who eat beef. But farmers farm profit, so as long as people buy it, farmers will farm it. (And at least some proportion of land used for beef farming is unsuitable for anything else.)
_3u10 10mo ago
We are Paraguayans... Argentinians, and Brazilians... but mostly Paraguayans and Argentinas https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.htm https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day....
paulhart 10mo ago
So the data is skewed by burgers georg who eats 3,000 Big Macs each day?
ctoth 10mo ago
> Interestingly, ~12% of humans in the US are responsible for ~50% of beef consumption. Go on... > One limitation of this work is that it was based on 1-day diet recalls, so our results do not represent usual intake[0]. Ah. [0]: Demographic and Socioeconomic Correlates of Disproportionate Beef Consumption among US Adults in an Age of Global Warming https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/17/3795 https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/17/3795
- deleted 10mo ago
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deleted 10mo ago
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tonyhart7 10mo ago
"just 12% of people in the US account for half of all beef consumed in the US." what???? there is entire family that eat entire Cow that can feed the whole village, that is crazy

psunavy03 10mo ago

[flagged]

toomuchtodo 10mo ago
I'm simply observing the trajectories we're on due to climate change, input costs, and the aging out of beef cattle ranchers (in this context, projected beef supply, cost, and downstream consumption patterns from those inputs). We simply have to do nothing as the economics shrinks beef herds over time, pushing prices up. Think consumption death spiral as the the affordability of beef dwindles. Beef ranchers are uncertain of the future, so they are sending more heads to slaughter, capitalizing on very favorable prices, versus expanding their herds for the future. What does this do to future herd sizes and therefore supply and cost to the consumer? Add the gestational period of cattle to that mental model. When these processing plants close, how long will it take to build new ones or start mothballed ones back up if herd sizes increase years from now? Will you be able to find communities who will accept these plants again? Where will you find the workers? More US Beef Plants May Close as Cattle Herds Keep Shrinking - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-19/more-us-beef-plants-may-close-as-cattle-herds-keep-tightening https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-19/more-us-b... | https://archive.today/vccTl https://archive.today/vccTl - December 19th, 2025 What happens to a small Nebraska town when 3,200 workers lose their jobs - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46362052 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46362052 - December 2025 ("Tyson says it’s closing the plant [Lexington, Nebraska] to “right-size” its beef business after a historically low cattle herd in the U.S. and the company’s expected loss of $600 million on beef production next fiscal year." Beef prices have soared in the US — and not just during grilling season - https://apnews.com/article/beef-prices-record-high-cattle-steak-cows-e9fc33bbaec6a76fb243e277bbbb7c0e https://apnews.com/article/beef-prices-record-high-cattle-st... - July 21st, 2025 Droughts, complicated by climate change, result in US beef herd hitting historic low - https://investigatemidwest.org/2024/03/13/droughts-complicated-by-climate-change-lead-to-historically-dwindling-us-beef-herd/ https://investigatemidwest.org/2024/03/13/droughts-complicat... - March 13th, 2024 U.S. Cattle Inventory Smallest in 73 years - https://www.fb.org/market-intel/u-s-cattle-inventory-smallest-in-73-years https://www.fb.org/market-intel/u-s-cattle-inventory-smalles... - February 5th, 2024 (think in systems)
- xp84 10mo ago
  Since this is a market economy, I assume equilibrium will eventually be reached. Lower supply raises prices, new entrants see an opportunity to make money raising cattle, prices start to come down.
  - toomuchtodo 10mo ago
    Supply won’t increase for at least half a decade, as my comments communicate.
Dylan16807 10mo ago
Don't be like that. They're just looking at how the numbers change with/without this semi-outlier chunk of the curve.
- Onawa 10mo ago
  They were referencing the last paragraph of the OP, about being able to safely sunset a large portion of beef production.
  - Dylan16807 10mo ago
    Looking at a theoretical shift in production is not "wanting to stand in loco parentis". It would be safe. That's a different question from how we make decisions, or who makes those decisions.
    - toomuchtodo 10mo ago
      Precisely. I'm saying if we let the production capacity evaporate, which appears to be the trajectory we're on, there will be no harm. Will people be sad or have strong feelings about a luxury good being unaffordable? Potentially, and that's unfortunate.

parliament32 10mo ago

> defined as those who, based on a recommended daily 2,200 calorie-diet, eat more than four ounces... daily. This sounds like.. not very much. I eat 6-7oz of ground beef with breakfast alone, pretty much daily! Are people really eating less than ~1/2 cup of meat over all their meals combined?

ronjakoi 10mo ago
I haven't had any meat in about 20 years. But I also don't live in the US.
SecondHandTofu 10mo ago
Beef, not meat. Surely you jest and you know that that's a huge amount and you're on some high-calorie gym diet?
- zmgsabst 10mo ago
  6oz of beef is only 44g of protein; a moderate gym load would require more for many adult men. Typical might be more like 75-100g. (Recommendations I’ve heard is 2g per 1 kg of muscle mass; roughly 40% of your weight at moderate fitness.) I’m a large guy (190cm/100kg); I lose weight eating a pound of bacon for breakfast and a pound of chicken for dinner, if I’m even moderately exercising (3x cardio, 3x strength each week). Thirty minutes a day, split between strength and cardio is hardly “top athlete” and more “recommended amount”. That’s not to say anybody is wrong, merely our experiences may be as varied as humans are — ie, we may legitimately have different needs.
  - stinos 10mo ago
    6oz of beef is only 44g of protein It's their breakfast. Chances are rather small they don't get any protein intake for the rest of the day.
  - smaudet 10mo ago
    > That’s not to say anybody is wrong Except the people hallucinating that we need to eat more meats. A couple of people requiring more caloric/protein intake doesn't make it reasonable for everyone to take in more The advice to cut processed foods is solid and is something we have been saying for decades.

throwmeaway820 10mo ago

> A recent study shows that on any given day, just 12% of people in the US account for half of all beef consumed in the US By itself, this figure doesn't really mean much. On any given day, less than 1% of people have birthdays, but that doesn't mean there's a small percentage of people who are having most of the birthdays The following paragraph is more valid, but the 12% figure still seems dubious.

awesome_dude 10mo ago
> By itself, this figure doesn't really mean much. On any given day, less than 1% of people have birthdays, but that doesn't mean there's a small percentage of people who are having most of the birthdays Yeah, it just means that half the beef eaten per day goes to the 12% having a BBQ, etc, not that only 12% of the population have access to half the beef available each day
- immibis 10mo ago
  Do you have a BBQ on 12% of days? Is this how it goes in America?
  - genewitch 10mo ago
    i'm over 40; this is anecdotal, but I've talked to a lot of people all over the country; however i'm not asserting this is 100% factual: in the US most days include a meat in at least 1 meal. Now, i'm framing this as "fish, eggs, fowl". Cereal with milk, bagel with cream cheese, not meat, but meat adjacent. Waffles have eggs. we love "deli meats" in the US, every store has a deli counter where you can get meat sliced right before your own eyes; or you can go to the 4-8 door cold case where the pre-sliced meats are. And dinner, well i can think of a couple of vegetarian dishes that are "staples" like red beans and rice (can be vegan/vegetarian), or pasta with marinara (vegetarian). When presented with something like the Mediterranean diet, most americans would balk at the bird and rabbit food they were now expected to eat. I can expand, but yes, meat is like, a huge deal in the US. Especially beef. part of it is our chicken and pork is kinda bland and merely "just food" but our beef ranges from "ok if i'm real hungry" to "really very good, actually". Fish is hit and miss, depends where you live in the US as to how popular it is. also most of the cow is used for food in the US, very little is wasted, to my understanding. brain, eyes, tongue, glands, lungs, etc are all sold, bones sold as fertilizer, hide is obviously leather, and so on. for the record i wish animals were treated better, in fact, i have been searching for a local beef farmer for a decade and all the ones i run in to sell their beef to texas!

jncfhnb 10mo ago

> A recent study shows that on any given day, just 12% of people in the US account for half of all beef consumed in the US. This phrasing strongly suggests it’s not the same 12% every day. In which case… it’s probably not that noteworthy.

immibis 10mo ago
is it normal, in the USA, for half of all people to only eat beef once every 8 days? They also found a demographic correlation, which isn't easily explained by random sampling.
- jncfhnb 10mo ago
  > is it normal, in the USA, for half of all people to only eat beef once every 8 days? Thats not the implication of 12% of Americans eating 50% of beef by consumed by all Americans that day. If I had to make up some numbers it’s probably that, on any random day, 12% of Americans ate 50% of the beef (a large burger), 28% of American ate the rest of the beef (bit of lunch meat), and 60% of Americans did not eat any beef.
glenstein 10mo ago
The phrasing strongly suggests exactly the opposite. Essentially, the whole framing of the linked guardian article is that there is a specific population which are the "disproportionate beef eaters".
- yxwvut 10mo ago
  And from the study linked, that framing/suggestion would be incorrect (at least for the numbers given). "the 12% are not the same every day" is an accurate interpretation. They asked about what people ate _yesterday_...
  - glenstein 10mo ago
    Again, the whole premise of the article is that there really is such a thing as disproportionate beef eaters (DBE), and it spends time talking about this group explicitly. So the wording doesn't suggest otherwise, it explicitly suggests this is a real group. Regarding the study this is a both can be true situation. There can be (1) a population who is disproportionate in their beef eating, and (2) a study about 12% doing the most on any given day can count in favor of that group being real and (3) not everyone from the daily 12% is part of the DBE group. It's more likely a venn diagram overlap, and where it doesn't overlap, people who aren't part of the DBE are incidentally in that 12% while being closer to average in the aggregate over the longer term. Those facts can all sit together comfortably without amounting to a contradiction.

xp84 10mo ago

[flagged]

bruce511 10mo ago
Not sure why the downvotes, it's a coherent post, and certainly there is a perception that food, and particularly beef, is a partisan issue. Of course Democrats haven't actually taken any steps to penalize beef farming or consumption. But that doesn't stop Republicans claiming they want to. And if beef consumption drops, well, we just get the (Republican) health dept to recommend it. I would agree that comments like "sunset beef production" intrinsically sounds bad to those who eat beef. But farmers farm profit, so as long as people buy it, farmers will farm it. (And at least some proportion of land used for beef farming is unsuitable for anything else.)

_3u10 10mo ago

We are Paraguayans... Argentinians, and Brazilians... but mostly Paraguayans and Argentinas https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day.htm https://idlewords.com/2006/04/argentina_on_two_steaks_a_day....

paulhart 10mo ago

So the data is skewed by burgers georg who eats 3,000 Big Macs each day?

ctoth 10mo ago

> Interestingly, ~12% of humans in the US are responsible for ~50% of beef consumption. Go on... > One limitation of this work is that it was based on 1-day diet recalls, so our results do not represent usual intake[0]. Ah. [0]: Demographic and Socioeconomic Correlates of Disproportionate Beef Consumption among US Adults in an Age of Global Warming https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/17/3795 https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/17/3795

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tonyhart7 10mo ago

"just 12% of people in the US account for half of all beef consumed in the US." what???? there is entire family that eat entire Cow that can feed the whole village, that is crazy