Annual chicken consumption is about 49 pounds per capita, and annual turkey consumption is about 14 pounds. Per capita consumption of dairy products increased until about the mid-1900s, decreased slightly until 1975, and has increased slightly until now. Consumption of lowfat milk has increased in recent years at the expense of whole milk. In general, recent trends in consumption of animal products during the past 30 years involve more use of poultry meats, fish, lowfat milk, yogurt, and cheese and less use of red meat, whole milk, eggs, butter, and lard. Nutritional Benefits of Animal Products Meats are excellent dietary sources of protein, water-soluble vitamins, and several minerals.
Red meats are an especially excellent source of iron with high bioavailability.
Among the different meats commonly consumed by humans, fat is the component that varies the greatest. Cooking meat usually decreases the content of fat as well as water. These two principal changes result in a concentrating of constituent protein, minerals, and water-soluble vitamins. Dairy products are important contributors of dietary protein, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A, and B vitamins, especially riboflavin. Eggs, having a nearly perfect balance of nutrients, are excellent dietary sources of protein, major and trace minerals, vitamins A and D, B vitamins, and essential fatty acids.