Why the ‘Animal-Based Diet’ Poses Health Concerns

Animal-based diet is the newest eating pattern to take off on social media, where people are claiming this meat-heavy approach to meals is helping them lose weight and feel healthier. 

This restrictive diet is similar to the more commonly known carnivore diet and focuses on consuming mainly animal products, including grass-fed red meat, organ meat like liver, eggs, and dairy. Other foods like fruits and vegetables are generally included more sparingly.

While social media users claim that eating large amounts of protein and fat—while limiting carb intake—helps with weight loss and overall health, registered dietitians have concerns.

According to experts, other popular protein- and fat-heavy, low-carb diets like the Atkins diet, the paleo diet, and the keto diet are often difficult to maintain and can put you at risk for other health issues.

Are There Health Concerns With an Animal-Based Diet?

In short, yes. Animal-based diets are linked to a variety of bad health outcomes, including increased risk of cancer, vitamin deficiency, heart disease, and obesity, Beth Czerwony, MS, RD, LD, a registered dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic Center for Human Nutrition, told Verywell.

“There are more cons than pros when looking at any exclusive food group diet,” she added.

A 2023 overview of research published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease found that, in general, low-carb, high animal-protein diets were linked to increased risk for heart disease.

According to the report, people on those restrictive diets were more likely to develop higher LDL or “bad” cholesterol, impaired vascular function, and inflammation compared to people eating a diet made up of foods with higher levels of unprocessed carbohydrates, such as beans or legumes.

Plus, virtually all major health groups, including the American Heart Association, advise against trying these restrictive animal-based diets, said the study author Rami Salim Najjar, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University. 

“The main problem with them is that they contain lots of saturated fat, and saturated fat is directly linked to heart disease, not just because it raises cholesterol, but because it also increases the inflammatory response in the body,” said Najjar. 

A restrictive diet also puts you at risk for other health issues, such as scurvy and constipation, and an essential fatty acid deficiency, which affects brain health, James Daniel John, MS, RD, a clinical dietician at Loyola Medicine, told Verywell.

“Some of the commercially branded animal-based diets I’ve looked at demonstrate a worrying disregard for meeting basic nutritional needs and would be fairly compared to snake oil,” John said.

Can the Animal-Based Diet Help You Lose Weight?

While these diets can help you lose weight, it may not be from body fat, said Najjar.

Case in point: A 2015 study compared people on high-fat and low-carb diets with people on higher-carb, low-fat diets. Researchers found that those on the high-fat diet lost less body fat than the other group. However, they did lose more body weight overall. 

The high-fat, low-carb group lost more lean mass, said Najjar. “It’s not necessarily muscle. It could be water as well. But the people on the low-fat diet actually lost more body fat.”

Is There a Better Way To Eat?

Because of how restrictive the animal-based diet and others like it are, Czerwony advised going “back to basics” to improve your health. This includes:

• Increasing vegetable and fruit intake to 5 servings per day
• Eating lean proteins like fish and chicken
• Sticking to unsaturated fats
• Eating more whole grains, beans, and other plant-based proteins 

“Animal-based diets have been shown to increase health-related diseases whereas including a variety of foods from all food groups has been shown to decrease weight, heart disease, and improve gut health and blood sugar control,” Czerwony said.

And don’t discount the benefits of getting more fiber in your food, said Najjar. Fiber is found in whole, unrefined plant foods like sweet potatoes, beans, and brown rice. 

“The more fiber you eat, the lower your risk of dying, essentially, from any chronic disease,” Najjar added. “And fiber is the thing that 97% of the country is actually low in.”