--- title: Cheeseburgers and Saturated Fat: Should I Eat Burgers? description: Burgers as we know them—fatty, topped with ketchup and slapped between a refine flour bun—are not a health food, most of our experts agree canonical: https://time.com/3947163/burgers-red-meat/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-09T12:00:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:26:04.466Z article:section: Health og:title: Should I Eat Burgers? og:description: Burgers as we know them—fatty, topped with ketchup and slapped between a refine flour bun—are not a health food, most of our experts agree og:url: https://time.com/3947163/burgers-red-meat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2412fa23cce383f/698859f3cd68480cef0a0b42/screen-shot-2015-07-07-at-6-09-21-pm.png?branch=production&width=1154&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1154 og:image:height: 649 og:image:alt: burger og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Should I Eat Burgers? twitter:description: Burgers as we know them—fatty, topped with ketchup and slapped between a refine flour bun—are not a health food, most of our experts agree twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2412fa23cce383f/698859f3cd68480cef0a0b42/screen-shot-2015-07-07-at-6-09-21-pm.png?branch=production&width=1154&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Should I Eat Burgers? > Sponsored content. 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[Watch (HLS stream): Should I Eat Burgers?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G7EXHLsP.m3u8) (2:02)  _Published 2015-07-08. It may be stating the obvious, but burgers, as we know them, are not a health food, according to most of our experts. Here's why 3 out of 5 experts gave burgers the thumbs down._  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Jul 9, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Jul 9, 2015 12:00 PM UTC **3/5 experts say no.** Cue the sound of a thousand grills shedding a summer-hot tear: burgers, as we know them, are not a health food, most of our experts agree. But there might be some wiggle room there, depending on what’s in your patty. “Fatty beef from dubiously fed cattle, slathered in sugary ketchup and placed between two haves of a refined flour bun? No thanks,” says **David Katz**, MD, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center. Same for any beef burger not made with 90-97% lean ground beef, says **Julia Zumpano**, a registered dietitian in preventive cardiology at Cleveland Clinic. However, **Kristi King**, senior clinical dietitian at Texas Children’s Hospital, gives a thumbs up to burgers in moderation and in proper portion sizes; burgers are high in protein, vitamin B12 and iron, she says. Plus, says Zumpano, if you make the burgers yourself, you can control the ingredients and maximize the better-for-you elements while cutting down on the more harmful ones. Moderation, of course, is the key word. Eating beef burgers regularly isn’t a good idea for a few reasons, says **Erica** **Frank**, MD, professor and Canada research chair in preventive medicine and population health at the University of British Columbia. Beef burgers are loaded with saturated fat, she points out; an ungarnished fast-food cheeseburger has 29% of your daily FDA-recommended limit. Then, of course, every burger comes with a large side of environmental issues. Beef isn’t the most sustainable meat to produce. “Raising a cow takes a huge amount of water,” she says—between 4,000-18,000 gallons for a hamburger, according to the [U.S. Geographical Survey](http://water.usgs.gov/edu/activity-watercontent.php). Livestock production is a large contributor to climate change, she says, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations says the livestock sector is responsible for [18% of global greenhouse gas emissions worldwide](http://www.fao.org/agriculture/lead/themes0/climate/en/). “The reality is that global demand for meat is increasing nearly 2 percent a year,” says **Rebecca** **Shaw**, PhD, associate vice president and senior lead scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund. “As incomes rise, so does demand for meat protein.” Plant-based proteins can help ease that load, but “the bottom line is that we need to make beef, pork and poultry as sustainable as possible,” she says. One way to make burgers better for the earth is to change the way we raise a primary source of cow feed: U.S. corn, nearly 40 percent of which goes towards animal chow, Shaw says. “The low-hanging fruit is to grow this corn more sustainably by reducing excess fertilizer used to grow the corn,” she says. “This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve water quality.” Choosing grass-fed—instead of corn-fed—meat is one way to earn burgers a slightly higher rating in Katz’s opinion; you have his permission to plate grass-fed beef bison on a whole-grain bun with slices of tomato, onion, avocado and lettuce. He gives a “definite yes,” though, to his wife’s special: a mix of lean, free-range ground turkey and lentils, patted atop a homemade whole-wheat bun with vegetables and salsa.  Illustration by Lon Tweeten for TIME [_Read Next: Should I Eat French Fries?_](http://time.com/3896083/french-fries-potato/) ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] It might be stating the obvious, but burgers, as we know them, just aren't a health food, according to most of our experts. Here's why three out of five of them give burgers the thumbs down. [ MUSIC ] But there might be some wiggle room there. Depending on what's in your patty. Fatty beef from dubiously- fed cattle, slathered in sugary ketchup and placed between two halves of a refined flour bun? No, thanks, says David Katz. Same for any beef burger not made with 90 to 95 % lean ground beef, says Julia Zumpano. Kristi King, however, gives a thumbs up to burgers in moderation and in proper portion sizes. Burgers are high in protein, vitamin B12, and iron, she says. Moderation, of course, is the key word. Eating beef burgers regularly isn't a good idea for a few reasons, says Erica Frank. Beef burgers are loaded with saturated fat, she points out. An ungarnished fast food cheeseburger has 29 % of your daily FDA recommended limit. Certain burgers can come with a large side of environmental issues. Beef just isn't the most sustainable meat to produce. Raising a cow takes a huge amount of water, and livestock production is a large contributor to climate change, Frank says In fact, raising and producing livestock is responsible for 18 % of global greenhouse gas emissions worldwide according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Local demand for meat is increasing nearly two percent a year, says Rebecca Shaw. One way to make burgers better for the earth is to change the way we grow corn, a primary source of cow feeds, she said. [ MUSIC ] choosing grass fed, instead of corn fed beef is one way to earn burgers a slightly higher rating in Katz's opinion. But when it comes to his wife's special burgers, made from lean, free range ground turkey and lentils, Katz gives a definite yes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3947163/burgers-red-meat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3947163/burgers-red-meat/"},"headline":"Should I Eat Burgers?","datePublished":"2015-07-09T12:00:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:26:04.466Z","description":"Burgers as we know them—fatty, topped with ketchup and slapped between a refine flour bun—are not a health food, most of our experts agree","url":"https://time.com/3947163/burgers-red-meat/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","diet","Nutrition","meat","Corn","burgers","protein","burger","red meat","should i eat this?","animal cruelty"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2412fa23cce383f/698859f3cd68480cef0a0b42/screen-shot-2015-07-07-at-6-09-21-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mandy Oaklander","jobTitle":"Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb2412fa23cce383f/698859f3cd68480cef0a0b42/screen-shot-2015-07-07-at-6-09-21-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"burger","caption":"burger","creditText":"Illustration by Lon Tweeten for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3947163/burgers-red-meat/","name":"Should I Eat Burgers?"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Should I Eat Burgers?","description":"It may be stating the obvious, but burgers, as we know them, are not a health food, according to most of our experts. 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