Health Viewpoints

The Hidden Health Cost of Cheap Meat 

Making the case for spending more at the meat counter.
The Hidden Health Cost of Cheap Meat 
Sia Footage/Shutterstock
Jingduan Yang
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Standing in the meat aisle at Costco the other day, I found myself doing the math that so many of us do at the grocery store. Ground beef: $5.99 a pound for conventionally grown, $6.24 for grass-fed. Not a huge gap. Then the chicken breast: $2.99 a pound for conventional, $5.18 for organic.

I just stood there for a moment, holding a package in each hand like I was on a low-stakes game show, weighing the immediate hit to my wallet against the abstract promise of quality.

Jingduan Yang
Jingduan Yang
M.D.
Dr. Jingduan Yang specializes in integrative medicine, psychiatry, and traditional Chinese medicine. He developed the ACES Model of Health and Medicine and leads clinical, educational, and research initiatives. As a principal founder of the Northern School of Medicine and Health Sciences, he advances whole-person care grounded in science, ethics, and humanity.