If you’re trying to improve your diet and don’t want to compromise taste or variety, consider American Lamb. It’s a refreshingly tasty and healthful alternative to other meats and proteins.

Seven American Lamb cuts* meet government guidelines for lean (1). These cuts have less than 200 calories and the average 3-ounce serving of these cuts contains just 175 calories.

American Lamb is naturally nutrient rich, which means it’s loaded with vitamins and minerals your body requires. These American Lamb cuts are an excellent source of: (Note: this information could be given in a bar graph)

• protein (47% DV)
• vitamin B12 (36% DV)
• niacin (26% DV)
• selenium (38% DV)
• zinc (32% DV)

These lean cuts of American Lamb are a good source of:

• iron (10% DV)
• riboflavin (13% DV)

American Lamb’s combination of nutrients can play a powerful role in issues facing many of us today. Eating healthy, flavorful protein like lamb can help you feel satisfied and contribute to weight loss (2). Lamb can feed the brain – the zinc and iron lamb provides are needed for proper cognitive development, which is important for learning and memory function (3,4). Iron from meat sources like lamb is also better absorbed by the body than iron from plant sources and is essential for carrying oxygen to cells for energy production. Both iron and vitamin B12 contained in lamb help prevent anemia and the fatigue that comes with it. Finally, lamb is rich in selenium, an antioxidant that helps protect cells from damage that may lead to heart disease, cancer or other health problems.

American Lamb can be a flavorful part of a healthy, balanced diet and fits into a healthy, balanced eating pattern as defined by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) My Pyramid.

Be good to yourself, please your palate, choose American Lamb.

1. Less than 10 grams total fat, 4.5 grams or less saturated fat, and less than 95 mg cholesterol per 3-ounce serving and per 100 grams.
2. Layman D, et al. A reduced ratio of dietary carbohydrate to protein improves body composition and blood lipid profiles during weight loss in adult women. Journal of Nutrition. 2003;133:411-417.
3. Sandstead HH, Penland JG, Alcock NW, Dayal HH, Chen XC, Li JS, Zhao F, Yang JJ. Effects of repletion with zinc and other micronutrients on neuropsychological performance and growth of Chinese children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1998 Aug; 68(2 Suppl):470S-475S.
4. Halterman JS, Kaczorowski JM, Aligne CA, Auinger P, Szilagyi PG. Iron Deficiency and Cognitive Achievement Among School-Aged Children and Adolescents in the United States. Pediatrics. 2001;107:1381-1386.

*All cuts trimmed of visible fat and roasted: Leg, shank; Leg, sirloin; Leg, whole (shank and sirloin); Loin; Shoulder, whole (arm and blade); Shoulder, arm; Shoulder, blade.