Poll Finds Most US Men View Carnivore Diet as Masculine, but Many Would Switch if Health Risks Were Clear

A recent poll conducted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and Morning Consult reveals that the majority of US men view a carnivore diet as "masculine," while only a small percentage associate masculinity with a plant-based diet. Despite these perceptions, 63% of respondents stated that they would be willing to change their diet if the foods they associated with masculinity were proven to pose health risks. The survey also found that younger men aged 18 to 34 showed a strong tendency to attach gender associations to their food choices.

PCRM, a nonprofit organization that advocates for preventive medicine and plant-based diets, released these findings ahead of Men's Health Month in June. The organization emphasizes that the masculine associations surrounding meat consumption conflict with scientific evidence linking animal-product-heavy diets to various health conditions such as heart disease, prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction, and reduced fertility. Additionally, the survey revealed misconceptions around soy and hormones, with equal percentages of men wrongly believing that both dairy and soy products contain estrogens, which is not scientifically accurate. Soy products contain phytoestrogens, while dairy does contain estrogens and has been linked to increased prostate cancer risk in some studies.