Ground lamb is minced meat from young sheep. USDA describes lamb as coming from animals typically under a year old, with most going to market at 6 to 8 months, and “spring lamb” on a label only means the animal was slaughtered between March and October. The entry on this page is raw ground lamb, which has 23.4 g of fat per 100 g, a little more than the 20 g in raw 80/20 ground beef.
A 4 oz (113 g) raw portion has 2.6 µg of vitamin B12, which is 109% of the daily value, and 11.5 g of saturated fat, which is 58%. Every number on this page is for raw meat. It loses water in the pan, so a cooked portion of the same weight holds more of everything.
Sheep meat is unusual among red meats. Sheep break down fats in the rumen less completely than cattle, so their meat can hold more omega-3 fats and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and it is noted for branched-chain fatty acids too. Feed matters: in a French study, lambs grazing alfalfa had more CLA and omega-3 fats in their meat than lambs fed concentrate indoors, and in a small trial, grass-finished lamb raised blood omega-3 levels in people.
Health benefits of ground lamb
None of the studies below reaches strong evidence. Only a few small trials have fed people lamb itself, and they mostly compare it with chicken: lamb did not worsen blood lipids in them. The larger evidence on saturated fat and red meat covers red meat in general, and the red meat cohorts show links, not proof. Here is what 14 studies found, strongest evidence first, from saturated fat and lamb trials to red meat cohorts and the risk from undercooked lamb. The ground beef page covers the red meat evidence in more detail.
Cutting saturated fat for at least 2 years lowered cardiovascular events by 17%, with little or no effect on deaths
Cochrane review of 15 randomized trials (56,675 people) on lowering saturated fat in general, not lamb. The 17% drop (risk ratio 0.83) was rated moderate-quality evidence, but results varied between trials. All-cause deaths (risk ratio 0.96) and cardiovascular deaths (0.95) did not change much. A World Health Organization grant funded the review.
In trials, swapping red meat for beans, soy or nuts lowered LDL cholesterol by 0.198 mmol/L more than red meat did
Meta-analysis of 36 randomized trials (1,803 people) of red meat in general, not lamb alone. Against all comparison diets combined, red meat did not change total, LDL or HDL cholesterol or blood pressure. Against fish, red meat lowered LDL more (by 0.173 mmol/L), and against refined carbohydrates it lowered triglycerides more.
Eating lamb for 8 weeks lowered triglycerides and insulin compared with a chicken diet in healthy young adults
Randomized crossover trial in 50 healthy Spanish students (22 men, 28 women, average age 19) who followed a normal-calorie diet with lamb from a protected regional label, Ternasco de Aragón, or with chicken, each for 8 weeks. Waist circumference and a skinfold thickness also fell more on lamb, and nothing else changed. The abstract gives no effect sizes.
Lean lamb three times a week for 5 weeks had the same effect on cholesterol as chicken
Open-label randomized crossover study in 36 women living in convents, who ate lean-breed lamb or chicken three times a week for 5 weeks each, on top of their usual diet. Total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides did not change from baseline on either diet, and the two diets did not differ. It was small and open-label.
Show 10 more studies
Four weeks of grass-finished lamb raised blood omega-3 fats compared with concentrate-fed lamb
Single-blind randomized trial in 34 healthy adults who ate 2 portions of lamb chops and 1 portion of lamb mince a week, from lambs finished on grass or on concentrate feed, for 4 weeks. Plasma alpha-linolenic acid, EPA and DPA were higher after the grass-finished lamb, and concentrate-finished lamb raised linoleic acid in plasma phospholipids. Cardiovascular risk factors, including blood pressure and cholesterol, did not differ. The first author’s studentship was funded by the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy.
Eating 250 g of lamb a day for 30 days left weight and blood lipids unchanged, whether the lamb was low-fat or high-fat
Randomized crossover trial in 20 healthy people who added 250 g a day of low-fat or high-fat lamb to their usual diet. Blood markers of cholesterol handling showed that cholesterol synthesis and elimination fell with low-fat lamb (p = 0.048 and 0.005), while absorption fell on both diets. It was small, and the markers are indirect.
Adding lamb protein to potato, pasta or rice meals lowered the blood sugar response, about as much as soy protein did
Randomized pilot study in 15 healthy people who ate potato, pasta or rice alone, or with lamb or soy protein, in meals matched for macronutrients. Insulin rose and appetite fell with both proteins to a similar extent. Soy gave a slightly lower blood sugar response (for example 103 against 123 mmol/L·min with pasta), but differences were small and not consistently significant. A New Zealand research institute funded it internally.
Lean red meat plus resistance training for 4 months added 0.45 kg more lean mass in older women than training with pasta or rice
Cluster randomized trial in 100 women aged 60 to 90 in 15 retirement villages. The meat group ate about 160 g of cooked lean red meat 6 days a week. The abstract does not name the meats, so this is red meat in general, not lamb alone. Leg lean mass rose 0.22 kg more, strength 18% more, and the inflammation marker IL-6 fell 16% more, while blood lipids and blood pressure did not differ.
Diets lower in red meat may have little or no effect on deaths or heart disease in randomized trials
Systematic review of 12 randomized trials of lower versus higher red meat intake lasting at least 6 months. The most credible one, in 48,835 women, found hazard ratios near 1 for all-cause death (0.99) and cardiovascular disease (0.99). Certainty was low, trials were few and the gap in meat eaten was small. The review reported no funding.
Eating undercooked lamb, beef or game was among the strongest risk factors for toxoplasma infection in pregnancy
Case-control study in six European cities comparing pregnant women who had a recent infection with women who did not. Between 30% and 63% of infections in different cities were linked to eating undercooked or cured meat. The abstract gives no separate figure for lamb, and contact with cats was not a risk factor.
People eating less red and processed meat had very small reductions in deaths, heart disease and cancer, but the certainty was low
Systematic review of prospective cohort studies that followed people for 2 to 34 years, with more than 400,000 people for the main outcomes. It covers red and processed meat together and rates the evidence low or very low certainty because of residual confounding. The review reported no funding.
Each extra daily serving of unprocessed red meat went with a 13% higher risk of dying in two large US cohorts
Cohorts of 37,698 men and 83,644 women free of heart disease and cancer at the start, with 23,926 deaths. The hazard ratio for death was 1.13 for unprocessed red meat and 1.20 for processed red meat, and it was 1.18 and 1.10 for deaths from heart disease and cancer with unprocessed red meat. Swapping a serving for fish, poultry, nuts, legumes, low-fat dairy or whole grains went with a 7% to 19% lower risk. This is red meat in general, and it shows a link, not proof.
Each extra 100 g a day of fresh red meat went with a 17% higher risk of colorectal cancer
Meta-analysis of prospective studies of red and processed meat in general. The highest intake of red and processed meat combined went with a 22% higher risk (relative risk 1.22) than the lowest, and risk rose in a roughly straight line up to about 140 g a day. For rectal cancer, no significant link was seen when fresh red meat and processed meat were analyzed alone.
Each 2 more servings a week of unprocessed red meat went with a 3% higher risk of heart disease and of death, a small increase
Pooled data from 6 US cohorts of 29,682 adults followed for a median of 19 years. For unprocessed red meat, the hazard ratio was 1.03 for cardiovascular disease and 1.03 for all-cause death (a 30-year absolute difference of 0.62% and 0.76%). Poultry went with a 4% higher heart disease risk but not with death, and fish with neither.
Who should be careful with ground lamb
Most people can eat ground lamb in moderation. Take a little care if one of these applies:
- Pregnancy, or a weakened immune system. Undercooked lamb can carry Toxoplasma, a parasite that can harm an unborn baby. The NHS advises cooking meat thoroughly, especially lamb, and avoiding raw or undercooked meat and cured meats such as salami. In tests of Australian supermarket lamb mince, parasite DNA was common.
- High LDL cholesterol or heart disease. Lamb is high in saturated fat: 11.5 g in a 4 oz raw portion, against an American Heart Association aim of about 13 g a day for people lowering cholesterol. Choose leaner mince or smaller portions. In the small trials here, lamb did not raise blood lipids.
- Large amounts of red meat. WCRF advises limiting red meat, which includes lamb, to about three portions a week (350 to 500 g cooked), and IARC rates red meat as probably carcinogenic. A 2019 panel disagreed and suggested most adults keep their current intake. See the ground beef page.
How to choose, store and eat ground lamb
- Fat level: raw ground lamb in the USDA entry is 23.4 g fat per 100 g. In a 20-person trial, 250 g a day of low-fat lamb for 30 days lowered the body’s cholesterol production and elimination, and high-fat lamb did not.
- Cooking: cook ground lamb and lamb patties to 160°F (71°C), measured with a food thermometer. Whole chops, steaks and roasts need only 145°F (63°C) with a 3-minute rest.
- Grass-finished: it has more omega-3 fats, and in a 4-week trial of 34 adults it raised blood omega-3 levels, with no change in cholesterol or blood pressure. It still has saturated fat.
Keep raw ground lamb in the fridge at 40°F (4°C) or below and use it within 1 to 2 days, or freeze it for best quality up to 3 to 4 months. Cooked leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge.
Sources
- Lamb from farm to table. USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.
- Safe minimum internal temperature chart. USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.
- Toxoplasmosis. NHS.
- Preventing toxoplasmosis. CDC.
- Cook AJ, Gilbert RE, Buffolano W, et al. Sources of toxoplasma infection in pregnant women: European multicentre case-control study. BMJ. 2000.
- Dawson AC, Ashander LM, Appukuttan B, et al. Lamb as a potential source of Toxoplasma gondii infection for Australians. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2020.
- Saturated fat. American Heart Association.
- Limit consumption of red and processed meat. World Cancer Research Fund.
- Q&A on the carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat and processed meat. IARC Monographs Volume 114. 2015.
- Bouvard V, Loomis D, Guyton KZ, et al. Carcinogenicity of consumption of red and processed meat. Lancet Oncol. 2015.
- Johnston BC, Zeraatkar D, Han MA, et al. Unprocessed red meat and processed meat consumption: dietary guideline recommendations from the NutriRECS Consortium. Ann Intern Med. 2019.
- Gruffat D, Durand D, Rivaroli D, do Prado IN, Prache S. Comparison of muscle fatty acid composition and lipid stability in lambs stall-fed or pasture-fed alfalfa with or without sainfoin pellet supplementation. Animal. 2020.
- Chikwanha OC, Vahmani P, Muchenje V, Dugan MER, Mapiye C. Nutritional enhancement of sheep meat fatty acid profile for human health and wellbeing. Food Res Int. 2018.
History of ground lamb
Sheep were among the first farm animals. Their domestication is dated to about 11,000 to 9000 BC, most likely in Mesopotamia, from wild mouflon, and people first kept them for meat, milk and skins rather than wool. Archaeologists now trace the first steps toward animal and plant domestication in the Eastern Mediterranean back more than 11,000 years.
Genes tell a story of waves. Work on endogenous retroviruses found that sheep spread across Eurasia and Africa in separate migrations. The first included the mouflon and “primitive” breeds such as the Orkney, Soay and Nordic short-tailed sheep, and a later wave of sheep with better production traits shaped most breeds alive today.
For most of history, lamb and mutton were both on the table. In the United States, mutton was widely eaten in the early 1900s and then declined after World War II, and most US sheep meat now comes from animals 12 to 14 months old and is sold as lamb.
Ground lamb has a long kitchen history. The earliest known kofta recipes call for ground lamb, in large meatballs glazed with saffron and egg yolk, and the word comes from Persian and Hindi-Urdu for “pounded meat”. Kofta now spans the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, the Middle East, the Balkans and North Africa.
Lamb is still a festival food. Greece leads the European Union in lamb eaten per person, at 12.3 kg a year in 2015 OECD-FAO data, and milk-fed lambs roasted on a spit are prized there at Easter. Outside the OECD, Mongolia eats the most, at 45.1 kg per person.
Sources
- Zeder MA. Domestication and early agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin: origins, diffusion, and impact. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008.
- Chessa B, Pereira F, Arnaud F, et al. Revealing the history of sheep domestication using retrovirus integrations. Science. 2009.
- Sheep. Wikipedia.
- Lamb and mutton. Wikipedia.
- Kofta. Wikipedia.
Frequently asked questions about ground lamb
Is ground lamb healthy?
It can fit in a healthy diet, but the amount and fat level matter. Raw ground lamb has 16.6 g of protein and 2.3 µg of vitamin B12 (96% of the daily value) per 100 g, but also 10.2 g of saturated fat (51%). In small trials, lamb did not worsen cholesterol compared with chicken, while a large US cohort linked each extra daily serving of unprocessed red meat to a 13% higher risk of dying, a link and not proof.
Is ground lamb healthier than ground beef?
Neither is clearly better. Per 100 g raw, ground lamb has 282 calories, 23.4 g of fat and 10.2 g of saturated fat, against 254 calories, 20 g and 7.58 g for raw 80/20 ground beef on this site. Lamb has a little more vitamin B12 (2.3 against 2.1 µg), while beef has more iron (1.94 against 1.55 mg) and zinc (4.18 against 3.41 mg). No study here compared them head to head, and leaner mince of either cuts the saturated fat. See the ground beef page.
Is lamb red meat?
Yes. IARC and WCRF both count lamb and mutton as red meat, with beef, pork, veal, horse and goat. IARC rated red meat as probably carcinogenic (Group 2A), WCRF advises limiting it to about three portions a week, and a 2019 NutriRECS panel suggested adults keep their current unprocessed red meat intake. The evidence is for red meat in general, not lamb alone.
What temperature should ground lamb be cooked to?
Cook it to 160°F (71°C), measured with a food thermometer, according to USDA FSIS. That applies to ground lamb and lamb patties. Whole chops, steaks and roasts need only 145°F (63°C) with a 3-minute rest. Pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems should not eat lamb undercooked, because of Toxoplasma.
Is grass-fed lamb healthier?
It has a different fat profile, but better health is not shown. In a 4-week trial of 34 adults, grass-finished lamb raised blood omega-3 levels compared with concentrate-finished lamb, with no difference in cholesterol or blood pressure. In a French study, lambs grazing alfalfa had more CLA and omega-3 fats than lambs fed concentrate indoors. Both kinds still contain saturated fat.
How much protein is in ground lamb?
Raw ground lamb has 16.6 g of protein per 100 g, or 18.7 g in a 4 oz (113 g) raw portion, which is 37% of the daily value. It scores 100 out of 100 for protein completeness on this site, so no essential amino acid is short. Protein gives about 24% of its calories and fat 76%. Cooked meat loses water, so protein per cooked ounce is higher.
Does ground lamb raise cholesterol?
Not in the small trials we have, but they were short. Lean lamb three times a week for 5 weeks matched chicken in 36 women, and 250 g a day for 30 days left blood lipids unchanged in 20 people. Raw ground lamb has 73 mg of cholesterol per 100 g (24% of the daily value) and a lot of saturated fat, and a Cochrane review found cutting saturated fat lowered cardiovascular events by 17%.
Can pregnant women eat ground lamb?
Yes, if it is cooked all the way through. The NHS advises cooking meat thoroughly, especially lamb, and avoiding raw or undercooked meat and cured meats such as salami or Parma ham, because of the Toxoplasma parasite. In a European study, eating undercooked lamb, beef or game was among the strongest risk factors for infection in pregnancy. Ask your midwife or doctor if you are unsure.