What is the Fourth of July without hamburgers and barbecued chicken?

Americans stocked up on plenty of meats in the two weeks before Independence Day last year, according to market-research group Nielsen. People spent more than $800 million on beef during the two weeks leading up to the July 4 weekend, followed by $371 million on chicken and $218 million on pork. Shrimp ($85 million) and salmon ($48 million) also made the chart.

One reason: beef is cheap, at least compared to previous July 4 weekends. Retail prices for ground beef have fallen to $3.56 per pound in May this year, compared with $4.14 in May 2015, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Chicken legs dropped to $1.45 per pound and pork chops $3.43 per pound, compared to $1.55 and $3.79, respectively, two years earlier.

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Along with their meat, Americans also favored barbecue sauce more than any other meat-topping sauce, though popularity and sales are growing for Worcestershire and teriyaki sauces, Nielsen showed. Barbecue sauce sales were $43.8 million in that two-week period, significantly more than any other sauce, but only 2.7% dollar percent from the year before. Meanwhile, Worcestershire sauce grew 9.8% and teriyaki sauce 7.7% from the prior year, with hot sauce in third place at 5.8%.

Source: Nielsen

There are more meat lovers than vegetarians in the U.S., with the average American eating about 193 pounds of beef, pork and/or chicken a year compared to 3% of Americans who say they follow a vegetarian or vegan diet. In fact, Americans are consuming more meat now than they did in 2012, when the average was 184 pounds a year.

Red meat has its risks. One study suggests eating red meat on a regular basis can shorten a person’s lifespan, according to the National Institutes of Health, and other research found red meat is linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.

While studying 37,000 men beginning in 1986 and 83,000 women in 1980, with checkups every two years and a food frequency questionnaire for participants to fill out every four years, a team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found 5,900 had died from cardiovascular disease and 9,500 from cancer and those who had consumed the most red meat were at the highest risk for mortality. Researchers found an additional serving of unprocessed red meat during the study raised the mortality risk total by 13%, and an extra serving of processed red meat raised it by 20%. The study suggests substituting one serving per day of another protein would lower the risk of mortality from 7% to 19%.

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Some studies counter the argument that red meat is dangerous, however, and experts say it doesn’t necessarily lead to health problems (or worse) if you consume it in moderation. The type of meat, size of the slab and the temperature at which it is cooked also contribute to the quality and safety of consumption. Meat should not be processed — so perhaps cut down on the bacon — and be mindful of how much to consume; 100 grams (or the size of a deck of playing cards) every day was attributed to a 17% rise in cancer risk. It should also be cooked at less-than-high temperatures, since searing has been linked to causing cancer because, according to one theory, the high temperatures change the meat’s DNA.