Lean red meat is healthy & nutritious and can play an important role as part of a balanced diet.
 

Meat is an excellent source of iron; the body more easily absorbs this iron - known as haem iron - than iron in fruit, grains & eggs, for example. In fact meat will help to boost the absorption of iron from vegetables & cereals, if you eat them at the same time.

Iron is very important to help red blood cell formation in the body & the recommended intake for women (RNI) is 14.8 mg per day & for men is 8.7 mg per day.
The British Government's Dietary & Nutritional Survey of Adults identified that 93% of girls from 16 to 18 years old & 89% of women from 19 to 50 years old were consuming less than this recommended intake of iron, potentially undermining their overall health. Including meat in your diet could help improve your intake of iron.

In addition to iron, meat contributes to the daily dietary intake of other essential minerals such as zinc, copper, manganese & selenium, all in a form that is more easily absorbed by the body than from plant foods. Zinc in the diet, for example, is essential for growth, healing & a healthy immune system - red meat, especially beef, is an excellent dietary source of zinc.

Meat is also an important source of B vitamins; these are essential for metabolic reactions in the body. Vitamin B12 is not found naturally in cereals, fruit or vegetables, so meat can be an ideal source of this key vitamin.
Vitamin B6, niacin, thiamin (Vitamin B1) & riboflavin (Vitamin B2) are all present in useful amounts in red meat. Pork (including ham & bacon) is a particularly good source of thiamin.
Liver & other offal are also good sources of Vitamin A & folic acid. As a precautionary measure, pregnant women are advised not to eat liver, due to its high Vitamin A content.

Meat is much lower in fat than many people believe. Modern breeding, feeding and butchery techniques have consistently reduced the fat content of red meat.

The Family Heart Association, recommend "opt for lean cuts, trim any visible fat & use low-fat cooking methods". (Source : Michael Livingston - Family Heart Association : Quoted in Meat Matters Information for Consumers : British Meat).

With visible fat trimmed away, lean meat cuts are below 10% fat content - some as low as 3% or 4% - of this, only half is saturated fat, the rest is largely monounsaturated, plus some polyunsaturates. Monounsaturated fats are the types found in olive oil & associated with the healthy Mediterranean type diet.

For Example

All meat lean & raw. Sources: Chan W, Brown J, Lee SM, & Buss DH (1995) Meat Poultry & Game. MAFF & Royal Society of Chemistry. HMSO, London.(Supplement to McCance & Widdowson's The Composition of Foods) as quoted in Meat Matters Information for Consumers : British Meat