A profile in Vice of a young man who has eaten "nothing but raw meat" for five years has been making the internet rounds this week.

Derek Nance claims the extreme diet helped cure him of a "mystery illness that killed his appetite and made him puke up everything he ate," according to Vice. Nance describes some pretty strict rules for which types of meat he eats (locally-sourced, mostly lamb, never pork) and how he gets his vitamin C (from organ meat and connective tissues, which he downs with the rest ).

Vice has a penchant for profiling shocking individual diet choices – and we're pretty confident most healthy people aren't scrambling to adopt the all raw meat, all the time lifestyle. But the piece did make us wonder: does eating raw meat – let alone so much raw meat – have any established health benefits? How well can humans stomach raw meat? And is consuming it safe?

The Guardian spoke to two nutrition experts to find out: Dr Beth Mayer-Davis, Chair of the Nutrition Department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Dr Lisa Young, New York City nutritionist, author and adjunct professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University.

Is eating raw meat well tolerated by humans? You tend to hear that it can make you quite sick.

Dr Beth Mayer-Davis: Sushi is raw fish and steak tartare is raw steak. Inherently, there's not a reason that eating raw meat in and of itself would automatically create any problems. What you would need to think about would be contamination in terms of pathogens like E coli or other bacteria. In other words, food poisoning. Food safety is a very big concern here. People can get very very sick [from ingesting pathogens]. People can, and do, die from food poisoning.

Looking at an all-raw meat diet – or an all-cooked meat diet, even – is there concern about getting the right amount of vitamins and other minerals? Nance says he gets vitamin C from organ meats and connective tissue, so there are some tricks to it.

BMD: There was a question [in Vice] about vitamin C and the response was "well, connective tissues have vitamin C." OK. The organ meats, they are very nutrient-rich. But there are issues with potential micronutrient deficiencies. Fiber, for instance, is a non-nutritive substance in food that has a crucial function in the gut and in health in the context of a more typical diet. That would be a concern [for any meat-heavy diet].

A key premise of healthy diet is variety and selection of food. That's because of micronutrients – vitamins and minerals – that can occur in very small amounts in a variety of foods. Any time you limit the types of food that you consume, you're limiting your opportunities to pick up small amounts of nutrients. That may not present a problem to you in the short term, but in the long term of your lifespan could create a problem.

What did you think about Nance's all-raw meat diet?

Dr Lisa Young: It wouldn't be something I recommend at all. First of all, you're much more susceptible to foodborne illnesses. Cooking the meat will get rid of some of the bad bacteria. Eating raw meat is not recommended by nutritionists, but even if you were just eating cooked meat I wouldn't recommend this.

Eating so much meat [is] excessive protein and excessive saturated fat ... It could clog your arteries. It could cause heart disease – and bowel movement problems too.

The issue is that you can't really extrapolate this diet to anyone else. If this man has been on it for five years and survived, then good for him. His genetic makeup might have helped. But that doesn't mean somebody else would be able to sustain it.

If one were to eat raw meat, are there better and worse types of meat to choose?

BMD: Depends on your goals. If you happen to like sushi and want to eat raw salmon, that's an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids. As long as that raw fish is caught, processed and prepared in a way that protects against food poisoning, that's a very healthful choice. If someone is going to eat a raw animal product, [fish] would be my top pick.

Otherwise, looking to local markets and thinking about organic choices – you certainly can buy [better meat] ... no hormones, no antibiotics, etc. I think in this day and age it's certainly easier – although more expensive – to find good animal products and know what you're consuming.

LY: Chicken is obviously the worst because it carries salmonella. Sushi and sashimi can be OK. Tuna tartare or steak tartare are traditions and are eaten as delicacies, but you're still going to have the risk of ingesting pathogens. With raw meats, you always have a heightened risk of contamination.

Are there any foreseeable advantages to eating meat raw?

BMD: I don't see any advantages.

LY: I don't see any.

Your advice?

BMD: [In the Vice article], we're talking about a young man that has a very extreme diet for his own particular reasons. But in the context of what most people eat, any time you're eating a raw food – including fruits and vegetables – you really have to be concerned with food safety. I can't overemphasize that. There are thousands of people each year made sick by pathogens in food, including fruits and vegetables. Washing fruits and vegetables is important and cooking meat is a way to reduce your risk for food poisoning. Those are obvious things people can do to stay safe.

Should any group be extra careful about consuming raw meat?

LY: Yes. Pregnant women, children, elderly and those with compromised immune systems are most susceptible to the pathogens from raw meats.