The way cattle are raised for meat production has changed several times over the last few decades. Up until the 1940s cattle were roaming over large expanses of land grazing primarily on wild grasses. Then in the 1950s it was realized cattle could be fattened up and brought to slaughter much quicker if they were confined and fed a grain based diet. The meat they produced had more fat within the muscle, also called marbling, making it more tender. Seems like a win win right? It is for the farmers but not for the consumer. As it turns out grain fed beef is not nearly as healthy for us as natural grass fed beef.

The overall amount of fat is lower in cattle fed a grass based diet versus a grain based diet, and the types and ratios of the fats differ greatly between the two types of feeding styles. All fat is not created equal. There are fats that are extremely healthy and necessary in human health. The key to a healthy diet is balancing the good fats with the bad. Getting the balance right decreases the chances of developing heart disease, stroke, depression, arthritis and cancer. Saturated fat has been implicated as one of the bad fats as it increases cholesterol causing heart disease, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. There are different types of saturated fat and grass fed beef is higher in the type which does not raise cholesterol where grain fed beef is higher in the type that does raise cholesterol. The most important of the good fats are the Omega 3 fats. These were first discovered after studying Greenland Eskimos who have exceptionally low rates of heart disease and arthritis but eat a diet very high in fat. The fat they eat all comes from fish sources which are very high in Omega 3 fats, much higher than other meat sources like poultry, pork or beef. What this study found was that beef raised or finished on grass had much higher concentrations of Omega 3 fats than the beef fed grains.

Not only is the fat profile better in grass fed beef it also has a higher amount of essential vitamins and antioxidants. The wild grasses cattle naturally feed on have the compounds that form vitamin A giving grass fed beef a higher concentration of vitamin A. Vitamin A is important for vision, bone growth, reproduction and cell growth and division. One thing to note when buying grass fed beef is the higher concentration of Vitamin A can give a yellow color to the fat which used to be seen as a poor quality but it is completely normal. Vitamin E is a potent fat soluble vitamin and antioxidant shown to protect against heart disease and cancer. Guess which type of beef has higher amounts of Vitamin E. Something really interesting this study found was that the higher Vitamin E in the grass fed beef prevented the fats in the meat from oxidizing, or going bad, so the meat retained its red color longer after processing than grain fed beef. Rounding out the antioxidant benefits of grass fed beef it has higher concentrations of Glutathione, a special protein which is a powerful antioxidant, and several key enzymes that protect against cancer and inflammation.

When cooking with grass fed beef the cooking time should be reduced because of the reduced fat content and some people may notice a slight difference in flavor and texture if they have grown up eating grain fed beef. However with all of the health benefits it affords, every effort should be made to choose grass fed beef whenever possible.

By: Dr Scott Szela

Nutrition Journal 2010, 9:10