%)
If we are what we eat, then it stands to reason that cattle will resemble the nutritional profile of what they eat. The high fiber diet consumed by grass finished cattle differs from that of a grain/corn based diet. These dietary difference result in grass finished beef having up to 65% less saturated fat.
A Different Fat Composition...
Fat is a necessary component of ones diet. The UK recently made recommended that fat should comprise 35% of your daily calories. Unfortunately, western diets has too high a percentage of Omega-6 fatty acids in relation to Omega 3 fatty acids. Without an adequate percentage of Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet health problems will occur.
An easy way to help restore a proper
balance of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids is to switch
from grain finished beef to a grass finished beef.
Iowa State University in August 2001 concluded that
there was a 10:1 ratio of Omega 3 fatty acids to Omega 6
Fatty Acids.
Time magazine, reported in June of 2006 that the tested grass finished ground beef was 65% lower in saturated fat than conventional beef.
The CLA Bonus....
Meat and dairy products from grass-fed ruminants are the richest known source of another type of good fat called "conjugated linoleic acid" or CLA. When ruminants are raised on fresh pasture alone, their products contain from three to five times more CLA than products from animals fed conventional diets. CLA may be one of our most potent defenses against cancer. In laboratory animals, a very small percentage of CLA, a mere 0.1 percent of total calories greatly reduced tumor growth. More on the health benefits of CLA can be found here, here, here and here.
Vitamin E
The meat from the pastured cattle is three times higher in vitamin E than the meat from the feedlot cattle and, interestingly, almost twice as high as the meat from the feedlot cattle given vitamin E supplements. In humans, vitamin E is linked with a lower risk of heart disease and cancer. This potent antioxidant may also have anti-aging properties. Most Americans are deficient in vitamin E. For more information click here.
