WHY CHOOSE GRASS FED?

We’ve heard it countless times: You are what you eat. So it should come as no surprise that what you eat is what it eats, too. It’s a remarkably simple concept: the nutritional value of an animal product is directly influenced by the animal’s diet. Therefore, say advocates of the rapidly growing Grass-fed movement, the animal’s diet should be as biologically natural and as packed full of nutrients as possible, right? Apparently not, if you’re in the U.S. commercial meat business. The truth is that a vast majority of our country’s commercially raised ruminants — cattle, sheep, goats and bison — are raised in feedlots, fed a grain-based diet and, typically, treated with hormones, feed additives and low-level antibiotics.

But the move toward grass-fed is about more than just animal welfare. It’s about human health. Inappropriately feeding animals dry grain is a direct contributor to those animals developing pathogens such as E. coli (in cattle) and Salmonella (in poultry). And if that isn’t convincing enough, consider that mad cow disease is unknown among cattle fed entirely on pasture and hay.

HOW CAN EATING GRASS-FED ANIMAL PRODUCTS IMPROVE MY HEALTH?

Meat and dairy products from grass-fed animals are just plain more nutritious than grain-fed animal products. Research suggests that switching to grass-fed products may reduce our risk of a number of diseases, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, allergies, auto-immune disorders, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.

• Lower fat content means lower LDL cholesterol levels. A sirloin steak from a grass-fed steer has about one half to one third as much fat as a similar cut from a grain fed steer. In fact, grass-fed meat has about the same fat content as skinless chicken, wild deer or elk.[1] Meat this lean can actually lower your LDL cholesterol levels.[2]

• Extra Omega-3s – secret weapon in the battle against heart attacks, cancer, Alzheimer’s and more. Grass-fed meat has two to six times more omega-3 fatty acids than grain-fed meat. Why is this good? Ample amounts of omega-3s decreases your chances of developing high blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat or a heart attack.[3] They’re also an essential brain food. Those with a diet rich in omega-3s are less likely to suffer from depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder or Alzheimer's disease.[4] And researchers are now finding that omega-3s may reduce your risk of cancer, as well — animal studies indicated that omega-3s not only slowed the growth of a wide variety of cancers but kept them from spreading.[5]

• Grass-fed ruminants cultivate conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Meat and dairy products from grass-fed ruminants are the richest known source of 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.[6] By finishing our cattle on grain, we are depriving ourselves of one of nature’s most potent defenses against cancer. Consider the following: A Finnish study found that women with the highest levels of CLA in their diet had a 60 percent lower risk of breast cancer than those with the lowest levels.[7]

• Vitamin E – healer, antioxidant, anti-aging support. Meat from pastured cattle is four times higher in vitamin E than meat from feedlot cattle and, ironically, almost twice as high as meat from feedlot cattle given vitamin E supplements.[8] In humans, most of whom are deficient in it, vitamin E is linked with a lower risk of heart disease and cancer.

The animals we raise for meat and other products are not naturally suited to a diet of corn and soybeans, nor are they suited to consuming the remains of other animals. They are ruminants, animals whose diet staples are fresh grass and other leaves. The grass-fed movement aims to move us toward a more natural, healthy and nutritionally effective diet and to remind us, we are not only what we eat, but what it eats, as well.


REFERENCES

1. Fukumoto, G. K., Y.S. Kim, D. Oduda, H. Ako (1995). "Chemical composition and shear force requirement of loin eye muscle of young, forage-fed steers." Research Extension Series 161: 1-5. Koizumi, I., Y. Suzuki, et al. (1991). "Studies on the fatty acid composition of intramuscular lipids of cattle, pigs and birds." J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo) 37(6): 545-54.

2. Davidson, M. H., D. Hunninghake, et al. (1999). "Comparison of the effects of lean red meat vs lean white meat on serum lipid levels among free-living persons with hypercholesterolemia: a long-term, randomized clinical trial." Arch Intern Med159(12): 1331-8. The conclusion of this study: "... diets containing primarily lean red meat or lean white meat produced similar reductions in LDL cholesterol and elevations in HDL cholesterol, which were maintained throughout the 36 weeks of treatment."

3. Siscovick, D. S., T. E. Raghunathan, et al. (1995). "Dietary Intake and Cell Membrane Levels of Long-Chain n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids and the Risk of Primary Cardiac Arrest." JAMA 274(17): 1363-1367.

4. Simopolous, A. P. and Jo Robinson (1999). The Omega Diet. New York, HarperCollins. (Devotes an entire chapter to the vital role that omega-3s play in brain function.)

5. Rose, D. P., J. M. Connolly, et al. (1995). "Influence of Diets Containing Eicosapentaenoic or Docasahexaenoic Acid on Growth and Metastasis of Breast Cancer Cells in Nude Mice." Journal of the National Cancer Institute 87(8): 587-92.

6. Dhiman, T. R., G. R. Anand, et al. (1999). "Conjugated linoleic acid content of milk from cows fed different diets." J Dairy Sci 82(10): 2146-56. Interestingly, when the pasture was machine-harvested and then fed to the animals as hay, the cows produced far less CLA than when they were grazing on that pasture, even though the hay was made from the very same grass. The fat that the animals use to produce CLA is oxidized during the wilting, drying process. For maximum CLA, animals need to be grazing living pasture.

7. Aro, A., S. Mannisto, I. Salminen, M. L. Ovaskainen, V. Kataja, and M. Uusitupa. "Inverse Association between Dietary and Serum Conjugated Linoleic Acid and Risk of Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women." Nutr Cancer 38, no. 2 (2000): 151-7.

8. Smith, G.C. "Dietary supplementation of vitamin E to cattle to improve shelf life and case life of beef for domestic and international markets." Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523-1171.