More Good News for Grass-fed Meat
Filed under: General Health, Nutrition
While researching the benefits of grass-fed meat for my nutrition guide for Eric Cressey’s new book, I came across a brand-new study that I thought was really incredible.
This study looked at red meat from animals that were fed grass or conventionally-fed, and compared the amount of omega-3′s in the blood from each.
Now as I am sure you know, grass-fed meat contains more omega-3′s than conventionally-fed (along with more CLA, more vitamins A and E, and a better saturated fatty acid profile), but it was unknown if this was enough to make a significant difference in blood concentrations in people.
These researchers set up a randomized, double-blind dietary intervention for 4 weeks. This means it was well-designed (especially for a nutrition study, which are often poor).
These 20 subjects replaced their normal red meat intake with three portions of either grass-fed beef or lamb, or conventional-fed beef or lamb.
The researchers found the fatty acid composition of serum blood and platelets, overall dietary intake, blood pressure as well as blood cholesterol and lipid levels pre and post-intervention.
They found that the subjects who consumed the grass-fed meat had higher total intakes of omega-3′s (obviously) and higher blood and platelet levels of omega-3′s, but there were no significant differences seen in triglycerides, blood cholesterol levels or blood pressure.
Ok, so what does this tell us? It tells us that consuming grass-fed red meat will contribute to higher levels of omega-3′s in our diet and in our blood, which is pretty cool. While clearly just consuming grass-fed meat was not enough of an increase in omega-3′s to alter blood lipids and cholesterol (or at least not given enough time), and it was clearly shown to be a significant contributor to overall omega-3 intake.
The key is to look at the big picture, and to see how the consumption of pasture-raised and grass-fed animals will improve nutrition and health over time. 4 weeks is a very short time period to see powerful changes, but just improving blood and platelet levels is an important step in improving long-term health. Eating grass-fed meat in conjunction with pastured eggs and dairy will make an even bigger difference in the overall omega-6 to omega-3 ratio and levels of inflammatory markers.
To me it is just more proof against those who try and claim that the difference in cattle feed is not important. While I do believe that it is significantly better to consume real food like meat, grass-fed or not, than processed man-made food products (or edible food-like substances as Michael Pollan likes to call them), to claim that how the animal was fed doesn’t make a true difference is simply false.
Over time these pieces all add up. Heart disease and inflammation are not problems that are created over night. They are created from long-term diet and lifestyle choices, and improving them one piece at a time will make a huge difference long-term. Choose grass-fed whenever possible, your long-term health will thank you.
Check out the BSP Training & Nutrition Newsletter!
You will get immediate access to:
- Weekly updates and exclusive content.
- The 20-page report "The Truth About Saturated Fat & Cholesterol."
- Become more awesome!
Posted on September 8th, 2010 by Brian St. Pierre
11 Comments
September 8th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Couldn’t you just pop some omega-3 tabs and eat corn fed all you want?
September 8th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
well said. lots of people argue that the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids in a serving of meat or dairy or an egg are so small (like only a couple hundred mg i think) that it doesn’t make a difference, but those people are the ones who eat animal products like once a week and wouldn’t see any notable change. for those of us who lift weights and consume huge amounts of protein, i think that multiple servings of a couple hundred mg multiple times per day will definitely add up in the long run. plus the hormone and antibiotic thing is a huge deal as well.
September 9th, 2010 at 6:32 am
Dush,
No. Thats like saying that diabetics can eat as many carbs as they want, they will just need to pump a little more insulin.
Besides there is still more to the story than just omega-3′s, that was just the point of this blog. Grass-fed meat has 500% more CLA, higher glutathione content, higher vitamin A and vitamin E content, higher antioxidant content, no antibiotics or hormones and they consume pesticide and herbicide-free grass. Want me to keep going?
There is also a limit to how much fish oil you should consume. Polyunsaturates are far less stable and much more prone to oxidation, so you are better off consuming less total polyunsaturates with a higher percentage from n-3′s, rather than consuming more and just off-setting the increase in n-6′s with some more n-3 tabs. Omega-3 supplementation is actually more effective when omega-6 intake is at or below 4% of calories.
Make sense?
September 10th, 2010 at 9:21 am
Brian, I didn’t mean to imply that there weren’t many benefits of grass fed meat. I personally would like to eat it purely for animal welfare reasons but it’s not always within the budget. Lamb and beef prices have sky rocketed in the UK so I’m having to stick to chicken mostly.
April 25th, 2016 at 3:40 am
That’s a slick answer to a chllaenging question
June 4th, 2016 at 10:12 am
You have such lovely colors and textures in your spring garden! It is nice to see all those colors when our colors are fading with the onset of autumn. I am looking forward to my borage in the spring! Happy GBBD!
September 23rd, 2016 at 10:07 am
I just like the valuable details you furnish inside of your content.I will bookmark your weblog and check once again below recurrently.I’m quite sure I will master an awful lot of new things correct the following! Beneficial luck to the future!
October 31st, 2016 at 9:11 am
malditos inutiles de mocosoft. ni siquiera pueden hacer una simple pantalla para seleccionar un navegador QUE EL USUARIO ELIJA, para no tener que verse obligados a instalar la BASURA del Explorer. si hay “errores tecnicos” en eso imaginen como es algo mas complejo como un sistema operativo. por suerte hace años que me libre de esas micromugres. que se metan el güindous por donde les entre mejor.
November 20th, 2016 at 10:57 am
Sin duda, este es uno de los mejores blogs que he visitado ultimamente, me he quedado fascinado por tanta informacion, ha debido de ser un trabajo duro, escribir todas estas entradas. Me has dado una fuerte inspiracion para hablar sobre ti en mi propio blog. Una vez mas, felicidades por el buen trabajo que has echo.
February 7th, 2017 at 10:35 am
Vi har också den tapeten i vårt kök! Jag gillar den jättemycket. Både sambon och jag fastnade diekt för den i färgaffären. Vi var lite, lite oroliga att den skull bli för mörk, men det var ingen fara alls. Den är jättefin mot våra vita luckor.
February 7th, 2017 at 11:21 am
This forum needed shaking up and you’ve just done that. Great post!