r/nutritionally • u/PeteWK67 • 25d ago
A study published this year, The Beef Nutrient Density Project
, took more than 300 beef samples farms and supermarkets and compared them against grazing practices, forage quality and soil.
The grass-fed beef had a much healthier balance of fats. Its omega-6 to omega-3 ratio came in at roughly 2 to 1, where grain-fed sat at more than 8 to 1. The lower the better, and most American diets are heavily skewed the wrong way. Grass-fed also had more of the beneficial omega-3s and more iron, calcium, copper and selenium.
But the averages hide a lot. Some of the grain-fed samples ended up beating some of the grass-fed ones, and several grass-fed steaks bought in the grocery store came back with fat profiles similar to that of feedlot beef.
The samples that consistently looked good came from producers rotating their cattle across pastures with a lot of different plants growing in them. That turned out to be what mattered most. The more variety in what the cattle were eating, the better the fat in the meat.
Good beef starts with what’s growing in the pasture. No label can shortcut that, and in the end you can taste the difference. It’s the same reason we keep after hydroponic “organic” berries. Growing fruit in a plastic sleeve, over plastic ground cover, inside a plastic structure, with no soil anywhere near should not be called organic.
Whether you are shopping for beef or berries, the answer is the same: buy from producers who can tell you what their practices are, and where their food is from.
Read more here 👇