Nutritional benefits from grass-fed cattle
Compared with grain-fed beef, grass-fed beef is:
- Lower in total fat
- Higher in beta-carotene
- Higher in vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)
- Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium and potassium
- Higher in the B-vitamins thiamin and riboflavin
- Higher in total Omega-3s
Important Health Benefits of Grass-fed Beef
Lower in Fat and Calories. There are a number of nutritional differences between the meat of pasture-raised and feedlot-raised animals. To begin with, meat from grass-fed cattle is lower in total fat. If the meat is very lean, it can have one third as much fat as a similar cut from a grain-fed animal. In fact, grass-fed beef can have the same amount of fat as skinless chicken breast. Research shows that lean beef actually lowers your “bad” LDL cholesterol levels.
Because meat from grass-fed animals is lower in fat than meat from grain-fed animals, it is also lower in calories. (Fat has 9 calories per gram, compared with only 4 calories for protein and carbohydrates. The greater the fat content, the greater the number of calories.)
As an example, a 6-ounce steak from a grass-finished steer can have 100 fewer calories than a 6-ounce steak from a grain-fed steer. If you eat a typical amount of beef (66.5 pounds a year), switching to lean grass-fed beef will save you 17,733 calories a year – without requiring any willpower or change in your eating habits. If everything else in your diet remains constant, you’ll lose about six pounds a year. If all Americans switched to grass-fed meat, our national epidemic of obesity might diminish.
In the past few years, producers of grass-fed beef have been looking for ways to increase the amount of marbling in the meat so that consumers will have a more familiar product. But even these fatter cuts of grass-fed beef are lower in fat and calories than beef from grain-fed cattle.
Whichever ANGUSBeef you choose it will be higher in the following:
Extra Omega-3s. Meat from ANGUSBeef has higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are called “good fats” because they play a vital role in every cell and system in your body.
For example, of all the fats, they are the most heart-friendly. People who have ample amounts of Omega-3s in their diet are less likely to have high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat. Remarkably, they are 50% less likely to suffer a heart attack.
The CLA Bonus. Meat products from ANGUSBeef 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 cattle fed conventional diets.
(A steak from the most marbled grass-fed animals will have the most CLA, as much of the CLA is stored in fat cells.)
Vitamin E. In addition to being higher in Omega-3s and CLA, meat from grass-fed animals is also higher in vitamin E. The meat from ANGUSBeef is higher in vitamin E than the meat from the feed-lot 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.