SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE OF THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF GRASSFED BEEF
Morris Grassfed Beef customers enjoy a boon to their health bite after succulent bite, knowing that their food choices are also good for the earth.
Not all beef is alike. Almost all beef today, even if it is labeled “Natural” or “Organic,” is grainfed beef. While beef is one of nature’s best sources of protein, zinc and iron, only 100% grassfed and finished beef is high in the nutrients beta-carotene, vitamin E, essential Omega 3 fatty acids, Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), and Trans Vaccenic Acid (TVA). Nutrient-rich foods, like grassfed beef, provide your body and brain what they need to function properly without adding empty calories to your diet.
There is a growing body of scientific evidence that meat from animals raised and finished on grass actually improves heart health and provides our bodies with essential nutrients.
Scientific studies at the University of California and California State University at Chico found that grassfed beef has more beta-carotene, vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids than beef produced using conventional cattle-feeding strategies.
“Raising cattle on grass boosts the beef’s level of a conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a lesser-known but important group of polyunsaturated fatty acids found in beef, lamb and dairy products. Over the past two decades, numerous health benefits have been attributed to CLA in animals, including a reduction in cancer, heart disease, onset of diabetes and accumulation of body fat. To achieve these benefits, the average person should consume about 5 grams of CLA per day. A 3.5-ounce serving of grass-fed beef provides 1.23 grams of CLA, 25 percent of the daily requirement. The same amount of conventional beef provides less than 10 percent of the daily requirement,” according to the study’s author, Glenn Nader of the University of California Cooperative Extension.
Details about the health benefits of grass-fed beef, citations for all the research used in this study, and additional resources for consumers, grass-fed beef producers and ranchers considering raising grass-fed beef are on the California State University Chico website, https://www.csuchico.edu/regenerativeagriculture/research/intensively-grazed-livestock.shtml.
The site includes recipes, product labeling information, a cost study and producer contacts.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has also studied the effects of grassfed beef on health and the environment. In their 2006 study, Greener Pastures: How Grass-fed Beef and Milk Contribute to Healthy Eating, Dr. Kate Clancy and her team of researchers concluded that “Raising cattle on pasture lessens environmental damage, improves animal health, and reduces antibiotic use. Over the past decade, numerous scientific studies have shown that the meat and milk from pasture-raised animals are higher in fats that may confer health benefits on humans.”
Read: Greener Pastures: How Grass-fed Beef and Milk Contribute to Healthy Eating