Someone in the PEERtrainer community pointed out a quote from Dr. Oz that left them confused. He had said that nutritionally, there is not much difference between grass-fed beef and grain-fed beef.
We asked Brian to take a look at this question and look at the science. Here is what he found:
"What a strange thing for Dr. Oz to say... it's not as if there is a lack
of evidence, or even contradictory evidence as can sometimes be seen in
organic vs. conventional studies.
As far as I'm aware, there has never
been a single study demonstrating that grass-fed beef has a similar
nutritional profile to grain-fed beef.
Even those who support grain-fed
beef will admit that grass-fed beef is leaner, as the reason we feed
grain to cattle in the first place is because it fattens them up so well
and causes marbling (the fat invades the muscle).
Here are two (roughly) 4 oz. steaks (actually 100 grams), one grain-fed, the second grass-fed:
Grain-Fed Sirloin Strip:
Total Fat: 11 grams
Saturated Fat: 4 grams
Protein: 21 grams
Total Calories: 189
Calories from Fat: 100
Percentage Fat by Calories: 53%
Percentage Protein by Calories: 44%
Grass-Fed Sirloin Strip:
Total Fat: 3 grams
Saturated Fat: 1 gram
Protein: 23 grams
Total Calories: 117
Calories from Fat: 24
Percentage Fat by Calories: 21%
Percentage Protein by Calories: 79%
Total Fat Difference Between the Steaks: 8 grams
Total Sat. Fat Difference: 3 grams
Total Caloric Difference: 72 calories
Keeping
in mind that the average person probably eats more than 4 oz. of steak,
the difference only gets magnified as more gets consumed.
This isn't even touching the subject of differences between the
fats. The grass-fed fat will have a much healthier profile--more
omega-3s--than grain-fed, which will be very low in omega-3s and higher
in the types of saturated fat which affect cholesterol.
The saturated
fat in grass-fed is mostly "stearic acid", which doesn't cause
cholesterol to increase. There is much more palmitic acid in grain-fed
beef, the saturated fat which does increase serum cholesterol.
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