Hi everyone
I wonder if I am the only one who gets ask why I make a fussy about where my meat comes from, especially as my budget is tight.
So Let me explain,
Which looks more appealing?
Can you tell by looking which it grass fed and which is grain fed?
Firstly, it’s in the fat. Grass fed beef’s fat is various shades of creamy yellow, the result of the beta carotene content of the grass. Grain fed beef’s fat is usually transparent white. Grain finishing or feedlotting, changes the omega 6 and 3 ratio from the ideal of 3:1, to the unhealthy range of 24:1 Grass fed beef has the same healthy ratio of essential omega 3 and 6 fatty acids as found in fish. This change happens after only one week on grain.
Grass fed have the same Omega 3 good brain feeding fats as fish but wait there is more to this then just Omega 3.
I was talking to my lil man about where our food comes from and I asked him what cows eat. Grass he said.
He is 4. Cows eat grass.
Yet we feed them corn or grain mixes which they are not designed to eat,so what happens?
The cows get sick.
Acid buildup can cause ulcers in animals consuming too much grain: "Then what happens is that infectious bacteria come from the rumen through the ulcers, into blood, and finally into the liver, where they cause abscesses," Russell said. Feed additives such as antibiotics can counteract such ailments, but they further alter the ruminal microbial ecosystem, he added.
Grains can accumulate in an animal's intestines because they lack starch-digesting enzymes. Thus, a high-grain diet can promote an overgrowth of Clostridium perfringens, a bacterium associated with sudden death in feedlot cattle, Russell's article suggests.
So we add antibiotics to the feed.
Commenting on the results, British expert Professor Brendan Wren, form the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said: 'The role of the composition of our gut microflora is increasingly recognised as being important and has been linked to inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic disorders, immunity and obesity.
'It has been considered as the forgotten super organ in humans, and it is only now through advances in genome sequencing that we can assess the composition of the complex population of microbes in the gut.
'Indiscriminate use of antibiotics for livestock (often used to fatten animals), not only promotes the spread of antibiotic resistance, but can get in our food chain and affect the homeostasis of our gut microflora.'
Dr Cormac Gahan, from University College Cork in the Irish Republic, said: 'These studies support an emerging body of evidence linking gut bacteria with the development of obesity.
'Other research has identified specific subgroups of gut bacteria that play a role in energy extraction from the diet and influence the production of hormones in the host.
'Disrupting this finely balanced ecosystem clearly has consequences for host metabolism and weight gain.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2192306/Farmers-fat-epidemic-Study-finds-links-obesity-antibiotics-used-plump-livestock.html#ixzz2A8eWt45B
The cows also get fatter and weight more faster so as Slaughtered faster
feedlot managers profit from unnatural growth rates, up to 2kg per day and sometimes more. 200 – 220kg steers take only 100 days to grow to 450kg. By comparison it would take a grass fed steer at least 9 months to achieve the same weight gains.
. Yet they are still sick animals lacking nutrients
Grass-fed beef is also higher in precursors for Vitamin A and E and cancer fighting antioxidants such as GT and SOD activity as compared to grain-fed contemporaries.
So what are GT and SOD?
Let's start with GT..
The mother of all antioxidants, the master detoxifier and maestro of the immune system:
GLUTATHIONE (pronounced "gloota-thigh-own").
The good news is that your body produces its own glutathione. The bad news is that
poor diet,
pollution,
toxins, medications,
stress, trauma, aging, infections and radiation all deplete your glutathione.
So now how about SOD?
As a potent antioxidant that can neutralize most common free radicals, Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) is an enzyme that revitalizes cells and reduces the rate of cell destruction. SOD is often thought of as the body's first line of defense. It neutralizes the most common free radical- superoxide radical- by converting it into hydrogen peroxide and water. Because it rejuvenates cells and tissues that have become hardened or fibrotic from age, people who suffer from disease or injury benefit from a good dose of SOD.
SOD bypasses the stomach and liver and is absorbed into the bloodstream, where it can be distributed and used throughout the body. SOD may:
- Exert strong regenerative effects on tissues that have become hardened or fibrotic because of age, disease, or injury.
- Treat fibrotic scaring of organs after radiation therapy.
- Prevent further heart damage in cardiac patients.
- Improve severe rheumatoid arthritis.
They harbour E COLI!
Finally, grain-based diets can promote Escherichia coli (E. coli) within the digestive tract of cattle, and these E. coli are more likely to survive acid shocks that mimic the human gastric stomach. This discovery, first reported by Russell and colleagues in 1998 (Science, 11 September), has now been confirmed. Other USDA scientists have likewise shown that cattle switched from grain-based diets to hay were less likely to shed harmful E. coli 0157:H7 in feces.
Yet, this is meant to do nothing to the meat we eat and how it effect us.
Already studies are starting to show links with antibiotics and obesity. The feed-lot animals are lacking nutrients and antioxidants. Add to this the omega 3 and 6 ratio of feed lot cattle is completely out of whack and you start to see a growing issue.
And I haven't even touched on living conditions of the animals!
So quick over view is this..
This is a feed lot. The Cattle walk in manure, lie in it and it leaves as run off.
This is the field of grass the cows live in, that uses the manure to grow run off is not an issue. Cows aren't lying or standing in manure either.
What about CO2 I hear you ask don't grass fed cows make more CO2 then feed lot that's why feed lot as better for the planet???
Have a look at this ...
feed_vs_pastures.pdf
In Australia we do have feed lots make no mistake about that.
http://www.feedlots.com.au/
So here's my take on all this...grass fed beef to me is worth the extra money and time it takes for me to buy it. I know its healthier, safer and actually to me tastes better too!
As my lil man says Cows eat grass.
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