Why grass-fed is best – part II

April 20, 2008 in Food & Nutrition | View Comments


Make sure to check out part I of “Why grass-fed is best” for the environmental and ethical benefits of pasture-raised animal products.

In part I we reviewed the environmental and ethical benefits of pasture-raised animal products, along with some general information about why they are more nutritious. In this article, we’ll look more specifically at exactly why grass-fed animal products are superior to commercially-raised alternatives.

Meat

  • Meat from grass-fed animals has two to four times more omega-3 fatty acids than meat from grain- fed animals.
  • When chickens are housed indoors and deprived of greens, their meat and eggs also become artificially low in omega-3s.
  • Eggs from pastured hens can contain as much as 19 times more omega-3s than eggs from factory hens.
  • When ruminants are raised on fresh pasture alone, their products contain from three to five times more CLA than products from animals fed conventional diets. CLA is a fatty acid that has recently been studied as a potent cancer fighter.
  • The meat from the pastured cattle is four times higher in vitamin E than the meat from the feedlot cattle and, interestingly, almost twice as high as the meat from the feedlot cattle given vitamin E supplements.

Milk

  • Unfortunately, 85 to 95 percent of the cows in the United States are now being raised in confinement, not on pasture. The only grass they eat comes in the form of hay, and the ground that they stand on is a blend of dirt and manure.
  • Milk from a pastured cow can have five times as much CLA as a grainfed animal.
  • Milk from pastured cows also contains an ideal ratio of essential fatty acids or EFAs. Studies suggest that if your diet contains roughly equal amounts of these two fats, you will have a lower risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, allergies, obesity, diabetes, dementia, and various other mental disorders.
  • When a cow is raised on pasture , her milk has an ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. Replace two-thirds of the pasture with a grain-based diet and the milk will have more than five times the amount of omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3s, a ratio that has been linked with an increased risk of a wide variety of conditions, including obesity, diabetes, depression, and cancer.
  • Grassfed milk is higher in beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E. This vitamin bonus comes, in part, from the fact that fresh pasture has more of these nutrients than grain or hay. These extra helpings of vitamins are then transferred to the cow’s milk.

Free-range (pastured) eggs

  • When compared to commercially raised, supermarket eggs, free-range eggs have:
    2/3 more vitamin A
  • 7 times more beta carotene
  • Up to 19 times more omega-3 fatty acids
  • Significantly more folic acid and vitamin B12

Raw dairy products – another step up

The information above should convince you that grass-fed dairy products are superior in every way to dairy products that come from grain-fed cows. Another important distinction to be made is the difference between raw and pasteurized dairy products.

I will be covering this in further detail in a future article, but in short raw dairy products have several significant advantages over pasteurized alternatives:

  • Raw milk is an outstanding source of nutrients including beneficial bacteria such as lactobacillus acidolphilus, vitamins and enzymes, as well as the finest source of calcium available.
  • Pasteurizing milk destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamin B12, and vitamin B6, kills beneficial bacteria and promotes pathogens.
  • Raw milk is not associated with any the problems of pasteurized milk, and even people who have been allergic to pasteurized milk for many years can typically tolerate and even thrive on raw milk.

Contrary to popular belief, raw milk is safe to consume. There has never been a pathogen found in the milk of the two largest raw dairy producers in California, Organic Pastures and Claravale. In fact, the USDA has been unable to even find pathogens in the soil at Organic Pastures – which is highly unusual. This is due to the much more stringent standards for sanitation that raw dairies must comply with in order to be licensed to sell their products.

Again, I will cover this in more detail in a future article. Stay tuned!

  • https://thehealthyskeptic.org/preventing-heart-disease-without-drugs/ Preventing heart disease without drugs | The Healthy Skeptic

    [...] have been raised on fresh pasture rather than in commercial, factory feedlots. See this article and this one for more information on why this is so [...]

  • http://adventuresingringostan.blogspot.com/ E

    I cared not so much about food before (I was a student and not employed well enough to make monthly payment to cowshares, for example), but things are changing. I now happily devour any information about the “food industrial complex” and its natural alternatives, because I’m in a position to do something about it. This site is so well organized and clear. Great source. Thanks!

  • https://thehealthyskeptic.org Chris

    @E:

    Thanks for your feedback! I’m glad you find the blog to be helpful.
    Chris

  • Mary blanchard

    I have been wanting to buy raw milk, but it is illegal here in AZ to sell it, how stupid is that? I can carry a concealed weapon, I can buy prescriptions that could do great harm, I can go to war, I can pay-off banks and car companies, but I can’t buy something I feel would be beneficial for me. What is a cowshare, is that how I could get milk and grass-fed meat? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. (p.s.) I live in an aprt. so growing my own healthy food is out of the question, esp. since I already tried a mini garden and the fierce west-facing sun baked everything to a crisp. Thanks again.

  • https://thehealthyskeptic.org Chris

    Mary,

    Check this link for a list of raw dairy options in AZ.

    Best,
    Chris

  • http://www.bradysbeef.com Idaho Beef

    Thanks for the summary of health benefits. Most people aren’t aware of the decreased nutrition of supermarket foods and we need to keep tooting on this horn until everyone gets it.

  • http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/9-steps-to-perfect-health-%e2%80%93-3-eat-real-food/ 9 Steps to Perfect Health – Part 3: Eat Real Food | Health Impact News

    [...] Why grass-fed is best – part II In this article, we examine exactly why grass-fed animal products are superior to commercially-raised alternatives…. [...]

blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post:

Designed by Evan Haas & Soy Pak