Before writing this blog post, I did massive research for hours, trying to jot down research papers that have assessed how grass-fed meats impact health. However, I did not find a single scientific paper covering this context. For somebody who knows well about the dark side of the food industry, not finding any research paper did not surprise at all. Food research is governed by food industries that donate millions to conduct biased research, only assessing the good side and covering up any findings that have a negative impact on business.
However, there exists great non-profits organization, clinical researchers, and doctors who have detailed knowledge of such dark sides and try to fill the gap. For this post, I have gathered information from reputed online doctors, non-profits reports, extracts from reputed magazines, and notes from health-related books.
{How bad are grain meats compared to grass-finished}
The quality of meat is influenced mainly by how the animal is raised and fed. Among the grain-fed animals, which are caged and fed one particular grain like corn since birth, their rearing is miserable. The animal goes through several antibiotics treatments, pain, and grief, which altogether reduces its immunity. In several studies, such animals had shown stress syndrome. This means eating such meats ingests stress hormones in the human body. Moreover, the residual antibiotic in the meat travels through the human gut and alters the stable gut ecosystem.
Such findings were presented at the London Microbiome meeting, where several senior researchers showed their concern about how farm-raised animals are unsuitable for human health. One scientist added, “the piglets are separated from their mothers early on. The piglets that would acquire gut diversity from their mother are inhibited there, which means the piglets have low immunity. This influence industry owner to use more antibiotics to keep it from dying”.
In addition, Dr Berg mentioned ““Grain finished beef had higher metabolic syndrome, higher inflammatory makers”.
{How good are grass-finished meats}
Red meat is an excellent source of nutrients, including essential amino acids, vitamins A, B6, B12, D, E, and minerals such as iron, zinc, and selenium. In addition, it helps with the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Oleic acid, found in conventionally produced beef, has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels and lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Studies have also highlighted the significant difference in fatty acid composition between grass-fed and grain-fed beef, with grass-fed beef containing a better lipid profile. Furthermore, recent data suggest that when livestock are fed a variety of plants while grazing, their meat and milk can become concentrated with health-promoting phytonutrients such as terpenoids, phenols, carotenoids, and antioxidants. This makes consuming such red meat comparable to eating plant-based sources of anti-cancer agents.
Conclusion
We don’t know whether future research will cover these aspects in research and be made public for use; until then, we will all live in the dark corner. This could be fatal, like DDT, which was massively used in the beginning as pesticide, and later banned worldwide for its detrimental impacts on the environment and human health.
