Grassfed is Best!
There are many research studies that are showing the superiority of grass fed meat. Two new European studies link a diet high in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) with a lower risk of breast cancer. The one study found that the women with the most CLA had an amazing 74% lower risk of breast cancer than the women with the least CLA. CLA is found in the meat of grass fed beef, lamb and turkeys. CLA is significantly lower in grain fattened animals. For more information on these and other studies visit the Eat Wild and Weston A. Price Foundation websites.
Have you ever wondered, as I have, why it seems there didn’t used to be as much cancer years ago as there is today, in spite of people being more health conscious today? According to fairly new research, part of the answer could lie in three fatty acids — omega-3, omega-6, and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). When all meat was grown on the family farm, most animals and poultry had access to green grass and these acids were in balance. Now, however, with most of our meat being raised in confinement situations where animals and poultry are never allowed to eat green grass, omega-6 fatty acids are 15-20 times higher than omega-3 fatty acids — especially in beef.
Omega-6 comes from seeds of plants (grain). Omega-3 comes from the chlorophyll in the green leaves of plants. We commonly have diets high in omega-6, but low in omega-3, when it should be the other way around. This is because of eating meat from grain fed animals and poultry. Medical research has shown that tumors injected with pure omega-6 grew four times faster. Tumors injected with pure omega-3 ceased to grow. They also found that if cancer ridden animals were fed omega-3, they had a much higher survival rate.
According to Jo Robinson, co-author of The Omega Diet and author of Why Grassfed is Best, a diet rich in omega-3 helps every system in our bodies to function properly. Our cardiovascular system is better, the immune system is more effective, we are less likely to be depressed, and if we have cancer, we are better able to fight it. It goes without saying, of course, that it would also help to prevent cancer in the first place.
CLA is found only in ruminant animals, turkeys being the exception. CLA is an even better cancer fighter than omega-3. When only 1.5 percent of a research animal’s calories are CLA, tumors can shrink as much as 60%. Animals that are grassfed typically have four to five times more CLA. CLA also promotes lean muscle tissue. It tells your body to burn up fat for energy. It also seems to help diabetes.
The following are some highlights from the web site Eat Wild and Jo Robinson's book Why Grassfed is Best! published in February 2000:
- A recent study, funded by the USDA, tested chickens raised on fresh green pasture and compared them with chickens raised in confinement houses. The pasture raised chickens had 21 percent less total fat, 30 percent less saturated fat, and 28 percent fewer calories.The breast meat tested so lean that the USDA could classify it as "fat free". The meat also had 50 percent more vitamin A and 100 percent more omega-3 fatty acids.
- People with ample amounts of omega-3 fatty acids in their diet are less likely to have high blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat. They are also less likely to have a heart attack.
- In animal studies, omega-3s have slowed the growth of a wide array of cancers and kept them from spreading.
- Omega-3 fatty acids reduce bronchial hypersensitivity in asthma patients.
- Animals and poultry raised on grain have a much higher percentage of omega-6 fatty acids (saturated fat) and a low level of omega-3 fatty acids.
- A sirloin steak from a grassfed steer has about one third the amount of fat as a steak from a grainfed steer. That puts the grass fed steak on par with conventionally raised skinless chicken breast!
- Eating grassfed meat gives you a lower risk of becoming infected with patho-genic E. coli bacteria. This is a more basic and natural way of dealing with E. coli than to irradiate the meat we eat.
