Grass fed/finished vs Grain/Corn Finished (or fed)

(Dan) #1

In the episode with Dr Nasha Winters at around the 38:25 mark she says

“I’ve looked at the labs of someone who’s eating corn fed and finished cows to grass fed and finished cows. Insulin growth factor is a night and day difference. You can see that it is much harder to lower the blood sugar in people eating corn fed animals than they are over grass fed. You can see the data thousands of times over.”

I wonder if she really meant corn fed and finished because from what I understand about most cow feeding is that they are all grass fed until the finishing stages and most are grain/corn finished.

I wonder if she is remarking on the difference in the insulin growth factor having to do with ONLY the difference between eating corn fed vs grass fed and not just their previous diets they came to her with and the one she puts them on.

I understand that if you can afford it and it is available to you that you are probably better off with grass fed/finished beef. What i’d really love to know, and I think a lot of people would definitively, is it worth the extra expense and how big of a difference does it make? This podcast so far is the first time i’ve seen someone claim real evidence in the differences between the two types of beef. I see a lot of the zero carb veterans claiming that there are minimal differences. It seems the zero carb beef lovers even prefer the grain finished cows cause they get more fat.

The Magic Pill, grass fed meat, and sustainable agriculture
(Erin Macfarland ) #2

There is this “Doctor “ Anthony Jay making the podcast rounds about his new book addressing environmental estrogens. He bothers me in that he is fear mongering about this issue, claiming grain finished beef will basically screw up our hormones and make us fat. I know there’s lots of people finding success eating keto based on grocery store meat. I wonder how true these claims are about the IG F and estrogen effects from commercially raised animals

(Doug) #3

Very interesting, Dan, and a good question about how much of a difference the cow’s food makes to us.

For a lot of cows in the U.S., they really only get grass if they can eat it while they’re still with their mother, for the first six months or so of their lives. Thereafter, they’re “feeder calves” and are taken away from the mother cow, penned-up and fed grain forevermore.

#4

Eating grassfed beef will improve your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio considerably. From what I’ve read having those ratios out of whack can cause problems and is even a contributing factor to many Western diseases according to some experts. It’s kind of the same thing as using good fats like olive oil over seed oils, you don’t have to do it to be ketogenic but you’ll be a lot better off.

Eating wild salmon vs farmed is the same thing, one has much better ratios of omega-3 to omega-6. But either option is better than eating a loaf of bread.

(Damon Chance) #5

I just read somewhere (maybe here) that the actual difference in Omega rations in grass fed vs. corn fed is really small in beef as most of the fat is saturated and has nothing to do with them. So even though its better in grass-fed the real difference is small enough to almost be insignificant.

(Erica) #6

I read something along the same lines that the difference wasn’t so significant that consumers should be concerned. The only concerning thing for me with grain fed is whether or not the grain is GMO, but with grass fed costing so much more than grain fed I have to pick my battles, besides grass fed burgers are just not as juicy as grain. :smiley:

#7

In grain fed the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 is about 7.65:1. In grassfed it’s about 1.5:1. That’s huge, especially if you eat a lot of red meat. Grassfed also has higher concentrations of vitamins and minerals. People like Ted Naiman aren’t emphasizing nutrient density in foods because they own stock in butcherbox.com

But I think we can all agree that feeding grains to cows is a vast improvement over deciding to just eat them yourself.

#8

I read the same as @d_to_the_c. The source I read said that if you are eating walnuts you will get way more omega 6 than you will from the cheapest store bought beef.

I was going to ask about this because I have been buying 85% lean organic grass fed ground beef and nothing turns out right with it. The meatballs and hamburgers are dry and tasteless compared to what we are used to. I would buy 80% but it is not available at a reasonable cost

#9

I know what you mean. I’ve had a similar experience. If I buy the stuff from Costco that is too lean I usually grind up some fatty beef scraps and mix them in. Or grind your own entirely. If you own a kitchenaid mixer they make a pretty sweet meat grinder attachment.

#10

What would I be grinding exactly? Chuck roast?

#11

Yeah, chuck is about 20% fat right out of the package. You can also do leaner cuts like sirloin or flank and mix in some really cold beef fat when grinding. Or, throw in a few strips of bacon. Depends what you are doing with it but I think chuck is the most common. I’ve aged ribeyes before and ground scraps from that to make sliders. That was in my carb eating days but let me tell you something about aged beef sliders…BOMB.

(Ken) #12

It seems like this nonsense reappears every few years with a different angle. 15 years ago the rationalization was that grass fed beef was higher in CLA.

From the paleo perspective, the reason mankind preferred to hunt herding animals during late Summer and Fall was because animals were fatter, after months of eating natural grains. I have noticed that fauxpaleo nut jobs advocate organic, lean grass fed beef.

Aldi’s usually has 73/27% ground beef.

#13

The difference in odor, taste, texture, and nutritional profile is night and day. If you’re not sold that’s fine but you are trying to deny science here on some level.

#14

Is farmed vs wild caught salmon “nonsense” also? Because the science there is pretty hard to argue also.

(Ernest) #15

Some decisions are purely economics.
Lesser of the two evils. Grass fed is not cheap.

(Erica) #16

Unfortunately we don’t have the climate here in the USA to grass feed year round the way they do over seas, if we did I think the cost would be less.

(Ken) #17

As I understand it, the issue regarding Salmon farming has more to do with toxin buildup in confined waters resulting in problems with farmed Salmon. That and the issue of what they are fed.

However, as with beef, it’s a matter of if the differences are significant enough to justify the higher price. By and large, it’s more marketing than anything else. People have a tendency to assign additional benefits to things that are costing them more money. Grain is a natural food for cattle to eat.

Hey, if you choose to eat it, have at it. It’s your choice. It’s simply not necessary, the differences aren’t significant enough to warrant the higher prices. Personally, I’d like cattle to be finished on grain longer, so it’d be easier to find cuts with more fat.

My cousin, who has lost 60 lbs. over the last 60 weeks, is lucky. His friend raises beef cattle, he has him finish his for a few months longer on grain. Then, he has it butchered so as to have one third of each cut to be fat.

Since his fat loss has been so obvious, several of his other friends have decided to do the same thing, creating business for his farmer friend. He gets a little more profit than sending it to a packer, and the people get a little better deal on beef.

#18

Not all that much Omega 3 in beef. Eat one sardine if you want to overcome the diff in corn finished and GFF

As to taste, well a 16 month old corn finished steer is definitely more tender meat than a 32 month GFF steer. The fat is whiter vs yellowish (carotene) and time and time again on blind taste tests the flavors are hard to differentiate… usually people pick up on texture a bit.

If you can afford GFF, go for it. It is a great process. But the scaremongering about corn finished beef is silly

(Bunny) #19

The thing about feeding livestock corn, is the starch that is in it, it would be like you eating heaping tablespoons sugar with a spoon, it shocks there system, if they are eating sugar in the form of starch so are you?

Grass has trace elements, minerals and an endless list of vitamins.

image
440205AA-790B-4E79-9E58-F8D567EAD9E0.png1008×698 62.3 KB
image
C59F3F0B-90C1-4693-A9DB-C402C06E3252.png782×541 23.2 KB

image link

#20

Even corn finished cows eat a lot of grass. Just not fo nearly as long. “it shiks their system”?

No, I am not eating sugar in the form of starch because a cow is. I’m not getting fiber from cellulose like a cow is. This seems nonsensical