Beef

For a while now I have been thinking that I should make a few changes to my approach to sharing recipes by supplying good, solid reasons for incorporating ingredients in our diets and share the health benefits with my readers. I have been doing a lot of research, study and revision to be able to do this. I hope it will be of benefit in the long run, not only for myself, but for my faithful readers as well. For my first contribution, I have looked into a rather controversial subject - that of eating beef. 

Grass Fed Beef

We have been led to believe that eating red meat is bad for our health, but is it? It appears that it may not be after all. If the truth be known, it depends on how the beef has been raised. Has it been farmed on a massive scale in sheds with concentrates or silage feeds or have the cattle been raised in the fields, eating good green grass as they are supposed to? Which would you chose to eat, the shed fed or the grass fed? I would choose grass fed any day.

A new study in the British Journal of Nutrition is linking grass-fed beef with higher blood levels of omega-3s, which have been associated with positive health benefits, compared to more common grain-finished red meat. Cattle are genetically designed to eat grass, not the grain diet of conventional farming, so it stands to reason that grass-fed cows would be healthier, and healthier for us, than shed fed cattle. This study backs up that notion, concluding that:

Red meat from grass-fed animals may contribute to dietary intakes of LC n-3 PUFA [Omega-3 fatty acid] in populations where red meat is habitually consumed.

Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, walnuts, and some fruits and vegetables have been recommended for several health benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease—interesting because red meat is commonly seen as a villain when it comes to heart health.

People who seek out grass-fed beef usually do so for ethical and environmental reasons, as grass-fed ranchers are typically small, local producers who raise cattle humanely on open pastures, in addition to giving the cows their natural diet. Grass-fed beef also has a better balance of fat and the constituents of that fat are also better balanced for healthy eating. This study's findings may offer another compelling reason for meat eaters to choose grass-fed beef over the conventional kind, even though it's more expensive and more difficult to find.

For a more in-depth look at beef, lets examine the myths and truths about beef.

Myths and Truths About Beef 

With the exception of butter, no other food has been subjected to such intense demonization in recent years as red meat, particularly beef. The juicy homemade hamburger, that delicious marbled steak and the Sunday roast have been accused of terrible crimes such as beef causes heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and autoimmune diseases like asthma, to name just a few conditions it is blamed for.

Let’s take a look at the notion that beef causes heart disease. This actually dates back to the 1950's when the ‘Lipid Hypothesis’ was taking hold. At that time, scientists were grappling with a new threat to public health—a steep rise in heart disease, especially myocardial infarction (MI)—a massive blood clot leading to obstruction of a coronary artery and consequent death to the heart muscle. MI was almost non-existent in 1910, but has been on the increase throughout the 20th century. Many scientists believed that the culprit was cholesterol and saturated fats found in animal foods like butter, eggs and beef. They reasoned that saturated fat and cholesterol raised the level of cholesterol in the blood, which in turned caused the deposition of cholesterol as plaques in the arteries, leading to obstructions and heart disease. This, in a nutshell, is the Lipid Hypothesis.1

This theory was tested in 1957 when Dr. Norman Jolliffe, Director of the Nutrition Bureau of the New York Health Department, initiated the Anti-Coronary Club. With great media fanfare, a group of businessmen, ranging in age from 40 to 59 years, were placed on the so-called ‘Prudent Diet’. Prudent Dieters used corn oil and margarine instead of butter, cold breakfast cereals instead of eggs and chicken and fish instead of beef. Anti-Coronary Club members were to be compared with a "matched" group of the same age who ate eggs for breakfast and had meat three times a day. The results of Dr. Jolliffe's Anti-Coronary Club experiment were published in 1966 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.2 Those on the Prudent Diet of corn oil, margarine, fish, chicken and cold cereal had an average serum cholesterol of 220, compared to 250 in the meat-and-potatoes control group. However, the study authors were obliged to note that there were eight deaths from heart disease among Dr. Jolliffe's Prudent Diet group, and none among those who ate meat three times a day. The truth is that in spite of all the propaganda you have heard, the lipid hypothesis has never been proved. In fact, inadequate protein intake leads to loss of myocardial muscle and may, therefore, contribute to coronary heart disease.3

It is true that beef consumption has increased during the last eighty years, the period of huge increases in heart disease. Today we consume more than half as much beef again than we did in 1909, but poultry consumption has more than doubled and consumption of vegetable oils, including those that have been hydrogenated, has increased more than 4 times, while consumption of butter, lard and tallow has plummeted. Whole milk consumption has halved, while low fat milk consumption has doubled. Consumption of eggs, fresh fruits (excluding citrus), fresh vegetables, fresh potatoes and whole grain products has declined; but consumption of sugar and other sweeteners has almost doubled. Why, then, do today's politically correct dietary gurus continue to blame beef consumption for our ills? Is it because it is the one wholesome food that has shown an increase over the past ninety years?

The most likely causes of increased heart disease in America are the other changes in our diets—huge increases in consumption of refined carbohydrates and vegetable oils, particularly hydrogenated vegetable oils; and the decline in nutrient levels in our food, particularly minerals and fat soluble vitamins—vitamins found only in animal fats.

The only claim that can be made against beef as a cause of heart disease is that some studies have shown beef consumption to temporarily raise cholesterol levels in short term feeding experiments. Other studies have shown that beef consumption, including beef fat consumption, lowers cholesterol levels. But even if all studies show that beef consumption raises cholesterol levels, the only conclusion you can draw is—so what? There is no greater risk of heart disease at cholesterol levels of 300 than at 180, and people with cholesterol levels below 180 are at greater risk of death from other causes, such as cancer, intestinal diseases, accidents, violence and suicide.4 In other words, it's much more dangerous to have cholesterol levels that are too low than cholesterol levels that are too high.

The truth is that cholesterol is your best friend. It is vital for the function of the nervous system and the integrity of the digestive tract. Steroid hormones that help the body deal with stress are made from cholesterol. Sex hormones like oestrogen and testosterone are made from cholesterol. Bile salts that the body uses to digest fats are made from cholesterol. Vitamin D, needed for thousands of biochemical processes, is made from cholesterol.

Cholesterol is a powerful antioxidant that protects us against cancer. It is vital to the cells because it provides waterproofing and structural integrity. And, finally, cholesterol is the body's repair substance. When our arteries are weak and develop fissures or tears, cholesterol is sequestered and used for repair. When cholesterol levels in the blood are high, it's because the body needs cholesterol. Blaming heart disease on cholesterol is like blaming a fire on the firemen who arrive to put out the flames.

What a shame we have demonized red meat because this is one modern food, enjoyed by almost everybody, that is rich in nutrients. Red meat provides complete protein, including sulphur-containing proteins like cysteine. Beef is a wonderful source of taurine and carnitine, needed for healthy eyes and a healthy heart. Beef also provides another key nutrient for the cardiovascular system—coenzyme Q10.

Beef is an excellent source of minerals like magnesium and zinc—you need zinc for clear thinking and a healthy sex life. The fuzzy-headedness that vegetarians mistake for heightened consciousness is really the fog of zinc deficiency. Vitamin B6 is abundant in meat, especially rare meat. Red meat is one of the best sources of vitamin B12, which is vital to a healthy nervous system and healthy blood. Vegetarians are especially prone to vitamin B12 deficiency. One of the first signs of vitamin B12 deficiency is a tendency to irrational anger-—so much for vegetarian claims that we will have a more peaceful, harmonious world if we all just stop eating meat.

If you use the animal bones and hooves to make stock, and use the stock as our ancestors did in soups, stews and sauces, you will get plenty of calcium and the components of cartilage to give you healthy bones and cartilage. If you eat organ meats, as our ancestors did, you will get vital fat-soluble nutrients like vitamin A and D, both of which are essential for protein utilization and mineral absorption. In fact, the one warning we could give you about meat is not to eat it lean. In spite of claims to the contrary, the diet of the cave man was not one of lean meat. Paleolithic man always ate his meat with fat.

The beef industry has been forced to be apologetic about its product because it's very difficult to get the fat out of beef. You can reduce the fat content by using hormones, but you end up with a product that is tough and tastes terrible, not to mention full of hormones. Beef producers need to recognize that the fat is the most important part of the beef, rich in components that promote good health and that help you utilize the nutrients in all the other parts of the beef. In addition to vitamins A and D, fat contributes many important fatty acids, including palmitoleic acid, an antimicrobial fat that protects us against pathogens in the gut. If you want to be sure that you don't get foodborne illness from your hamburger, use full fat ground beef.

Fat also provides a substance called conjugated linoleic acid or CLA, at least it does if the animals have been on green grass.5 CLA is a substance that protects us against cancer and that promotes weight loss—that's right, fat can make you thin, if it's the right kind of fat. And the right kind of fat is also saturated fat which, in spite of what we've been told, plays many important roles in the body chemistry. The scientific literature delineates a number of vital roles for dietary saturated fats—they enhance the immune system,6 are necessary for healthy bones,7 provide energy and structural integrity to the cells,8 protect the liver,9 and enhance the body's use of essential fatty acids.10 Stearic acid and palmitic acid, found in beef tallow and butter, are the preferred foods for the heart.11 As saturated fats are stable, they do not become rancid easily, do not call upon the body's reserves of antioxidants, do not initiate cancer, do not irritate the artery walls.

In fact saturated beef fat is one of the most useful fats in the culinary repertoire. As it is very stable and doesn't go rancid when heated to high temperatures, it's perfect for frying. While we don't recommend a lot of fried foods, we know that our children and grandchildren are going to eat them. Fast food outlets used to fry their potatoes in healthy stable beef tallow. They were crisp, tasted delicious and provided many important nutrients. But the phony cholesterol issue has forced these outlets to switch to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is known to cause a host of chronic diseases including cancer, heart disease, bone problems, infertility and autoimmune disease.12

References
1. Enig, Mary G, PhD and Sally Fallon, "The Oiling of America," Nexus Magazine, December 1998-January 1999 and February 1999-March 1999
2. Cristakis, G, "Effect of the Anti-Coronary Club Program on Coronary Heart Disease Risk-Factor Status,"Journal of the American Medical Association, Nov 7, 1966, 198:(6):129-35
3. Webb, J G, et al, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Oct 1, 1986, 135:7:753-8
4. Smith, R and E R Pinckney, Diet, Blood Cholesterol and Coronary Heart Disease: A Critical Review of the Literature, Vol 2, 1991, Vector Enterprises, Sherman Oaks, CA; Ravnskov, Uffe, The Cholesterol Mythshome2.swipnet.se/~w-25775
5. Kelly, M L, et al, Journal of Dairy Science, June 1998, 81(6):1630-6
6. Kabara, J J, The Pharmacological Effects of Lipids, J J Kabara, ed, The American Oil Chemists' Society, Champaign, IL, 1978, 1-14; Cohen, L A, et al, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 1986, 77:43
7. Watkins, B A, et al, "Importance of Vitamin E in Bone Formation and in Chrondrocyte Function" Purdue University, Lafayette, IN, AOCS Proceedings, 1996; Watkins, B A, and M F Seifert, "Food Lipids and Bone Health," Food Lipids and Health, R E McDonald and D B Min, eds, Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York, NY, p 101
8. Mead, J F, et al, Lipids: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Nutrition, Plenum Press, 1986, New York
9. Nanji, A A, et al, Gastroenterology, Aug 1995, 109(2):547-54; Cha, Y S, and D S Sachan, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Aug 1994, 13(4):338-43
10. Garg, M L, et al, The FASEB Journal, 1988, 2:(4):A852; R M Oliart Ros, et al, Meeting Abstracts, AOCS Proceedings, May 1998, p 7, Chicago, IL; Gerster, H, International Journal of Vitamin Nutrition Research, 1998:63:(3):159-73
11. Lawson, L D and F Kummerow, "B-Oxidation of the Coenzyme A Esters of Vaccenic, Elaidic and Petroselaidic Acids by Rat Heart Mitochondria," Lipids, 1979, 14:501-50337. OA 59
12. Enig, Mary G, PhD, Trans Fatty Acids in the Food Supply: A Comprehensive Report Covering 60 Years of Research, 2nd Edition, Enig Associates, Inc, Silver Spring, MD, 1995, 4-8